When I was a kid working at a riding school in Sydney I would do a day's work and in return I’d get a riding lesson. The riding school was owned by a Dutch couple whose pet disciplines were dressage and showjumping. So all my lessons focused on how to sit in the saddle and use my aids. It didn’t matter if I was riding over poles, canter a circle, shoulder in, rein back, etc. it was always “title your pelvis back…” or “relax your shoulders…”, or “look up ahead…”. Everything involved drilling the way I sat in the saddle and how I used my seat, legs, and hands.
I notice that very many schools of riding and training continue to focus largely on how a rider sits. If a rider does not sit well a horse cannot move correctly and can’t balance correctly. Almost everything that is wrong with a horse’s movement and balance can be corrected by how a rider rides.
This makes a degree of sense when you consider that the job of a rider is to maintain a centre of gravity (COG) that is as closely aligned to the horse’s centre of gravity (COG). The more aligned a rider’s COG is with a horse’s COG the less the rider hinders the movement and balance of the horse. Perfect sense. I agree that sitting well and using our seat well so that our COG and our horse's COG align as closely as possible during every movement. It makes us less of a burden for a horse to carry through all its movements.
An obvious example of this is the role of the seat and COG the jumping seat easily comes to mind. Frederico Caprilli (1868 - 1907) was an Italian cavalry officer who revolutionized the jumping world by coming up with the forward jumping seat. As a horse prepares to leap over a jump its COG shoots forward. The forward seat allows the rider's mass to go with the horse and not drag behind the horse's COG, thereby reducing the burden of carrying a rider over a jump.
But….
There is a difference between riding correctly and riding effectively. A rider can be a very correct rider, but an ineffective rider. Conversely, many effective riders do not have a fantastic seat or ride with perfect correctness (eg. Nuno Oliviera).
Nobody would ever accuse me of sitting brilliantly on a horse. But most people who have attended clinics would agree that I am a very effective rider. Why am I able to get changes in a horse even if I look down and round my shoulders that better riders struggle to get?
Horses can and do overcome factors that make it harder for them to execute movements. Every horse has to overcome conformational issues and lapses in rider position that can hinder their movement.
As an example, in western riding, it is so common that when executing a side pass to the right the rider shifts their weight to the left. YouTube is full of videos of Western trainers demonstrating this practice. This moves the rider’s COG to the left while the horse’s COG is moving to the right. The rider becomes a drag on the horse. Yet most horses learn to side pass with a high degree of straightness despite a conflict between the rider’s COG and the horse’s COG.
A rider who is correct in their position is not automatically effective. An effective rider is a rider that conveys clarity through their feel and timing. Clarity is the essential component for the correctness of movement. Just because a rider sits well and has good balance does not mean they are expert at clarifying their intent to a horse’s mind. Good riding is not automatically the same thing as effective riding.
By all means, being a correct rider and an effective rider is the ideal option. We should all aspire to minimize the burden we place on a horse to carry us and we should all aspire to improve our feel and timing to be more effective. However, I don’t believe it is true that the correctness of a rider’s position is the ultimate aim or the most important factor in how a horse performs. I know many brilliant riders who any riding instructor would just bury their face in frustration. If I had to choose, I’d always choose to be clearer and more effective. I think my horse would want that too.
I look at this photo and see several adjustments I would make to my seat and position. But I then look at the horse and think to myself, “Bon has made a good change, so that’ll work.”