Yes, it is fantastic when a young rider shows an interest in dressage, but please have them learn to jump and ride in the fields or on the trails also. The instructor can do so many more exercises to improve balance with the stirrups four holes shorter. This same student, once competent, may want to start a young horse and then needs to know how to ride the forward seat. It is a form of cross training right there at the barn.

    Now to our adult riders. This is going to become a bit personal, so look for some privacy and maybe a mirror as we are going to introduce our bodies to ourselves. For the purpose of this article there are just three major areas I want to look at because they are, if used incorrectly, preventers of the independent seat: your spine, your hip and the gripper muscle on the inside of your thigh.

    Your spine in its normal curvature is perfect for absorbing shock. It also allows the hip to rotate forward and backward, and these movements enable your seat to swing along with the back of the horse and keep you in place. If, however, the spine is not in its natural form, it will block the hip and the resulting stiffness will make you loose in the saddle and you will lose your balance. Please stand sideways and see yourself in the mirror. The last time you did this you were probably looking at the front of your body. Now, please concentrate on the back side. Be honest with yourself and stand the way you think you normally would. Let me repeat here what I stated at the beginning of this article. There is no such thing as a correct seat. It looks different for every rider. You and your instructor must decide what the best seat is for you. Some posture problems, however, are equally detrimental to everybody. Check first at the top of your neck where the spine enters the head. That is the occipital joint that if bent either too far backward or forward will block your hip. The best position is with your eyes looking ahead and slightly down, about the way our ancestors would have as they were walking along looking for game or danger. The next point of special interest is on the other end of the neck. With our head held too far forward you will also block the hip. Another place that will lock the hip is where the spine joins with the pelvic ring. The hip will lock if the rider has hollowed her back too much or if she has rotated her seat bones too far forward (bracing of the back).

    Stiffness is also often just simply the result of lack of use. The remedy in that case is to just start using it. In order to avoid injury, please start gradually and learn a proper warm-up. You want to mobilize the joints and stretch and strengthen the soft tissues around them. My suggestion is to talk to an expert in that field and begin exercising.