Murdoch Minute No. 12: How to Level Your Seat By Wendy Murdoch Reprinted with permission. www.murdochmethod.com
side unless you consciously override this problem. Most of the time riders don’t realize what’s happening. InDo you feel one seat bone more than stead they try to adjust themselves the other? Do slide off one side of over and over. As a rider you might your saddle? Does one leg always feel like one stirrup is longer than stick out more forward than the oth- the other. But adjusting the length of er one? Does your horse always drift your stirrups doesn’t seem to help. or bulge in one direction but not the Or you might notice that you’ve worn other? The answer may be that you a dent into the seat of your saddle. aren’t sitting level in your saddle. Here’s a quick tip to help you level If your or the saddle is the culprit your seat. you will notice the same feeling on every horse you ride in that saddle. Next time your ride, sense your two If the horse is the problem you will seat bones. Maybe you only feel one notice a change when you sit on anseat bone instead of two? Do you other horse in the same saddle. If sense that you are lower on one side you are the one who is unlevel the of your seat? Is this consistent resensations and feelings you observe gardless of which direction you are will be relatively the same even traveling? Or does it feel worse when when you ride in different saddles on traveling to the right (or left) but still different horses. noticeable the other direction? The cause could be one of three things, Whatever the cause you can help you’re not sitting level in your sadreduce or solve this problem with an dle, the seat of your saddle may not ordinary washcloth. Take a washcloth be level, and/or your horse’s back or small piece of towel and fold it in isn’t level. half. Place it under one seat bone. Ride at the walk (you may lose the If your horse’s back isn’t even muscloth at the rising trot). Notice if this cled the saddle won’t sit level on feels better or worse. Double the his back and you will sit low on one cloth and test it again. Keep folding 22 • The Sound Advocate • Issue 2, 2022
