Can you tell if your riding position is straight and centered on your horse? Or are you collapsing at your waist and sitting crookedly?

Ask a ground person to stand behind your horse.

1. Is your seat in the center of the dressage saddle so that each seatbone is the same distance from the middle of the saddle?
2. Is the distance between your last rib and your belt equal on both sides?
3. Are your shoulders level (i.e. the same height)?

If your seat isn’t in the middle of the saddle, you’re collapsed at your waist, and your shoulders aren’t level, you’re not balanced correctly.

Here are 3 simple tips to help your riding position to be straight and centered on your horse:

Let’s say you’ve collapsed your left side, your left shoulder is lower, and your seat is off to the right.

1. Bring your right seat bone over and place it on top of an imaginary line that runs down the center of the saddle from the pommel to the cantle.

2. Stretch your left arm straight up so it passes by your ear and your fingers are pointed straight toward the sky.

3. Now to keep your riding position straight, centered, and stretching tall on your horse, pretend you have two sticks of equal length between your last rib and your waistband. If you collapse again, you’ll get jabbed in the ribs by the stick on the left side. And the stick on the right side will end up on the ground.

A Happy Horse