Hi everyone,
I gained quite a bit of weight over the past two years (about 20 lbs) and it feels like the additional weight slowly starts to impact the quality of my seat. Before my weight gain I had a very balanced, stable seat, whereas now, I feel quite “wobbly” and struggle to give differentiated aids. Did you have similar experiences?
If weight gain also involved loss of fitness overall or you have been riding less, that will certainly have an impact on your stability.
I see from your previous posts you’re an advanced beginner. That’s a tricky place because ones skills are still tentative and so much can upset them. New saddle, new horse, wrong saddle, different stirrup lengths, the wrong riding pants or boots… almost anything can set you back and unbalance you.
Is the question whether very rapid weight gain can affect your balance and coordination? It might.
Or is the question whether weight loss will improve your seat? For someone who has been at a certain weight long term, losing 20 lbs probably isn’t going to give them a better seat. But fitness training especially core stability might.
Agreed. My horse doesn’t listen to floppy. Before winter cold moves in, I need to be in tip top shape. I’ll aim for that next year. For now, I’ll up the exercise.
it can also change how your saddle fits you, depending on the location of the weight gain
How weight will effect your ride depends on where you carry it. The higher in your body you carry your weight the more it will impact your balance. I carry mine low and I found when I lost weight that my thighs sat flatter against the saddle and I was more secure as a result.
Personally, I noticed a huge difference, but I was also doing Pilates and yoga along with a lot of focus on my position. I wasn’t big to begin with but getting fitter with riding in mind, I lost about 35lbs and for me it was finally able to sit the way I wanted and have improved a lot since dropping the weight.
I’ve been a fairly high-level rider-- no Sabine, obvs, but local/regional show success at FEI levels – and I also have had a job that required lots of travel and long days without the chance to get enough gym time. Which is to say I’ve had some weight swings (without a huge difference in underlying fitness levels/cardio).
I noticed huge differences in the effectiveness and security of my seat with swings as small as 5lb (and I’m no slender Brenda). Partially because of where I carry it-- mainly thighs-- and partially because it was harder to carry that “positive” tension.
Good news: small changes can make big differences. Bad news: weight loss is hard (trust me… have been trying for years).
Absolutely! I am so happy to hear that others notice it too. Whenever people tell me I don’t need to lose weight, I say I understand it may not look like it, but I do for my security in the saddle — they all look at me like I’m crazy. If I gain 5 to 10 pounds it feels like I have lost my seat and I should give up riding. Then I lose the weight and, as I told my husband, I get my “riding mojo back” Ha ha ha.
Your weight and your fitness are two separate things. Both can absolutely affect your balance and position in the saddle.
Yes. The thing is, for many people whose weight fluctuates, its hard to distinguish between the two because losing weight generally requires getting an exercise regime going, and weight gain usually happens when you stop exercising.
I’ve been back in the saddle 15 years now with several injuries sidelining me for several months. I am at least ten pounds heavier, maybe more, than when I started re-riding but my seat and fitness level have been improving over the years. And I am probably 40 lbs heavier than when I was 25. If I had put all that weight on in two years at 25 I would have really felt it!
It is not a fitness issue for me, just the few added pounds makes the difference. Same fitness level.
I notice a big difference when I have a little extra. Really affects my core for lengthenings amd being able to hold ot the long diagonal without flopping.
I’m fitter than I’ve been in years (3x weekly pilates and 1x weekly yoga on top of 3x weekly riding) but I’ve gained 8-10 lbs over the last year (exercise doesn’t help if you eat crap!). I definitely notice a difference in my seat stability, mostly because it’s much harder to get my thighs flat against the saddle due to the extra fat there.
Thanks for your feedback! It’s good to hear that others also struggle with their weight gain. In my case, the extra pounds definitely have an impact on my balance in the saddle (probably because the saddle now feels a bit smaller). But general fitness also plays a huge role. A couple of years ago, I went running or did workouts every day. I also switched from my barn job to an office job. No wonders that I these changes in my lifestyle also have an effect on my performance in the saddle.
Weight gain also changes your center of gravity, depending on how you carry it. Rarely do you get even distribution around your whole circumference.
And yes, you can work around it (again, I’m not a thin person but have ridden to high levels) but even within my framework of “not thin” I notice small fluctuations having outsized impact on my balance.
I gain/lose weight surprisingly evenly. That means that I have less balance around the middle which affects my seat, and I struggle to get my thigh out of the way so I can wrap my legs around the horse. It doesn’t take much, 5-10 lbs, to cause the issue or fix the issue. I suspect that people who gain it more around the top half feel a bit less secure balance-wise, and people who gain it more around the bottom half feel a bit less secure with the rest of your seat.
It’s a constant battle! 
I have ridden at a pretty large range of weights. I have been surprised at how little it affected me. It did have an effect - when I was much heavier I had a harder time wrapping my leg around the horse and I was slightly less flexible in other ways. I think it helped that I put on weight fairly evenly and very solidly. I look like I am “sturdy” when I am heavier. 
And since I lost weight when I was older, I also am dealing more with age and injury related stiffness now!
Weight gain in the belly affects the seat the most as would happen in pregnancy or with metabolic syndrome.
I am naturally pear shaped. Even 5 lbs makes a difference in how … deep I guess is the right word … I feel in the saddle. When I am lighter, it’s also easier for me to keep my toes out in front as opposed to at an angle.
Usually my weight fluctuates because of how much overall exercise I’m getting, so they do go hand-in-hand for me.
I fluctuate about 5-7 pounds from time to time and have never noticed a difference at all. Maybe because I’m a bit tall. I notice big differences for fitness and stretching, but that’s unrelated to my weight.
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