Saddle fitting
Freedom of movement starts with saddle fitting.
Just as with inappropriate shoes, your running technique would be damaged, likewise with the wrong fitted saddle, your riding technique, balance and communication with your horse would be seriously restricted (no matter how fancy is the saddle).
It’s al illusion to think that your horse can stay healthy and perform without paying close attention to the saddle fitting. It’s like running a marathon with any running shoes. Big chances are that you would end up with ankle, knee, hip pain, or even back pain. Not to mention how energy drowning it would be. Then if you combine it with any kind of socks, you can also add blisters hurting you badly.
Same thing applies with saddles and halfpads sometimes added randomly, as if you would put skiing socks in your riding boots, because it would give you more cushioning.
Saddle fitting is crucial to achieve coherent locomotion, free from unnecessary pain or tension.
Concerning the rider, everything starts with the position of the pelvis.
When riding, you should be able to sit with a neutral pelvic position, and follow the horse’s movements from there. Going from neutral to retroversion (tilted backwards), to neutral, to anteversion (tilted forwards). And in walk, going asymmetrically one hip forward, then the other one, in order to follow the swinging back of the horse.
Some saddles force you into a fixed pattern, in order to help you sit still, even when you ride a “big mover”. The idea is always to help. However you can question the long term results on your health.
A healthy body needs movement! Even if you are scared to be shaking around, try instead of choosing a deep seat and big blocks, to train your core and balance through pilates or Yoga. Then you can gain confidence, independence, strength, that will allow you to chose a saddle where you can actually have full pelvic mobility. The conformation of a neutral seat is key, but the knee block arrangement is also to take into account.
When it comes to exploring the rider posture, we often talk about riders asymmetries. However we could even start by the freedom of movement that your saddle is allowing you to have, or in wish ways it does restrict you in a certain pattern.
Both you and your horse need to have freedom to move naturally. If you only think about your horse, you forget that the lack of movement for yourself, will act as a handbrake, reducing a certain amount of swing in your horse’s back.
You are an indivisible biomechanics couple! You need the best interface. The saddle should be a smart yet transparent technology.
