by Ginny Creed

If you grip constantly with your legs you are telling the horse to go forward all the time, which means it will either be constantly taking off (ex racehorses especially) or learning to ignore your legs completely (the average riding school horse).

So, how do we obtain this amazingly deep, well balanced independent seat?

First you must realise that you can't have balance without relaxation.

Conversely, you can't relax if you are not balanced...try relaxing when you are hanging off the side of the horse and you'll see what I mean.

The best way to approach the issue is to obtain relaxation first, and then the balance will usually take care of itself.

Think of the humble bean bag.

If you hang it over a rail or the back of a chair, it will balance happily, with half the beans on one side and half on the other.

This is because there is not tension in a bean bag.

The rider, however, tries to hang on with both legs and, immediately pushes his or her bottom out of the saddle.

Like a tube of toothpaste, if you hold it upright and squeeze, the toothpaste comes out the top.

If you don't squeeze, it stays put.

Let us start now, with relaxation.

The best way is to have a quiet, but obedient lunge horse. Then sit on the horse with someone holding it.

Have the stirrups crossed over the front of the saddle or removed altogether.

The reins are best tied in a knot with the buckle done up around the front dee of the saddle &endash; this allows some brakes and steering in case of emergency.

It also stops the reins falling over the horse's head if it puts it too far down.

The first thing to attend to is your breathing.

Breathing

When we are tense or nervous our breathing becomes fast and shallow with the upper chest and shoulders doing most of the work.

When we are properly relaxed, the breathing is centred much lower, below the ribs, at the diaphragm.

If we focus our breathing in the abdomen, rather than high in the chest, our centre of gravity is lower.

The lower the centre of gravity, the deeper the seat.

Your breathing should be slow, controlled and regular. As you work on your breathing you should be aware of a relaxing in your body.

Try to make your body feel heavy, so that you can feel your weight in the saddle.

Presuming you have become relaxed, we must work on the rest of the body.

We start with the legs, because they are the parts of the body which are the most difficult to get into the correct position.

Not only are they required to stretch out sideways, but they seem to require an unnatural curve to stay down the side of the horse.

Anyone who has seen bandy legged cowboys in the old western movies know just what I mean.

The hip joint must be loosened to allow free movement of the leg.

Tension in the top of the leg will prevent the rider from sitting properly on his or her seat bones.

Most riders have the upper leg too far forward, which forces the lower leg forward so that the rider look like he or she is sitting on a chair.

The correct position for the rider is achieved when there is a straight, vertical line through the shoulder, hip and heel .

The first exercise for the legs is simply to lift the knee as high as you can, keeping the heel tucked under your bottom.

This loosens the hip joint, stretches the back of the leg and, equally important, it rounds the lower back and pulls your bottom underneath you.

Hold the leg up for the count of five and slowly lower it to a position as close to the vertical as possible, hold there for five seconds and repeat.

The idea is to perform the exercise slowly and carefully with complete control and don't forget to breathe.

Repeat the exercise 10 times for each leg, are more relaxed and you are sitting deeper in the saddle .

To increase the difficulty of this exercise, the leg is lifted up and the lower leg is brought over the horse's neck in front of the saddle.

It helps here to have one hand on the front of the saddle and one on the back to assist with your balance and confidence.

The hand on the back of the saddle, should be on the same side as the leg being lifted, otherwise it's in the way.

Now that the legs are relaxed, we must pay some attention to the ankles and feet .

So many instructors say "put your heels down" and so often the rider is thinking "I am" or "I can't" or "they won't go down".

The answer is easy.

Firstly many people have very little movement in the ankles, so doing circles inwards and outwards with the toes is recommended.

Then push the toes down as far as you can, then lift them up as far as you can and feel the muscles near your shin really working hard.

Once we have our ankles a little more mobile, move the heel back under your hip and lift your toes.

There we have it...heels down.