Improving Your Seat – Learning to Move as One With Your Horse

hello and welcome to the show I'm glad you've joined us this week we are going to be working on seat positioning and you're riding I've got Steve one of my three week apprentice students here helping me dust he's doing all the hard work he's gonna carry him around we're going to improve his seat position and teach him how to use his legs to carry his weight through the stirrups and just become one with the horse we're doing all of that on discovering the horsemen within now the Sun is rising slowly on the mountain you must climb and the trail that takes you closer to the source and you dream about the moment when you leave it all behind climb up on that one true and one two perfect partner bill to ride one true upon the cannot be denied you insane remember just to have the cheese take a ride on one true I'm gonna take a read on one true [Music] one of the things I want to talk about before we get started on Steve's lesson is safety this is one of those exercises it can be a lot of fun but you need to know the horse you're working with and you need to know the person that's working on the ground with you I'm gonna turn this horse loose and work at Liberty I want to make sure that that's not going to get Steve in Iraq don't go home and do this with some horse that's gonna get you hurt don't go outside of the barn today and do this on something that's gonna get you hurt it's a lot of fun it's a good exercise but use some common sense and a lot of caution as you go about it the other thing I want to mention I've got my whole class and over here these guys are all over here watching they're gonna interject I know they're gonna be making a little bit of fun of Steve and laughing at him and so if you hear that in the background that's what's going on if you see eggs flying I'm not sure what's going on all right Steve the first thing we're going to do is turn old dusty loose all right so you're gonna have to develop confidence in you and your ability to ride now I want you to think about this your stirrups are attached to the saddle okay fairly firmly in this case my strobes are attached fairly firmly to the saddle if you keep equal weight in those stirrups you're gonna stay in the saddle the saddle is gonna go where the horse goes the horse is gonna go where I tell him okay so I want you to focus on that I'm gonna kind of check your girth here I've used one of my cutting saddles because I want you to ride this horse not the saddle that's something that a lot of times we do especially as Western riders we get a bit of a tight seated western saddle a pretty good front end on it pretty high back and then we don't have to learn to ride we're virtually seat belted in there this case I want you to learn to ride now so you want to look at what Steve's positioning right now his feet are way out in front of him what's that going to do that's going to leave the shoulders behind the drive of this horse it's gonna leave his shoulders behind when he rides so Steve what I want you to do is get your feet here I want you to turn your toes out I want you to push your heels down and that's where you're gonna keep them I want you to sit forward don't brace against the back of that saddle just go ahead and sit a little bit forward get comfortable get relaxed in the center of that saddle and get one hand on the horn okay cuz you're gonna need it I hope not alright I want you to sit comfortable what I'd like to see is for you to sit up just a little more get your shoulders a little straight further forward right there I want you to be in that saddle now I want weight in your feet okay I want less weight in your seat than in your feet you're not sitting in that saddle you're standing in it but I don't want any air between your seat and the saddle alright Dusty's moving off so let's just go ahead and get to work I'm gonna send dusty around here and I'm gonna try to tell you what I'm doing before I do it that's send him forward start out kind of calm let you get moving with him move him up to a trot and once you get those heels down don't push out in front just sit right there now get your heels down relax in that saddle relax your upper body alright relax your upper body set still we're going to change directions watch his ears watch his ears when we change directions here watch his ears change directions here watch his ears letting he's going to tell you where we're going the steno wanted to get in front of you your toes are straight your heels are up turn your toes out heels down just relax and ride move along get comfortable see how hard you're banging on that saddle try to relax all the way through your leg and let that foot absorb the shock turn your toes out get your heels down there you go relax and absorb that shock now you're hitting from the candle to your hand alright you're just kind of banging along in there alright now I want you to go ahead and step down off of him go ahead and stand on the center of the pin now as I move around relax your body okay relax your seat and keep your toes your toes out here heels down and just ride this horse stay focused right here between his ears because when he turns towards you his ear leads that way and so I know that's where we're going keep keep your eyes right there for right now when you look when you get better than your seat of course you've got other things to do when you're looking out here right now you have zero control so you need to know where this horse is going so watch right here when he makes that turn he's gonna lead with his ear keep those heels down those toes out relax on that seat when he moves up to speed you just gotta do the same thing keep those heels down just toes out and just relax hey when he stops whoo same thing keep the seat position to say now is he stop showing us my feet are a little further forward as I reached up to my brake panel okay all right trade me again [Applause] okay we're gonna send him off here relax that seat heels down go ahead and let go of that saddle horn all right now grab it real quick do you see how bad you started bouncing when you let go that horse didn't change gait did you guys notice that when he let go that Sam horn look like somebody playing ping pong ball I mean high as heaven is you did you hear that I'm not as heavy as you are you somehow think gravity as well was keeping you in the saddle right if you didn't hold on without already to float it right out of there as what he's trying to say all right here's what happens steep when you let go of that horn you automatically tightened up you're kind of relaxed because you've got the horn so you're only bouncing about half speed all right cuz you're only about half tense the moment you let go of that horn you went all the way to floor tense right you're like aah and immediately you went from two in that silo okay you got to relax and look where you're sitting right now you're like yeah there you go relax get that back underneath you get those heels down okay you can have a little in front of you but when you're reaching up they're covering its brand you want to get them back behind you a little more okay we're gonna try again heels down there you go now go ahead and let go of that saddle horn put both hands with the reins would be in riding with the set of reins hey relax your shoulders relax your seat grab ahold of that saddle horn take both feet out of the stirrups put those legs down hey go put those legs down forward reach out forward keep your toes up keep your toes up reach out a little forward with your legs I want you to find your seat okay find your seat here don't squeeze your calves relax those calf muscles this is about balance and finding a seat there you go just relax now drop your leg straight beneath you straight down don't squeeze up just hang them straight down there relax there you go we're gonna change directions okay now go ahead and get your stirrups back now toes out heels down relax just relax sit into that you just did your favorite chair back home okay favourite chair doesn't move this much all right let go of that saddle horn all right relax a try we're gonna turn go grab that side of horn we're gonna go hey there you go nice roll back you only grab part of the saddle I check for claw marks when we're done okay they're looking good heels down feet are about right now I want you to do something once you let go of that saddle horn take both sets of reins ride forward now ride forward ride forward ride forward you're gonna ride this horse now there you go you're not sitting on and now you're riding him there you go ride him forward now I'll get ready to ride him into a stop okay all right good now that was some improvement you guys see some improvement that when he started riding forward and going with this horse all of a sudden you and him started going some way okay now go ahead questions it felt a lot easier to whenever you kind of get in rhythm with the horse and that's a lot of love times what we've got to do is get rid of what's in our hand get rid of the problem get forward get soft for that horse okay all right any any questions it's pretty simple and straightforward it is it's just a practice thing I think - okay great why don't you go ahead and step off and this is what I think I think that turnabout should be fair play so I'm gonna let you work me okay all right all right so before I get on this horse I've adjusted my stirrups and and I've gotten quite a lot shorter than what Steve has them and that's for two reasons one obviously he's taller than I am and two I ride quite a lot shorter than a lot of people do because I want to know that when I put my foot in the stirrup I've got some purchase when I when I step down on that stirrup I want to know that I'm where I want to be I don't want to have to be reaching for my stirrups so if I stand up I want to clear that saddle I want to keep a good bend in my knee I don't want my feet under me when they get in front of me we get behind the ride and they get behind me we get in front of the ride any time we pull up into a fetal pose we fall off the ride okay so we want to keep that in mind alright Steve you have the right to do anything you want with the knowledge that your lesson continues after this camera shut off and okay so just starting moving and we're going to talk about this a little bit as we go when you do this exercise I kind of like to start with the hand on the horn well you get comfortable with the horse get comfortable with the movement go ahead and push him up a little bit let's go someplace no Osprey that's too fast no no okay so I want to get those feet underneath me and I want to visualize now that I'm standing on the ground alright so that anything that happens I'm on the ground my center of gravity is as low as it can be now I'm posting a little bit you can sit I don't care what you do if you post at the wrong moment when this horse turns because the person on the ground chooses the turning you're coming off so I'll quit posting and I'll just go to sitting and I want to just start riding this horse as he is if he goes forward I'm going to watch his head if he goes forward I want to go with him if he's going to stop and turn I want to go with him I want to keep that weight on those steps and I want to wait for him riding my pin here and just enjoy the ride for what it is keep that weight on those strips and that's hard to do you want to start sucking up with your likes you want to start gripping I want to start gripping just ride off with him and get comfortable keep that weight in those feet keep those toes turned out those heels down and ride this horse riding more he's out he's responding to outside stimulation not to you this is what happens when they spook on the trail this is why you want to know you're riding the horse not riding right there I got left behind I started to anticipate a turn instead of riding my horse I started thinking what's gonna happen instead of what is happening riding my horse and just ride through here right here Kenny so keep those toes turned out Steve Steve said to me after we shut the camera off he said Ken I felt the huge difference in elope but it's really hard to trot you got to really learn to relax and put some Springs in your knees and keep that weight in your feet and let your ankle start to absorb the shock all right let your ankle start to take that ride instead of your hip pockets taking the ride let your ankle take it okay we just ride around here let your ankle take that ride keep your focus on the horse relax your body as much as you can let that ankle take that ride stay balanced in the center good all right Steve you can go ahead and just kind of get a little more sudden with them and let's just work me a little bit okay so what I'm wanting to do is push my horse and push me there we go ride forward make those turns ride through it there we go make those turns right through there keeping moving yeah good there we go keep that waiting these stirrups when this horse makes that turn open your inside leg ride your outside leg stand on the outside leg and carry that weight through and you're not queueing you're riding so when you open that inside leg it's letting your weight stand on that outside leg right here stand on this leg go around there and let it carry you forward that's give me over here and turn me back again pretty hard okay stand on this leg riding forward let this leg catch alright do that again stand on this leg let this leg catch do that again stand on this leg let this leg catch do it again stand on this leg but this leg catch hey and just relax your seat and keep forward that's mine it was very Doughboy impersonation stand on this leg like this like it and now you're riding your horse okay stop please oh alright well go ahead and bring him to stop cool ok so what you're really doing no matter what's going on you want to learn to keep you wait here you want to ride from here down we tend to ride from here up we tend to muscle guys especially they know if I can get a hold that sound of horn boy gosh I'm not coming off alright what happens is our bodies get so tight even if we stay on we're like oh man that hurt I don't feel very good you want to learn to relax and float with this horse and ride with this horse and get your seat get comfortable and we talked a lot about getting a horse soft we need to talk a lot about getting us soft we need to learn to be soft for this horse so our body's not harsh and smacking into them all the time and soaring them up and making them more uncomfortable we use this cutting saddle it's a big sloppy seat it makes you stay in the center it makes you ride the horse instead of going well I'm gonna hit the front I'm gonna hit the back and I'm gonna stay somewhere in between I want you to be able to ride that horse not just sit on him and not just be a passenger I want you to be an active involved rider who knows what's going on what they're doing and where it's going hey thank you so much for joining us we know that you have viewing options we appreciate you taking the time to watch this show and your interaction with us by email and on the website until next time for more information about Ken McNab clinics appearances and products visit Ken McNab calm perfect [Music] upon the cannot be denied you insane forever just to have the cheese take ride on one true I'm gonna take a read on one [Music] you

Channel: Ken McNabb

Views: 32,983

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Id: QN2G_3mDOjI

Length: 22min 14sec (1334 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 04 2023