[AtomicTop]

You hear so much about having a good seat when you are involved in horse riding. Yet I see a larger variety of seats out there than in a chair warehouse.
I see guys who ride around here that are our "typical Aussie blokes". Old guys who grew up with horses that live and breathe good riding. They slouch in the saddle, they have their legs far forward and never wear a helmet and they can do amazing things with their horses. They are like one with the animal below them.
Then there is my neighbour, a real horsey lady with 5 horses. She does dressage and wins ribbons and has a trainer that comes regularly. When she rides out, she looks the perfect picture of a rider. Perfect line from elbow to the bit, perfect leg position etc (all the stuff you are supposed to do in a good seat) and yet to me she looks like she swallowed a broom. Unnatural and just....wrong (for want of a better word).
Then I see the endurance riders go past my property frequently. You can see they are great riders and they fall somewhere in the middle of the stiff english and the slouchy stockman.
Now you tell me (a relative beginner) which of those is the best seat. What's best for the horse and perfect communication? There are more opinions out there than there are experts on raising babies.
I get to the point sometimes where I think, stuff them all, I'm just going to ride they way it feels best.
And just by the way, those slouchy old stockman types still get most of my admiration.
I'd love to hear what people think about this in horse forum land. (And by the way, there is no disrespect intended here towards any one school of thought!)

[gluey33]

Interesting point AT. I think a lot of those seats are a perception of the show/competition arena. The old guys have developed their seats through hours in the saddle doing stockwork.checking fences etc. However they don't need a horse that is being asked to collect up and carry itself in a competition.
I think what seat you adopt is dictated largely by what you choose to do with your horses. As long as both you and your horse are comfortable.
I know a couple of guys who break racehorses and they look totally unco-ordinated but manage to sit out stuff that would put a lot of us on the ground.

[AtomicTop]

Originally Posted by gluey33

Interesting point AT. I think a lot of those seats are a perception of the show/competition arena. The old guys have developed their seats through hours in the saddle doing stockwork.checking fences etc. However they don't need a horse that is being asked to collect up and carry itself in a competition.
I think what seat you adopt is dictated largely by what you choose to do with your horses. As long as both you and your horse are comfortable.
I know a couple of guys who break racehorses and they look totally unco-ordinated but manage to sit out stuff that would put a lot of us on the ground.

Yes, that makes sense. I guess you wouldn't ride a stockman's seat when you're dressed in hack costume as you wouldn't have an english seat rounding up cattle. lol And in some way your clothes impact on your seat. I'm just a trail rider but when I'm in the mood for my knee high polished boots on top of my jodhpurs, I ride straight and tall. When I wear my jeans with the old scruffy boots, I slouch and use one hand on the reins high up.

[NotFadeAway]

Lots of professionals let their form let their form go a bit. I personally think it sets a bad example for younger riders. But ya know they are obviously effective so who cares

[Reitpferde]

VERY good question!!! I think you answered it yourself. IMO (humble, of course) a good seat is one that makes rider and horse one, whatever that translates into. Probably one of the reasons, why I am not quite understanding this whole Hunter thing. I don't know about Australia, but when I grew up in Germany, we only delineated between dressage and jumpers. So needless to say, a Hunter judge would probably crinch at my "poor seat".

[Chester]

For those that need clarification, this would be a reasonably typical Aussie seat in a decent stock saddle.




Now on the subject, saddle type helps to define the seat you use and also what you are doing. Even in an all purpose saddle you ride differntley when doing a dressage test in it to chasing a few cows round the paddock.

[longshot]

It really depends on what discipline you are riding and what type of saddle.

For example, I as a reiner sit very differently than a dressage rider. There is no right or wrong - they are simply different and suited to their purposes.

[JBandRio]

Originally Posted by NotFadeAway

Lots of professionals let their form let their form go a bit. I personally think it sets a bad example for younger riders. But ya know they are obviously effective so who cares

I agree that effective is not always pretty. However, there are so many more younger/inexperienced riders who see pros doing all these wonderful things with their horrid "equitation", and want to copy them. They have NO idea what the rider is really doing, but they think that if they lean forward and stick their legs out and flap with their arms that they too can be a professional. It happens in all disciplines, unfortunately

Originally Posted by longshot

It really depends on what discipline you are riding and what type of saddle.

For example, I as a reiner sit very differently than a dressage rider. There is no right or wrong - they are simply different and suited to their purposes.

What any given "proper" equitation looks like does indeed depend on the discipline. But there ARE right and wrong ways of sitting and using your body, for the most part. Once you have enough hours on the backs of enough vastly different horses, then you develop your own style that can still be very very effective, even if it's not a pretty picture. But trying to develop effectiveness without ever learning how to sit and use your body "correctly" can be difficult (and impossible for some people).

To me, a "good seat" is when your entire body is comfortable in itself, is balanced, is able to move with the horse's center of gravity and not pull it off course inadvertently, and can change the horse's center of gravity when called for in order to affect what the horse is doing (or not doing).

[Gypsy Rose]

I think a good seat is one that's basically proper for your discipline, and doesn't go to the extreme one way or the other.

You should never be locked into an equitation position, as you would not be able to ride effectively in all situations.There should be flexibility in the seat position, to allow for horse and rider variables, but it should not be an extreme deviation.

[longshot]

Originally Posted by JBandRio

I agree that effective is not always pretty. However, there are so many more younger/inexperienced riders who see pros doing all these wonderful things with their horrid "equitation", and want to copy them. They have NO idea what the rider is really doing, but they think that if they lean forward and stick their legs out and flap with their arms that they too can be a professional. It happens in all disciplines, unfortunately


What any given "proper" equitation looks like does indeed depend on the discipline. But there ARE right and wrong ways of sitting and using your body, for the most part. Once you have enough hours on the backs of enough vastly different horses, then you develop your own style that can still be very very effective, even if it's not a pretty picture. But trying to develop effectiveness without ever learning how to sit and use your body "correctly" can be difficult (and impossible for some people).

To me, a "good seat" is when your entire body is comfortable in itself, is balanced, is able to move with the horse's center of gravity and not pull it off course inadvertently, and can change the horse's center of gravity when called for in order to affect what the horse is doing (or not doing).

By right and wrong I meant that just because a reiner sits differently than a dressage rider or vice versa it is not wrong. I do agree though that there are right and wrong ways of sitting - in every discipline.

I think that having a good seat means you move in unison with the horse and that your seat is independent from the rest of your body.