RIDER ANATOMY AND HOW IT AFFECTS YOUR POSITION

Saddles come in various shapes and sizes and humans in even greater differences in shapes and sizes.  

Much attention is paid to how a saddle fits a horse, and whilst this is the most important factor, it is still beneficial to take the riders 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 limited to - seat bone width, hip socket orientation, pelvic tilt, and leg length rations.  We will only be going into leg length for this article and how the stirrup bar position can play a role.  

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, it is the rider’s responsibility to interfere with the horse’s movement as little as possible.  Long legged riders, as well as riders with a big 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 far back enough for them.  Most jumping saddles have the stirrup bar placed relatively far forward.  

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

Take your feet out of the stirrups and make sure your seat bones are on the correct place in your saddle, not too far back.  Align your heel to the middle of your hips are shown.  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 pictured.  When the stirrup bar is too far from the hip (far forward), the stirrup will sit out in front of the foot.  

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 and heel alignment.  The same can be done in a jumping saddle with shorter stirrups.  

CASE STUDY

A similar phenomenon can be seen in a saddle that is too small for a rider.  We will use myself as an example.  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 ‘small’ back.  Our thought was as a rider, my comfort is not as important as 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 that are built like a table, which really doesn’t help the problem.  That explanation is 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 centimeters, and my shin bone is 38 centimeters.   The longer thigh bone needs to be accommodated by a bigger saddle, even though I am technically a person of small stature.  

Now, back to why 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 kneeroll, but in a saddle that is too small, push my seat back.  Back to what Jochen has to say, my hip is now too far away from the stirrup bar, more to the front of the saddle.  The result? Chair seat, no matter how hard I try.   

This can also be visualized in the image below, however, 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 it is not as far back as it could be.  The stirrup bars seem to be too far in front of her hip, which is putting her into the chair position.  It is not easy for her to have hip and heel alignment without having to pull her leg back.   

Example of saddle that is too small for the rider. The thigh and shin bone are similar lengths.

So what did we do about it?  We sold the small saddle and bought a saddle that was appropriate for my anatomy, a 17 inch, which fit the pony perfectly as well. 

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

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.  A saddle fitter should also measure your anatomy when finding a saddle for you and your horse.  

so what are the solutions?

 Some brands of saddles, for example the Schleese range and some of the Bates models have adjustable stirrup bars.  There are also some brands of saddles that have the stirrup bars set a bit further back by design, chat to your saddle fitter about your options.