Your Seat, Part 2

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[Admin Edit - For those of you with short memories (or if you can't find the link at the bottom of this page), take another look at Your Seat, Part 1. See It – Do It!]

The Rider's Seat, Balance and Using Both for Control, Part 1 really focused on how your butt should be in the saddle in relation to what your horse is or is not doing. I also talked about using your legs in relation to how you're sitting in the saddle. In Part 2, I want to go into more detail on how I like to use balance.

Think of a teeter-totter. Picture yourself standing in the middle of a teeter-totter with a seat in front of you, and a seat behind you. If you lean forward the seat in front of you goes down. If you lean back the seat behind you goes down. If your horse is running forward with more pressure on his front feet, you are going to want to help him move his balance back to his hind end. To do this, you need to sit back in the saddle. Conversely, if you want your horse to lean forward and run, you need to lean forward to help him do that.

The teeter-totter can also be thought of in a left to right manner. If the horse is leaning into the circle and you are looking down at his inside front leg, you are probably helping him lean into the circle, if not actually causing him to lean inward. If you find this happening a lot start to look over the outside shoulder of the horse and it should help both you and the horse to straighten up. Another way to get this concept is to think about a car. If your car runs out of gas you don't grab the front bumper and pull the car do you? No. You get to the back bumper and push the car. So if you are having trouble with your horse leaning around corners and falling on his forehand/front legs, think of this and get behind the motion to help the horse balance himself. This will help you to sit more balanced on the horse.

Dancing. I love to talk about dancing with the horse. Dancing takes the balance concept I'm talking about and adds a partnership element to it. We can be sitting perfectly balanced and doing all the right things, but the horse may not be helping or trying to stay with us. He's not dancing with us. I'm going to say it again; there's a learning curve to all of this. Great dance partners aren't made overnight. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run. The more you do it, the more you practice, the better you get.

When I first start with a horse I take his temp. Not with a thermometer up his butt, but I get a feel for what he's thinking. If I get on and he wants to trot or feels tight, I won't ask him for too much. If he feels like he is resting and eager to please then I will ask for more. If he's hot I will walk a while to show him what I expect of him which is to walk in a relaxed manner before we start to work.

Remember, horses are creatures of habit. If they're hot and we start trotting them right away to loosen them up or to get rid of some energy then we are teaching them to come out and trot around right away which isn't desirable. But if walk first, they know the walk is the desired response and then we can start to get them loose. They may not like it, but they learn what we're asking from them. After walking I will pick up the long/posting trot. This is the most balanced and easiest gate for a horse. The objective with the posting trot is that not only will the horse get more comfortable, but the rider will get in sync with the horse. The trot's two beat gate, the rider posting to the rhythm of the gate, will start to put the team together in the dance. Once you start dancing and have the beginning of a partnership with your horse, you can use that understanding to your advantage. I'll get into that in Part 3.

Make sense? Let me know. And remember...Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below or share your own thoughts and ideas, and ask questions about this topic by posting on the forum connected to this series. Discuss ->

Need a refresher? Check out Your Seat, Part 1 of Hoyt's 4 part series that addresses Packzilla's questions. See It – Do It!