What is chair seat?
Chair seat is an old term the coaches, trainers riders use to describe when a rider, sits more on their seat bones in the saddle, much like if you were sitting at a table on a regular chair. In the photo to left you will see a rider sitting in a chair and this is effectively the position of the point of hip and the heels. You will notice that the heels are ahead of the hips.
There is more than one reason why a rider sits in a chair seat. One reason would be rider is unbalanced and keeps falling backwards in the rising trot then the leg shoots out in front of the rider when they land on their seat bones or what I say to my riders is their back pockets (much like if the rider were riding in jeans).
Another common reason for new riders, is the length of reins. Riders who ride with too long of reins tend to lift them up when they need to pull thus, putting themselves off balance. The simply fix to this issue is to shorten the reins and bring the shoulders forward and then the leg will come underneath the hips. For more information on proper rein length – please check out the video Improve Your Riding: Shorter Reins
Another reason riders sit in chair seat is simply not understanding how to properly balance in the saddle. The correct position in the saddle to maintain the hip/heel line and be balanced is to have your pelvis at the correct angle. This angle engages the core muscles and enables the horse rider to relax the thigh, calf and knee and allow the leg to hang down the side of horse while maintaining balance.
How to fix chair seat
To find this position in your saddle, ensure you are sitting in the deepest spot of the saddle and then tilt your pelvis forward until you can feel both your seat bones and your pubic bone at the same time.
If you have trouble finding that position in the saddle try placing one hand under your seat and rotate your pelvis more.
This week we will create a video to explain this in a little more detail. In the meantime, please feel free to check out some of the links below. Chris Cox does a very good job of explaining the position of the seat here in this video Finding a Good Seat Position
You can also check out Common Position Mistakes in Riders on our Youtube page.