Practicing In A Vacuum, Saddle Seat & Two-Point

Awareness of the outside world. You see them everywhere, but did you ever wonder who makes them? SeeCoast Manufacturing Company, Coin Operated Binoculars, Fairhope AL. “SeeCoast’s viewers can be found in every U.S. state and in over 80 countries throughout the world.” About

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Your random theory moment for the day. I can’t grasp the saddle seat position because I don’t need it. Not on a school horse. Not the way I would firing down the judge’s line on a park horse. It’s like trying to learn two-point while jumping crossrails.

The purpose of two-point is to stay in balance as the horse heaves over a jump. If the jump is small, there is no heaving. Nothing to stay in balance with. Yet we have to practice. So, we end up practicing in a vacuum.

Same with saddle seat. There is no reason to have my hands up around my ears when I’m trudging around the arena on a school horse. However, if horse is rocking the chesspiece headset, those high hands become a straight line to the bit. [Center of Gravity, High Hands]

Also, as I understand it, you sit in the back seat to give your horse room to lift the shoulder. No reason to give room if shoulder is earthbound.

Unfortunately, the time when you need these positions, say over a large fence or powering around the show ring, you also need a horse that will not tolerate beginners. So we learn have to learn first and apply second.

Onwards!
Katherine