I have been taught both ways. The innies say you should sit toward the bend. The outies say you should sit in the direction of movement. Shoulder in is the only lateral movement where you are not moving in the direction of the bend (leg yield doesn’t require bend), so it is the only one with this dilemma. What do you think??? Let’s have a discussion…
Harry Boldt says inside.
But don’t lose control of the outside shoulder - which I I think I guide with my outside thigh and a stable outside rein, but yes, seat slightly insofenworks best for me to stay in balance with the horse and support self-carriage. If I sit to the outside I feel like I am pushing them and inevitably lose engagement, balance and ultimately cadence.
I’ve heard it both ways from various BNTs. Really, I think it boils down to just using your body in the way that creates the best shoulder-in for the horse you are sitting on. I sit on the inside or outside or equally depending on where the horse needs me to be in the moment.
Good question! I struggle with my legs more than my seat. Really want my outside leg a bit forward to influence the shoulder, and the inside leg a bit back to keep the haunches from swinging in, but t I know this is backwards.
I’ve always used and been taught that it’s inside seat bone, inside leg strong, and steady outside rein while pushing with outside leg.
What are you pushing with your outside leg?
Or you meant you are activating the outside hind leg? Which is a good thing.
The weight goes where it needs to be, in balance with the movement. Usually a little more inside the bend.
But there are two school of thought : inside the bend or in the direction of travel. Pick the one your horse prefers.
I try to sit on both equally, but because I push a bit more with my inside leg, I suspect a bit more weight goes there.
Think about the difference in your sit bones weight/loading for a 10 m circle. It is similar in shoulder in (inside is more slightly weighted/active). Of course, ride the horse underneath you! You may not need much difference in your SI.
Anyone weight the inside stirrup? Sort of step into it?
It depends, but usually when you do that, you go into half pass.
Weight goes into the inside, outside knee and thigh control the shoulder, outside lower leg keeps the haunches from. straightening. Putting the inside leg back will push the haunches out resulting in LY on the diagonal, not S/I!
boldt5.jpg - I hope you can see this - not sure if it copied correctly. I’m of the opinion that your leg and seat needs to be where they need to be to help the horse be positioned correctly - horses who swing their haunches out will need support from the outside seat bone and outside leg further behind. Others will need you to consciously keep your inside seat bone weighted on the inside of the spine. Sometimes your inside leg will be further forward, sometimes right under your seat bone, and sometimes a little back.
I’m not usually a fan of thinking of weighting the inside stirrup - what I find is that my students who try to do that actually slide their inside seat bones towards the center of the saddle and the outside seat bone falls way out. It can result in weighting the horse’s inside shoulder and taking weight off the outside hind leg.
Shannon Lee, if they do that (push their seatbones towards the outside), I suspect they are bracing that inside leg overmuch. I do “step” into the inside stirrup when transitioning from a SI to a HP or a HI.
When I ride a SI, I weight my inside seatbone more, the inside leg is on the horse, my inside shoulder is back. Outside leg is there to support. Bringing the inside shoulder slightly back in any movement automatically places more weight on the inside seatbone. It also brings the hands slightly towards the direction of the bend. Turns, lateral movements, pirouettes. All the same.
Well, this thread got me thinking about what I am doing and why. So here it is - YMMV.
First, I don’t think of weighing a seatbone because that too often results in pushing with that seatbone. I think of weighing a stirrup, letting the weight flow down my side into a stirrup. But it is only during a specific time - I weight the hind leg that is bearing the weight, during the time that the other hind leg is moving under the horse. That allows the moving hind leg to take a bigger arc. So SI to the right, the right hind is bearing more weight and the left hind is swinging under the body. So the right hind is weighted, “pinning” that foot down a fraction longer, so the left hind has more time and freedom to move more under. I do not push with the left seatbone. The left spur encourages the left leg to step under.
For the left haunches in, the left hind is bearing the weight and the right hid is moving under the body of the horse. So when the left hind is down, I weight the left hind, and at the same time encourage the right hind to move over and under with the right spur.
Its about pelvis and thigh alignment, and the seatbones come along as part of this package. I agree the rider can not abandon the outside thigh and hip and float way too much over to the inside in an effort to “weight the inside”.
So yes, I sit on the inside but not too hard, and all in combination with what the horse needs. There is actually a slight turning of the pelvis-so if you are using the right bend/right SI the pelvis moves to put the inside thigh firmer on the horse. Many people shove to the inside and then that prevents the energy from going OUT to the outside shoulder then come in. This is why a lot of people do a “neck in”, me included. Bring the shoulder in.
Since on S/I the horses hindquarters are going straight ahead, and the hips of the rider must be aligned with the hindquarters, the hips must stay straight. Since the bend is to the inside, the weight must be to the inside, but not exaggeratedly so., so that the horse moves in a straight line though bent to the inside The rider’s shoulders face almost diagonally in, in line with the horse’s shoulders. The rider turns from the waist to accomplish this.
It would feel, to me, very difficult to put my weight outside,while facing inside and moving toward the outside.
On my pretty light, willing horse, a shoulder-in is gotten just by turning the hips and torso to the inside. So this typically applies the outside thigh and inside seat bone. Rein contact stays the same, stirrups weighted the same. If he isn’t forward enough, it becomes more difficult.
I have this problem. “Weight the inside stirrup” becomes “stand in the inside stirrup” because it’s the only way it makes sense to me to add weight to the stirrup. What has worked better for me when needed is thinking of dropping my weight into my heel - the extra stirrup weight comes along because of it, but weighting my heel doesn’t cause the stiffness weighting the stirrup does.
I have never damage on my lower left side, and even 5 years later still can’t necessarily just weight my seatbones as I want. I very often have to consciously think of things like moving the shoulders to cause the desired effect. At times the shoulder rotation to the right can cause me to get too light on the left seatbone, and I end up leaning in- so in those moments I correct by thinking of taking my right shoulder to my horse’s left hip. But if it’s a more normal day, just the rotation gives the light inside weighting as TF mentioned here.