Rider Anatomy - How it affects position

By Christie Wolhuter, Owner and Founder of Equibio

SADDLES COME IN VARIOUS SHAPES AND SIZES, AND HUMANS COME IN EVEN MORE!

When it comes to saddle fitting, much attention is paid to how a saddle fits a horse, and whilst this is certainly the most important factor, it is still beneficial to take the rider’s anatomical makeup into account. When looking at performance, small significant changes can add up to measurable improvement. Various aspects of our anatomy that can influence our seat include, but are not limited to, seat bone width, hip socket orientation, pelvic tilt, and leg length ratios. In this article, we will be looking at the role of leg length and how the stirrup bar position can play a role in this setting.

LEG-LENGTH AND STIRRUP BARS

Jochen Schleese, master saddle fitter, owner of Schleese Saddles and founder of Saddlefit 4 Life explains the following in his article, The long and short of it: How leg length affects your riding position:

“The stirrup bar acts like a fulcrum, from which the stirrup leather hangs – forming a pendulum on which your body weight is carried when you put weight into the stirrup. Gravity always wins, so if that stirrup bar is located too far ahead of the rider’s hip, the stirrup bar, acting as a pendulum, swings the lower leg forward so that the stirrup leather is perpendicular to the ground and the rider ends up in a chair seat.”

Now, most would assume it is only important for your leg to be in the right place in dressage and flatwork, but this is not the case. In jumping, when moving over a fence, the only base of support is the stirrup, and where that stirrup is attached to the saddle influences the rider’s position. Furthermore, over a fence, the rider’s responsibility is to interfere with the horse’s movement as little as possible. Long-legged riders, as well as riders with a big length difference between their thigh bone and shin bone, need a saddle that allows their knee to fit correctly in the knee roll whilst still allowing the stirrup bar to be far back enough to prevent them from getting in the way of the horse. Many jumping saddles, unfortunately have the stirrup bar placed relatively far forward.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE IF YOUR STIRRUP IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE?

This is an easy way to measure stirrup bar alignment. In this image, you can see my stirrup sits nice and close to the ball of my foot when I put my leg into hip heel alignment. The same can be done in a jumping saddle with shorter stirrups.

Photography: Merlynn Trichardt

Take your feet out of the stirrups and make sure your seat bones are in the correct place in your saddle, not too far back. Align your heel to the middle of your hips, as shown in the image above. If your stirrup bar is in the correct place, your stirrup leather should hang into a position where your stirrup is near the ball of your foot (see image). When the stirrup bar is too far in front of the hip, the stirrup will sit out in front of the foot.

A CASE STUDY

A similar phenomenon can be seen in a saddle that is too small for a rider. One of the horses I am riding at the moment is our pony Danni, owned by my sister. She is relatively small, and because I am a small rider, 164 cm, we bought her a 16-inch saddle to accommodate her ‘short’ back. Our thought was that as a rider, my comfort was secondary to hers. Now the problem comes in when we take a more in-depth look at my anatomy. I have always had a problem with my lower leg pushing forward. I also have an uncanny knack for buying ponies built like a table, which really doesn’t help the problem (a story for another article!)

Before I founded EquiBio, I thought it was just a problem with my seat and my riding ability, but the more I looked into it, with input from my saddle fitter, Shellea Ripley, the more it seemed like an equipment problem. My thigh bone is 45 centimetres, and my shin bone is 38 centimetres. The longer thigh bone needs to be accommodated by a bigger saddle, even though I am technically a person of small stature.

So why does a saddle that is too small for a rider can cause the chair position? A rider cannot change the length of their femur, so a longer femur will cause a rider to push the knee out of the knee roll or keep the knee in the correct place on the knee roll but push the seat bones further back in the saddle. I tend to keep my knee in the right place in the knee roll, but in a saddle that is too small, push my seat back. Now we return to what Jochen has to say, as my hip is now too far away from the stirrup bar, which is sitting too far forwards. The result? Chair seat – no matter how hard I may try to avoid this.

This can also be visualised in the image shown above. This rider seems to have a long thigh bone and a long shin bone. Her knee is in the knee roll, but you can see her seat bones are too far back, towards the cantle of the saddle. Now, it important to note that most dressage saddles have the stirrup bar placed a bit further back to accommodate the longer stirrup positions, but in this case, it still looks like the stirrup bar is not as far back as it should be for this rider. The stirrup bars seem to be too far in front of her hip, putting her into the chair position. It is not easy for her to have hip and heel alignment without pulling her leg back. So, what did we do about it in my case? We sold the small saddle and bought a saddle that was appropriate for my anatomy, a 17 inch, which fits the pony perfectly as well.

Now a saddle that fits you doesn’t have to cost a fortune. The most expensive saddle with the stirrup bars in the wrong place may still put you into the incorrect position. All of this just goes to show that saddle fit is not just about your horse’s anatomy, but also your own!

This is the correct seat and stirrup bar placement for my anatomy. My leg is relaxed into hip and heel alignment.

Photography: Merlynn Trichardt