August 8, 2003, Newsletter Issue #137: Saddleseat Riding Tips

Tip of the Week

At the walk, you must maintain an elevated, yet collected frame, that does not prevent the horse from freely moving forward, at either a flat walk or a park walk.

The extreme in all gaits to the Saddleseat Rider is the horse becoming "flat or elongated at any gait in the horse`s frame", and therefore sacrificing the "frame" and the elevation of the gait that is so desired by the Rider thinking that a flattened forward movement is greater impulsion. It is NOT.

At the Trot, the horse must have the most elevation that the horse is capable of performing. The horse must feel that it is allowed to move forward, yet the collection must be maintained in order to achieve the elevation of the frame that is so desired; and to produce the action that is so preferred. The better the horse`s balance, and the collection of the frame, will produce the best elevation and bounce of the horse` gait.

The Rider must keep the seat deep at the base of the seat, and use the feet in the stirrups as anchors for that triangular frame of utmost control for the Rider. The Rider must keep the contact of the upper thigh "on" the horse, and also elevate the Rider`s upper body in order to elevate the frame and the carriage or action of the horse.

IT IS WRONG for the Saddleseat Rider to force the rise of the Trot in order to elevate the horse`s Trot; but rather the Saddleseat Rider must allow the horse to "bump" the Rider up and out of the saddle at the posting position. For the Rider to increase the impulsion, and the elevation of the horse`s gait, the Rider`s position must remain elevated in the upper body, yet soft and supple enough to allow the horse the "feel" of permission to increase the horse`s impulsion and thus elevation and action.

In the Canter, the areas that most frequently distort and ruin the Rider`s position, is to lean forward to stay with the horse during the Canter and thereby loosing the seat contact; or the Rider adopting the "fatal fetal" position. Either of these positions, will flatten the horse`s gait, and cause the Rider to loose their seat, while at the Canter.

At the Canter, the Rider must remain with their center of gravity even more back of the shoulder than at any other gait. To keep a deep and effective seat at the Saddleseat horse`s Canter, the Rider must remain elevated in the upper body frame, and relax the inside thigh contact, sit deeply upon the rear of the seat (of the Rider`s body) and on the lowest part of the saddle, and literally place their center of gravity slightly behind the hip, seat and shoulder of their body.

The more the horse is allowed to loose the "frame" and become elongated or to become strung out or flat in the Canter, the more the Rider will be prone to loose their contact with the saddle in their seat.

The proper Canter for a Saddleseat horse, is either the Carousel canter or the Rocking Horse canter. Any other type of Canter movement will make sitting deeply difficult for the Saddleseat Rider. As the horse`s frame and gait become flat, the Rider will automatically come forward and up out of the saddle.

It is for the Rider to practice at home with their horse, to keep upright and elevated in order to keep the horse cantering in an upright and elevated frame and therefore produce both a picture of harmony, but also one of esthetic beauty.

In Saddleseat, at the Canter, the Rider should not be striving to achieve a forward Canter, but an elevated Canter. If the horse is becoming flat, then the first thing the Rider should be checking in themselves, is, "am I asking for too much forward movement. Should I rather back off asking for more impulsion, and channel the impulsion necessary into a relaxed and more upright motion?"

More next week.

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