horses and human biomechanics

[goddessfarmer]

Way back when I was a wee thing (yes, I was wee, forty-mumble years ago) and riding recalcitrant ponies, galloping haphasardly across the countryside and jumping whatever could be jumped over, it was height of the DeNemthy era of US showjumping, George Morris was still ascending, and the US won everything on the international Jumper circuit, and a fair bit on the Eventing circuit too. Back then, my instructors talked about shoulders back and sitting more on the crotch bone than the 2 seat bones, creating an effect of having the top of the hips tipped toward the front of the horse and, when one straightened ones back and shoulders properly, created an arch in the back. Go forward a few years, to when I was given my first Dressage instruction - and was told to tip that pelvis back, put more of the seat bones in the saddle. While my jump instructors kept saying to put my shoulders back, no one corrected that back-tilting pelvis, until 1-2 years ago. Between then and now I've taken a lot of instruction from many instructors, some of whom have relatively famous names in their specific sports, be it Dressage, Show Jumping ot Eventing. Today, as I was walking down a steep hill on Costa, it hit me - if I keep the pelvis tilted forward, weight even between the crotch and seat bones, it's much, much easier to keep my shoulder blades back and down, therefore freeing up my hand to follow the motion or lending strength to my back if I have to use a rein aid. CLICK. Light ON. All of this should be obvious! I have struggled with my position and stability both jumping and with the Dressage for many years. I knew that applying the aids effectively didn't have to be this hard. It took going back to my 14 year old mind to find my position again. Now to keep it and become strong again.

Compare my seat in the photo below to the user icon above. Below is far better.

Comments

[frotz.livejournal.com]

I'm curious what difference (if any!) the lack of stirrups (well, and saddle) makes to the seat of past-you in that picture. (It always seems to help me, though I wonder if some of that is a matter of bad saddle fit!)

[goddessfarmer.livejournal.com]

Saddle or not shouldn't matter to the hip much. I don't have many (and none digital) non-jumping photos from back then, but I remember the change. I rode enough bareback both before and after and during the change back that it makes not much difference to me if I have a saddle or not. I could see a badly fitting saddle impede your seat quite a lot, but thankfully I've not had to deal with that much.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the lightning-fast reply! (Such are the hazards of other people's horses, I suppose. The saddle my most frequent ride gets is not horrendously-fitting, really, but I'm far enough out of the usual equestrian spec that random saddles are usually a compromise at best.)