The Dreaded Chair Seat

Hey guys! Long time no blog, so I thought I'd pull together a short post on what I and a lot of other riders struggle with - the dreaded chair seat. 

You may ask - what is the chair seat? Well, the name is sort of self-explanatory. In horse riding, a chair seat is when your leg slides too far forward and you sit too far backwards in the saddle, until you look like you're sitting on a chair instead of riding a horse. 

The chair seat disrupts the ear-shoulder-hip-heel line of balance that a rider should aim for by placing too much weight in the seat and not enough in the heels, which is why people with a chair seat also have the tendency for their heels to slip up. I know I definitely struggle with this problem, except in a different way from most - most chair seats will be accompanied with a tendency to lean too far backwards in the saddle, but for me it's the opposite. Too much jumping has caused me to "perch" and lean forwards, and I really struggle with tucking my hips underneath me and sitting deep. This "perching" position has thrown my centre of gravity forwards, making my leg slip forwards as well to compensate.

So, how do we fix the chair seat? 

I believe that the problem stems from not the leg, but the seat - if you sit correctly in the saddle, then your leg should find a more correct position by itself. If you're sitting correctly, you should be able to feel your seat bones on the horse, so experiment with shifting your seat forwards and backwards until you can feel your seat bones sort of "connect" with the horse's back. I'm still working on my seat, and I constantly have to remind myself to tuck my hips underneath me and lean backwards to create a more balanced position. I have found that by doing this, it is easier for my leg to stay underneath me and for my heels to stay down. 

If you don't think your problem stems from your seat, it may be that your knees are the problem - if you close your knees too much around the saddle, they create a block in your flow of balance and cause your lower leg to swing around. Think about opening your hips and your knees - this should help move your leg backwards so it is touching the horse's side. 

Sometimes, you just need to put your leg into the correct position and focus with all your might on making it stay there. Fixing your seat and leg position isn't a quick process - it takes a lot of hours in the saddle to change your muscle memory and adjust your position. It helps a lot if you can have someone watch you ride and tell you every time your lower leg moves forwards, as sometimes you can be unaware that you've slipped into a chair seat yet again. 

As I've stated, I'm still working on fixing my chair seat, so here are a lot of articles that have helped me a lot with my leg position and my position in general:

- Correcting Riding Problems- Legs: http://www.themanestreet.com/authors/lauramartlock/training/legs.htm

(DEFINITELY recommend reading this one!)

- 15 Exercises to Correct Common Riding Problems: http://practicalhorsemanmag.com/article/15-exercises-to-correct-common-riding-problems-30090

(the section on improving your leg position is quite helpful)

- 10 Time-Tested Rider Position Fixes: http://practicalhorsemanmag.com/article/10-time-tested-rider-position-fixes

- The Importance of the Lower Leg: http://www.tanjamitton.com/the-importance-of-the-lower-leg/

And some stretches to help you open your hips if (like me) your closed hips cause your knees to grip the saddle:

- http://www.popsugar.com.au/fitness/Basic-Stretches-Tight-Hips-37847972

- http://www.prevention.com/fitness/12-yoga-poses-to-open-your-hips

Hope this helps! Happy riding!

Rachel. 

Storytime Saturday #4: Fear of a horse

A few months ago I was riding a horse called Splash, and while my first ride with him was amazing from there it took a bit of a plummet. See, Splash was a very forward and spooky horse but also quite strong, and in the wrong circumstances it was a bit of a disastrous combination. 
During my second ride on him, he bolted around everywhere and simply wouldn't listen to me. He ran through my hands, spooked at corners, and was completely out of control. My third ride was similar, with him consistently running off and spooking at a farrier working nearby. It gave me a really helpless feeling, and I suddenly became aware of how big horses were and how easily Splash could seriously injure me if he wanted to.
I want to make it clear that I actually love forward horses. I would choose a forward and spooky horse over a lazy/stubborn one any day. However something about Splash made him different from all the other forward horses I've ridden. Even though he wasn't particularly big, he was so unpredictable and I felt like he could do anything and I wouldn't be able to stop him. And after those horrible rides on him he became the first and to this day only horse that I was truly scared of riding.
This continued in a cycle for my next few rides with him - I would be scared as soon as I got on him, he would run through my hands and ignore my aids, and both of us had had a bad experience by the end of the ride.
But one lesson, after seeing how frightened I'd gotten, my instructor rode Splash before me to get rid of some of his energy. She took him out for a gallop and when I got on him, he was a completely different horse. He was quiet, respectful, and at times I actually had to urge him forward instead of constantly trying to pull him back. That ride really changed my perspective of Splash; the next time I rode him I was no longer frightened of him and from there things only got better. 

I don't ride Splash much anymore, but by the end we were working really nicely together and, above all, he taught me so much. What I realized was that me being scared of him was honestly the one thing holding me back, which sounds cheesy but is completely true. When I rode him, instead of thinking rationally about how to address his problems, I had a constant death-grip on the reins. Instead of giving him a chance to improve, from the second I got on him I was anticipating his bolt and spook, making me very tense and only furthering the issue.
It's easier said than done, but try going into every ride with a fresh mind. If you don't think about the time when you fell off your horse, or when you had a completely terrible ride on them, you'll find yourself having a much more constructive ride.  

Rachel.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year, everyone! I hope everyone had an amazing 2015, and I wish you all the best of luck for the year coming :)

For me 2015 was a bit of an interesting year, and quite difficult in terms of horse riding. I spoke about it a bit in Storytime Saturday: Frustration, but I'll reflect on it a little more here. When you start getting into the higher levels of horse riding, it's easy to become overly critical of your own riding and frustrated at all your mistakes and flaws. This is something that plagued a lot of my riding this year, especially as I felt that I wasn't making a lot of progress while everyone around me was advancing. At the beginning of the year, I had a new instructor who, in hindsight, was really quite awful. He was very critical of my riding and my position, but at the same time told me nothing on how I could fix it. I think that he was a reason my self-esteem took a bit of a plummet, and it didn't help that I wasn't able to get out to the stables as much because of school work.

However thankfully things took a change for the better as the year continued. At around May this year that instructor left, and was replaced by my current instructor who is honestly the best coach I've ever had (and I've been through a couple). She doesn't just tell me to do things - she tells me the precise reason why I should do things, explaining the functions of my aids in a whole new way to me. It is with her that I've become a more technical rider, and with the closing of this year I feel like I'm finally making progress again. Recently I've been having some amazing rides and I'm thankful that I'm able to end 2015 on a good note.

This year I went through a lot of obstacles, but I feel like it was a character development year. I've sorted through my problems and am on the road to improvement, and I have a feeling things are only going to get better from here.
So, I'll end this post by saying: 2016, come at me! 

Rachel.