The Seat Explained

The seat has two meanings.

One is the specific area of contact that extends from the lumbar

back down to the knee, in other words, whatever moves from the lumbar area down to the

knee is the rider's seat.

But in a broader sense, the rider's seat is everything because its influence is entire, from the top of the head, which should be the highest point, of course, to the bottom of his heel.

The seat should be a cohesive unit that comes to the horse as a communication medium and as a transformation medium, one that is communicating cohesively and as a unit rather than in bits and pieces. I would like to say that even when a teacher gives specific directions to the rider to do something with his arms and with his legs, those directions

influence the rest of the rider. Because the rider is one person, he must communicate as one unit, one seat.

Riders should have balanced, deep, adhesive seats that allow them to make independent aids. Riders who remain adhesive to the saddle and their horses do so because they

understood and they learned that when the horse impacts on the ground the two points of

absorption are in the lumbar back and ankle. Riders who stiffen the ankle paralyse the toe

outward or downward, or push themselves away from the saddle to some degree. Riders

who cannot absorb the horse's movement in the lumbar back will, of course, pop loose of

the saddle and part from it.

Correct riding is done with the abdominal muscles, not with the back.

The rider's lumbar back should always remain relaxed. It should act as a hinge that allows

the pelvic structure to float forward with the horse's motion. The lumbar back allows the rider to remain isometrically toned - not tense -- in his torso while letting the buttocks and thighs remain adhesive to the saddle. The buttocks, the pelvic structure, should not slide on the surface of the saddle. Nor should the buttocks wipe or buff the saddle but rather "stick to it to allow the pelvic structure to surf the “wave" produced by the motion of the horse's back.

In contrast to the loose and supple use of the lumbar back, the torso above it should be

turned into one isometrically toned "cabinet." The rider's “cabinet" is a complex isometric unit.

For its formation, the rider should circle with the points of his shoulder back and down until

both shoulder blades are flat in the trapezius muscle of the back. This action will stabilise the posture of the torso. It will allow the front of the rider to lift the rib cage high, out of the abdominal cavity. It will broaden the chest, straighten the shoulders, stretch the front of the rider, and give him the feeling that the lowest ribs have been lifted, and the waist is more slender.

The rider's upper arms should then hang from his shoulders perpendicular to the

ground. This, importantly, stabilises the arms, hence the hands of the rider because in this

position the upper arms and elbows hang weightlessly. The earth's centre of gravity places

them. The direction of the upper arms and elbows will point to the rider's seat bones, and past them, to the ground. The stability provided by this upper-arm position is at the heart of riding - from the seat to the bridle, rather than wrongly, riding with the hands. For the vertical position of the upper arms is, indeed, responsible for the transferring of the seat's effects to the bridle.

Extract from Dressage Principles Illuminated by Charles de Knuffy p.140

To understand how to use your lower back to develop an adhesive seat, sit at the edge of a chair, and place your feet on the floor in line with, and under your hips.

Thrust your pelvis forward so that you lift the back legs of the chair off the ground. Then rock the chair forward and backward to various different tilting angles and at different

rhythms without dropping the chair's back legs to the floor.

As you ride the walk, trot, and canter, this action simulates the movement of an adhesive seat by emulating the pelvic activity necessary to follow the horse's movement.