butt bones + back bones

I have a fairly well documented set of biomechanical flaws when it comes to dressage. Over the years I've worked hard to address it.... but that work has also often taken a back seat to improving the horse's way of going.

Now technically speaking, these two things are directly related to each other but..... Well. When you're a decidedly novice rider on a green horse, with a limited attention span.... Yea. You pick your battles. It's mentally hard for me to work on things like getting a sharp, prompt reaction from the horse while being simultaneously completely absorbed with my own position.

flash back to charlie's first show. we r so gud at dersage, guys

For our latest lesson with dressage trainer C, she decided to take advantage of me getting used to the new Hulsebos dressage saddle to tackle the issue head on. It helped that Charlie was generally in a better mood than last time she saw him, and was fine to just trot along while I worked on me.

My general positional issues are summed up as: Perching on Crotch + Pinching with Knee.

So during this lesson, dressage trainer C helped me think a little bit more clearly about what changes I need to be making to hold everything together.

second show looking a little more like a cohesive unit

Seat Position

- To find the correct seat alignment, sit in saddle with both legs lifted up in front of flaps, up on horse's shoulder.
- Pay attention to what this does to your seat. Should feel seat bones and pubic bone in slightly different alignment.
- Hold that feeling while bringing legs back.
- To adjust legs, one at a time: pull leg off saddle, twist backward such that knee points down and thigh points in toward horse, then push forward into place on saddle. Pick up stirrup.
- Outer thigh seam of breeches should point straight down to ground.

first event, a CT at loch moy with a walk-trot test

- Once your seat and legs are in place, you should still be able to find that feeling of where your seat was when legs were in front of saddle.
- While riding, should feel like you can lift in front - ie, lifting the pubic bone - to go with the horse's movement, rather than lifting in back - ie bouncing the seat bones - which is what I do when I'm perching.
- Likewise, try to clean up post a little bit - remove any little bounce between my up and down, keep it crisp and even from both hips.

first three phase, also first time cantering in a test. i continue to be bitter that the trot circle pictured above earned us a 4, despite being, in fact, a circle that we trotted

Leg Position

- Make sure legs stay directly underneath seat.
- Keep toe pointed forward - which helps bring thigh on and calf off.
- I need to exaggerate the feeling of pushing my calf off the horse, since my tendency is to cling and nag. Feel the leg bouncing off with each step.
- Feel big toe in stirrup iron.
- When applying leg aids, start with Thigh and go down to Knee then Calf.
- If you start from bottom and go up, you actually pop your seat out of the saddle a bit.
- I want to pinch my knee, swing my lower leg back, and cling with my heel. This is WRONG. lol
- Don't worry so much about heel down for now, it's more important that my leg is under me.

fair hill spring three phase - and charlie laid down one of his best tests yet, tho it didn't score well

Torso Position

- When my seat bones are pushed out behind me and I'm perching on my crotch, a natural byproduct is too much arch in my back.
- Work on flattening my lower back.
- The "hinge" of my body should be up front, in the lift of my crotch, vs in my lower back bouncing my seat out of the saddle.
- Visualize bringing my belly button closer to my spine, while keeping my belt buckle lifted.
- When Charlie has moments of softness, my habit is to pitch forward. This is also WRONG.
- Continue to imagine the lift in the front of my abdomen to help him hold himself in balance without falling on his forehand.

our test at jenny camp was.... not our best ever lol

For the record, for this ride I was not thinking specifically about upper body, shoulders, or head and neck position. Those are undoubtedly also critical elements but.... I had enough on my plate with trying to keep my butt, legs, and belly all in the right places at the same time.

pets for a good moy back at loch moy

I also continue to have issues with sitting more to the right than the left, and Charlie continues to have issues with escaping through his left shoulder. For this ride, a big difference maker was keeping that outside left leg under me -- ie, not pinching with my knee but instead really sinking into that seat bone and thigh, straight down through the whole leg, while keeping my eyes in line with Charlie's outside (left) ear.

some comic relief from a dressage schooling show where the judge was basically aghast that i jump this creature, and recommended we go back to the basics (since i guess somehow a BN dressage test doesn't count as "basics"?)

When I've got that alignment, it's much much much easier to use my full position with minimal effort to guide Charlie's body into a more correct alignment. As opposed to when I've got my knee pinched and leg swung all the way back trying like crazy to push the horse around.

test at tranquility was very uneven, but with a few nice moments ripe for cherry picking

For the ride itself, we worked a lot on straightness - which often felt like a little bend left. Particularly, I had to let Charlie travel down a quarter line (no rail as a crutch!) and let him be straight without my holding him there. Correcting as needed.

the next outing at fair hill didn't reflect the softness he had in warm up, but it was a solid effort anyway

Also working a little bit on leg yielding toward and away from the rail. With a big focus on establishing straightness first, then ~3 steps of leg yield, then straight again. Not letting Charlie just take over with a sideways drift.

So we would turn, then wait until we've found nice moments of straightness and softness (ie, not hollow and bracing), then yield. Then straight again. If the yield was going well, I might also think about taking a slight outside bend after a few steps - but continuing to hold the horse's body otherwise the same in the yield. This is just an extra level of complexity and is only for when the other pieces are working. It was also mostly an opportunity for me to remember where all of my body parts are haha.

final test of the year tho.... finally, the pieces were coming together. i fully admit to bursting into tears after our final halt and salute. this horse makes me so proud, guys <3

Canter was where I saw the biggest difference in holding my position. When I can get my seat where it belongs, lifting in the crotch with each stride instead of bouncing with my butt, it's incredible how different it feels. And suddenly Charlie and I are in sync. Only issue is I can't hold it for very long lol. Core strength is a real thing apparently.

I'd honestly really like to see some improvements in all the above positional issues this year, considering I've kinda had the same flaws for years now and am a little tired of making excuses for them. Hopefully the fact that Charlie's a little more schooled now will help. And having a higher quality dressage saddle that makes it easier to put myself in the right place and hold it.... That might help too lol.

We'll see! Do you have any of the above issues too? Or some other persistent habit that's been difficult to correct? Or perhaps you've heard other ways of visualizing or explaining some of the above that really helped you or resonated?