okay so i wanted to film a video to help you guys improve your stability and feel more secure in the
saddle so this is something that we all would like because none of us want to fall off of our horses
and you know especially for beginner riders when you're on your horse your center of gravity is
actually higher than when you're standing so i'll put a little photo in here to illustrate that but
like when you're standing on the ground your center of gravity is i don't know i would say
somewhere around your belly button when you're on a horse because most of the weight is on your seat
bones your center of gravity is actually higher and so that's why sometimes you feel like unstable
or wobbly in the saddle so it's really important that you can get yourself as secure as possible
so that if your horse spooks or takes off or does something unpredictable that you're able to
actually stay with your horse and that you don't end up in the dirt because none of us want that so
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so whenever i get a new student and i'm first assessing their position the first thing that
i look for is their alignment so when you sit in the saddle you want there to be a line from your
ear shoulder hip to heel the most common mistakes that i see is riders that lean forward and their
lower leg goes back that's the most common i would say and then the second most common is riders that
end up in a chair seat where their butt is back here and then their lower legs are too far forward
so the reason i always start with this alignment is because having this correct alignment
is what makes you secure in the saddle and it's also what allows you to best absorb the motion
of the horse so it's really important to have this picture in your mind and then to also know
what your tendency is so if your tendency is to lean forward that's going to come up all the time
during transitions when things get hard when your horse spooks if you end up in a chair
seat again that's something that you're going to have to check in with throughout your ride
you're going to have to keep recalibrating your alignment so that you can maintain this so i'm
going to just demonstrate to you correct and incorrect alignment and then show you how that
affects the way of going and your effectiveness in the saddle so when i'm just walking around here
you want to ride in what we call neutral spine and this correct alignment of ear shoulder hip to heel
so in the walk when i'm walking here my hips are swinging from back to front
my legs are telling my horse to go now if i tip forward and my seat bones end up pushing
back to the back of the saddle i'm no longer able to absorb the motion of my horse so like here
my hips and my back are no longer taking up the motion so if you
if your back gets sore from riding it could be that you're not in the correct alignment
same thing if i go in a chair seat my horse ride away slows down because my lower leg is no longer
in an effective position and again my hips lock up so that's why this alignment is
super important is because it allows you to follow the motion of the horse so let me go
up to the trot so even when you're in posting trot you're still keeping this alignment from your ear
shoulder hip to heel obviously when you're posting your hips swing a little bit forward
but every time you stay in the saddle that you want to have that alignment it's also important
in the posting that you don't like swing your hips too far forward like here i'm swinging my hips
too far forward and i'm losing my neutral spine and so that's one of the most common mistakes
in posting trot the other one is riders that tip too far forward and kind of post with their butt
to the back of the saddle like this kind of like jumper style so maintaining that correct alignment
is very important in your posting trot as well as in your sitting trot
so particularly in the sitting trot where your hips and your seat need to be absorbing
the motion of the horse's back so if you do mistake number one where you pitch forward
see how much i'm bouncing in the saddle now and my legs are no longer effective and likewise if
you're in a chair seat and you're sitting in the back of the saddle my horse is trying to stop
he's hollowing his back because my seat bones are driving into his back so you really want to have
this alignment from your ear to your shoulder to your hip to your heel so that your seat
can do its job the main function of your seat is to absorb the motion of the horse's back
so that's why your alignment is super important good boy it's so nice to have a horse that kind
of tolerates you you know some horses get really mad when you are riding them incorrectly and he's
doing a good job of tolerating i always feel a little bad when i ride my horses incorrectly um
but he's tolerating this so let me show you in the canner as well first of all
just the correct alignment i always have to think about my head because
i tend to like tip look down and my ears are too far forward so that's again part of your alignment
is pushing your chin back and getting your ears over your shoulders
and then that i do have that correct alignment from my ear shoulder hip to heel so this position
allows my seat bones to be pointing down into the saddle which is what i want if i end up tipping
too far forward and my lower legs back you can see my horses speeding up my butt's not staying in the
saddle and if my horse were to do something like if you were to spin around or buck or run off and
i'm already here i'm going to end up in the dirt so i really need to have this correct alignment
to give myself security in the saddle so likewise if you end up with your lower leg too far
forward and you're like really leaning back on the horse again my hips are no longer following
the motion of the canner and my horse is hollowing out his back so there's a line in his key
and good boy good boy so maintaining your alignment is really key
to being secure in the saddle and also to absorbing the horse's motion which is
really what you want so if you find like you're bouncing in the saddle or you just
can't get with emotion in the saddle the first thing to always start with is your alignment
and it's also important that you have a saddle that helps put you in the correct alignment
i'll link below i have a video particularly about saddle fit but particularly for your leg position
some saddles or if you have a saddle that's too big they will either put you in a chair seat or
if you have a saddle that's a little high in the back that can tip you forward so
saddle fit does play a role in your alignment and then the other thing that really helps to keep
yourself secure in your the saddle is keeping your hands down because i see a lot of riders
when things go badly their hands come way up here and that's going to raise your center of gravity
so maintain your alignment think about keeping your center of gravity low and that's going to
help you stay more secure in the saddle so let me know in the comments if you tend to tip forward
and your lower leg goes back or if you tend to end up in a chair seat with your lower leg forward
i'm curious to see what the most common mistake is and thanks for watching today the end
you