I have a strong belief that in order to be an effective rider, we need to look at biomechanics instead of focusing on equitation. If we understand why it’s important to have correct posture for both ourselves and our horses, it holds a lot more value than the “heels down, sit back, hands together” version of learning how to ride. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at some important biomechanical aspects of riding, why they’re important, and how it helps you and your horse stay in harmony.
Let’s first take a look at your overall riding position – where your ankle, hip, shoulder, and ear should be in alignment. Think of yourself as the pole on a carousel. This alignment allows you to keep your muscles softly engaged, yet stay supple in your body. If you become misaligned, tension will pop up, causing you to hold in your shoulders, back, or hips. This interferes with your horse’s movement as well as your ability to stay properly balanced. Next time you’re riding, imagine your horse disappearing out from underneath you. Would you land on your feet? Next, try this theory in two-point. Pay close attention to the weight distribution through your leg and into the balls of your feet. Again, would you land on your feet or fall forward or backwards?
Let’s now shift our focus to the thigh. It’s important to keep in mind that the thigh bone should be close to 45 degrees to the vertical for best balance and effectiveness. When talking about position, it’s more effective to look at our skeletal position since we’re all different shapes and sizes. Some of us carry more or less surface area on the saddle than the average sized person, so advice on position referencing bones can be a lot easier to understand. If the knee is sitting too far up, this puts us too far back behind our seat bones, causing difficulty when using seat aids and going with the movement of the horse. When the knee sits too far down, it’s common to feel as if we’re perched up towards the pubic symphysis instead of the seat bones. This causes compensation through our core which can travel throughout our arms and legs.
Riders who sit more “perched” forward through their seat will look like they’re hesitant to sit fully on the saddle (the saddle is lava!!!!!!!!) whereas a rider too far back on their seat bones may look as if they’re sinking into it – trying to hold themselves in it despite an invisible force over them trying to lift them straight up off the saddle. Either of these analogies can be helpful to think about for a rider who does perch or sink into the saddle. Try the opposite analogy of your habit, just without as much exaggeration.
When we look at the biomechanics of posting, it’s really important to remember that the movement is more of a swing and less of a pump. The trot is a swinging gait, and each diagonal pair of hooves plant and propel your horse forward. If we simply think about posting up and down, we are “left behind” and land towards the cantle of the saddle. This can quickly become a situation where we compensate for that by dropping our chest forward, allowing our core to collapse and our seat to get behind us. When this happens, our leg comes forward, our hip flexors lock, and in extreme cases it can become completely impossible for the rider to post. If we swing our tailbone towards the pommel of the saddle when posting and keep our back flat, we match the horse’s forward thrusting trot sequence with this motion much more easily. It’s also important to note that the posting action of the rider shouldn’t cause any disruption in the lower leg position.
As we move to the upper body, it’s important to remember that overbending through our spine and rib cage is counterproductive. The degree of rotation through our body as we turn our horse should align with the degree of bend our horses are forming. One exercise that can help us stay more engaged through our upper body is to raise a hand up over our head in the posting trot. During the sitting sequence, the palm should actually reach slightly forward and up. This is the result of countermovement from our pelvis moving downwards, and an indication of the proper degree of suppleness needed from the pelvis to the head. It’s a critical skill to learn how to extend the connected feeling from the saddle through our upper bodies. If our core is too tense or we’re bracing through our ribcage and shoulders, this countermovement of our hand will most likely get “stuck” somewhere in the torso.
The position of our head directly influences the position of our hands. Riding with a tilted head is a common habit for many of us. This creates issues with keeping elasticity through the contact and the degree of feel necessary to know when to use subtle rein cues, like a half halt. It’s important to look in the direction you want to go, and keep your ears level. If you find you’re holding tension in your neck, simply look left and right before introducing a more fixed position of level ears.
There are many other instances where understanding how your position affects your balance – and influence on your horse – will improve your equitation. This approach is more about finding the most balanced movement patterns without necessarily trying to “fix” a rider’s position. At the end of the day, good equitation is good biomechanics!
Thanks for reading! If you’d like to listen to this while riding, I will have a podcast episode up shortly where I recap this article. Make your next ride a confident, connected, and harmonious one. Take care!