Easier to get bucked off in a dressage saddle vs. a jumping saddle?

[FineAlready]

I got bucked off HARD yesterday. Concussion, trip to the ER, etc. I recently switched from hunters to dressage. I’ve ridden out this kind of bucking from him in a jumping saddle many times, but he really got me good yesterday. I really feel that I came off, in part, due to riding in a dressage saddle (I’ve had it about five months).

My analogy is this: riding in a jumping saddle is like being a coin in a dish - lots of places to go, you can kind of slide around and still reposition; riding in a dressage saddle is like you are a plug in an outlet. Once you are out of the outlet, you’re just OUT.

Anyone else have thoughts on this? It kind of freaks me out. I’m known for my stickability, and I just could not salvage it this time. I could not tell you the last time I got bucked off. I legitimately think it was about 15 years ago. The BO apparently said to my husband in the ER, “I just can’t believe he got her off!”

Is this a known “thing” with dressage saddles? Will it get better with time? My horse can be like this in winter, and I’m hoping not to have a repeat incident!

[SaddleUp158]

I have never thought about it that way. Personally, I have always figured it would be easier to stay on because of the deep seat. You have a point though, I will have to think about it a little more. Though, I am sure part of it is just getting use to the particular saddle, I have no idea.

[mjs8]

Out of curiosity, what type of dressage saddle are you riding in? Really deep seat? Big blocks?

When I started riding more dressage and less over fences, I felt like my leg was a lot less secure (heels no longer anchored down and snug leg, now leg has level foot and longer looser feel). Between that and the change in saddle, I felt like I was a mess.

I hope you’re healing well! Stay safe and get some rest!

[HorseKrazy]

I imagine it depends on the type of seat/saddle you are riding in. They make very different types of seats, some very deep and some more open. Also, just crossing over from a new discipline it can take awhile to find your center of gravity in any new saddle. sorry you took a hard unscheduled dismount. I hate those…

[SuzieQNutter]

I don’t know as I have only sat bucks in a dressage saddle.

I have heard that Western Riders call Dressage Saddles Ejector Seats, but, touch wood, so far so good for me.

[ToN_Farm]

I have read articles that claim that long stirrups in a dressage saddle is a more secure seat, but I totally disagree. Once they buck you up out of the dressage saddle seat, you lose your irons and off you go. I’ve ridden quite the contorsions in a jumping saddle and stayed on, but have fallen off several times in a dressage saddle. I think it has more to do with the stirrup length than the saddle.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

I’ve known several people who have said how hard it is to switch from hunters to dressage. The positions are so very different. You just might not be as stable in the dressage position as you were in your hunter position.

[Gloria]

Yes and no. When in a hunt seat saddle, due to the greater degree of angles throughout your legs, you have more “joints” space to handle a buck, which is especially true if you get on your two points. When in a dressage saddle, you lose the angles inherent from the hunt seat riding (longer, straighter legs), which mean if you try to ride in your dressage saddle in a somehow forward seat (as in hunt seat riding), which is many times the case for hunt-seat-rider-turned-dressage, as in the case for riders that turn into fetal position in crisis, you can get easily unseated. In dressage saddle, you need to plug your weight into your seat bone into your saddle.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

I find it much easier to ride through bucking in a jump saddle. Easier to get off their back and send them forward. Can I stay on bucking in a dressage saddle…sure…although easier if my stirrups are a touch shorter. But just like I can jump a fence in a dressage saddle…it is MUCH easier in a jumping saddle.

This is one of the reasons I typically start all my green horses in a jump saddle first before putting a dressage saddle on them.

If I have any concerns I’m may be dealing with a fresh bucking horse…they get a jumping saddle. But I’m an event rider so more used to switching back and forth. I can do dressage work in my jump saddle too…and right now that is all I’m riding in as it fits my current horse better than my dressage saddle. New custom one is being ordered for the boy…picky bugger…forces me to do more without stirrup work though so that is good for me.

[Sancudo]

[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7915390]
I find it much easier to ride through bucking in a jump saddle. Easier to get off their back and send them forward. Can I stay on bucking in a dressage saddle…sure…although easier if my stirrups are a touch shorter. But just like I can jump a fence in a dressage saddle…it is MUCH easier in a jumping saddle.

This is one of the reasons I typically start all my green horses in a jump saddle first before putting a dressage saddle on them.[/QUOTE]

This, and what Gloria said. I can ride out a lot of hijinks in two point with shorter stirrups. For me, I’m very long, almost 6 foot. I feel like my center of balance is more stable with shorter stirrups and forward shoulders in two point-- less length to throw around I guess. The same reason why bull riders are shorter.

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

In my experience, “yes”

In my experience, yes, it is easier to get bucked off in a dressage saddle than a jump saddle. Of course, I am only a sample of one and an an adult “re-rider” who for the last two years has intermittently been trying to learn to ride “English”. The horse I ride is a 12yo TB who is very well trained, but he is not a packer or a baby sitter, and he periodically “tests” me. His signature move - when I am riding - is a spook/bolt/buck combo, and he has bucked me off while riding in the dressage saddle several times. The last time he tried that specific move in the jump saddle, I rode it out.

My working theory has been that the dressage saddle fits a bit better esp in the wither/shoulder area making it easier for him to buck harder - but that’s only a theory.

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7915390]
I find it much easier to ride through bucking in a jump saddle. Easier to get off their back and send them forward. Can I stay on bucking in a dressage saddle…sure…although easier if my stirrups are a touch shorter. But just like I can jump a fence in a dressage saddle…it is MUCH easier in a jumping saddle.

This is one of the reasons I typically start all my green horses in a jump saddle first before putting a dressage saddle on them.

If I have any concerns I’m may be dealing with a fresh bucking horse…they get a jumping saddle. But I’m an event rider so more used to switching back and forth. I can do dressage work in my jump saddle too…and right now that is all I’m riding in as it fits my current horse better than my dressage saddle. New custom one is being ordered for the boy…picky bugger…forces me to do more without stirrup work though so that is good for me.[/QUOTE]

i would agree with everything above.

for me, my dressage saddle puts me in a different position… and i will be the first to admit it is not as secure as my position in my jump saddle.

[chisamba]

Not for me but i guess it is what you are used to. I was on a horse in my first western saddle, and it started bucking, so i took it in, and put my dressage saddle on so i could ride it better. Anyway, i do not ride with a very very long dressage stirrup, still have a bend in my knee, and i find it easier to ride a buck in it, however, i usually do my best to very quickly disarm a buck and put the horse back on the aids so i do not usually have to sit more than one.

[ChristinaClarLuisa]

In my limited experience it’s much easier to prevent the buck–or “iron out” a small buck. But the serious gonna-get-you-now buck is a fail. Once the surface of britches is 6" out of the saddle, when you fall back there is nothing for the upper thigh to grip. Why I hate big knee and thigh rolls…

[FineAlready]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. To respond to the person who asked: it is a Schleese HK which is custom fitted to him and me. My jumping saddle is/was a County Stabilizer, which is pretty minimal and open. I also rode him in my old PDN (very minimal) from time to time.

I think part of it is that I do ride out bucks in a bit of a half seat normally. I don’t think I can do that in the dressage saddle. The evidence suggests I can’t, anyway. Ouch.

The icing on the cake is that I also got rear ended by a hit and run driver at a stop sign today (I am cleared by my doc to drive). I’m afraid to leave the house now. I really want to get back on my horse sooner rather than later, because I don’t want fear to set in. But I can’t until my new helmet arrives and my concussion fully resolves. I lunged him today. He was fine for that.

[ChristinaClarLuisa]

Oh, poor you, Fine! Randomness definitely ganging up on you:mad:

[Big_Grey_hunter]

If I’m expecting bucking/bolting/spooking I prefer my dressage saddle. The long leg position and deeper seat help me stay centered (and stay on!)

I’d say it’s a mix of how well the saddle fits you, what you’re used to, and personal preference. If the switch was recent, your probably not quite as balanced and strong in the different position the dressage saddle puts you in.

Jingles for a quick recovery!

[RJC]

I switched from hunters to dressage a year ago. My dressage saddle made me VERY insecure and wobbly at first (I would almost fall off when my mare suddenly ran around her own pee splotch), but now I feel insecure in a shallower hunter saddle. I think the hunter position in the dressage saddle makes you pretty insecure and top heavy when combined with the long stirrup leathers. At least, once I figured out how to sit in a correct dressage position, I no longer became unseated when my mare would have silly moments. Now when I (rarely) jump all I hear is “GET OFF HER BACK!”

Sorry you fell off, but I think you’ll adjust in time.

[Foxtrot_s]

I absolutely think the jumping style saddle is more secure - especially if one is not so used to a dressage saddle. Seen it many times and felt it myself.
That is why the stirrups are shortened x-country for a more secure seat.

[netg]

I hope you’re ok and recover very quickly!

[QUOTE=Miss Anne Thrope;7915380]
I’ve known several people who have said how hard it is to switch from hunters to dressage. The positions are so very different. You just might not be as stable in the dressage position as you were in your hunter position.[/QUOTE]

This. When I boarded I used to ride in the early mornings on my bucker at the same time as a young jumper trainer rode her young GP bucker. He had the ability to get around a GP course - you bet he could buck HIGH! She would ride him out, taking the motion of his bucks through the joints in her legs laughing at his antics all the way.

On the other hand, with my gelding in a dressage seat, the goal is to prevent the bucks from ever happening. If you’re in dressage saddle and don’t have your dressage seat fully developed, I can see it being MUCH harder. However, as I ride through a lot of bucks (not really something you want to develop skill in, but hey, you do what you have to) my seat doesn’t leave the saddle by 6", it stays planted in the saddle. I move with my horse, and push him out of it so there are rarely two consecutive bucks, and rarely large ones. At this point they basically only occur when he’s being obnoxious and I have to correct him strongly, because I want a response and he is trying to tune me out. If the response is a buck at least it’s a response, and when I repeat the correction the next time he usually does as I ask.

I’m nowhere near the rider I wish to be, but by necessity one of the first things my current trainer did when I started riding with him was teach me how to get my butt in the saddle and keep it planted. We still have the occasional random leap into the air with all 4 about 3’ off the ground and no warning, and I am always alert and aware and in correct position on him because of it. Not a horse I relax and get lax about position on… because if I’m caught unaware, no doubt I’ll hit the ground in a millisecond.