What is Seat School?
Seat School is a practical, in-person workshop for groups of riders and coaches to learn about the human body in riding, assess their movement and strength in key areas and leave with a plan for practice they can do at home to improve their skills in the saddle.
Link Your Anatomy to Your Horse's Performance
- Discover the bones and muscles of your seat, so you can build better awareness and control in the saddle.
- Explore moving your pelvis, hips and ribcage, learning how they move best, and how to control the movement.
- Get clear on your "core" muscles and how they work to support your posture and movement.
Feel and Practice Riding-Specific Body Skills
- Discover how to move and organise your body for good alignment and symmetry in the saddle.
- Find and feel the muscles that move your pelvis, hip and leg to give aids to your horse.
- Practice using the movement and stability muscles of your seat using different tools like bands and balls to get a deeper understanding of how your body needs to move in the saddle for different gaits and dressage movements.
Create Your Own Practice Plan
- Create your own take-home plan for practice based on simple assessments of your body
- Find practices you can do at home with just your own body and gravity, or you may use bands or balls (available for purchase if needed)
- Set goals for yourself to know when and how to progress in the future (and come back to Seat School again!)
People who DON'T Need Seat School
If you're a magical unicorn (or a world champion!) and fit into the categories below, then hooray for you, you don't need to come to Seat School.
If you don't see yourself here, Seat School is waiting for you.
Elite Rider Who's Never Been Hurt
* You started riding as a child, progressed steadily on experienced horses without any time away from riding, and never had any falls from young horses that hurt your body.
Your body and brain will know where your seat is unconsciously and automatically, and you've developed this through endless practice on the horse. Because you have such an unconscious awareness of your body, seat school might seem unnesessarily detailed and boring, because you can "just do it"!
If you've fallen off and broken bones, or developed some of the repetitive injuries that riders tend to get, like back pain, then Seat School is still helpful!
Even Brett Parbery has fallen off and broken bones...
Professional Rider with Coaching
* You ride multiple horses daily, every day of the week, with a coach and physiotherapist who makes sure you're working on any weaknesses to build strength and skills.
If horses are your job, and when you're not in the saddle, you're teaching and watching others, then your mind and body are full of the awareness of the horse and seat position.
If you always have eyes on the ground, you're always getting feedback on your body, and the horse's body, and how they move together. This feedback means you know your weaknesses, and you're working on them with coaching and support already.
Boyd Martin trains like a beast, before he rides many horses, everyday of the year!
No-Kids and Bulletproof
* You've never had a baby, never had any pelvic floor weakness, and never had any back or neck pain. You can lift heavy weights easily, run up and down hills and do off-horse training for fun!
Having babies is a big deal for the mother's body, no matter how the baby is delivered. Over those 9 months, and the many months that follow, lots of things change, and many of those affect how you sit and move in the saddle.
You can have problems with your pelvic floor muscles even without having babies, especially if you notice that you hold your breath while you're riding.
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour is expecting a baby in her family soon, but her seat will not take the strain of the new arrival.
Seat School Options
The Seat School curriculum suits different rider groups and interest areas.
Seat School Classic 3hrs
In a group of up to 8 riders, you'll learn about your body and anatomy, and how it works with your horse's body and movements using a horse simulator, exercise balls and therapy bands.
You'll fill out a scorecard for yourself of key movements for riders, try different equipment for practicing skills and body awareness, and create an exercise program to practice at home.
Seat School Express 1hr
Online pre-learning module and up to 4 riders in a group, working with balls, bands and Sven the riding simulator to gain greater awareness of your body and options to practice at home.
Best for:
- Club Rally Days (multiple groups throughout the day around ridden sessions)
- Weekly or fortnightly session for long-term body re-training
Seat School Customised
If you're a coach or part of a group of riders who would like to work on a specific skill or problem area, you can request customisations to the Seat School curriuculum to suit your needs.
