From: Sandra
Dear Jessica, I have truly enjoyed reading your e-mail and books and I and my long time partner mare (12 years) have enjoyed putting your advice into practice! :-)
My question is, I have a tilted pelvis, it is attached to the next higher vertebrae so just stretching and exercise has not straightened it, nor, according to the Dr, will it. Is there a way I can put a pad under the saddle (or in the saddle) to even the weight distribution? I ride english and use a high density foam pad to make sure I don't injure my mares back. I sit very straight, but it is obvious from the back, and my saddle often twists to that side in the back.
I have another problem, which is embarrasing, I get sores on my backside when I ride over 30 minutes. I ride with my weight on the two ischial bones of my pelvis, not on my "back pockets". My instructor taught me to ride in the classical style and according to her, I was positioned correctly. Quite frankly, I was embarassed to tell her about the sores (which didn't make hour long classes easy). Please HELP! :-)
Sincerely, Sandra
I can't really address the issue of the tilted pelvis, but I suspect that long hours of sitting comfortably in the saddle at a walk might help the condition. If you can find a qualified PT (physical therapist) in your area, and not just a PT but one who rides and is accustomed to working with riders, you could probably get some hands-on help and better advice than I am able to offer from here, without seeing you. I can, however, address the second half of your question.
"Sitting on your pockets" is not appropriate for any English rider, so don't feel bad - it's not something you should be doing anyway. ;-) It's specifically used for Western riding, and not for all forms of Western riding either, only for those disciplines in which riders need to have their legs and feet out in front of their bodies (instead of aligned underneath their bodies) so that they can brace themselves when necessary. If your chosen discipline were roping or cutting, for example, you would need to learn to "sit on your pockets".
Your weight should, indeed, be on your ischial tuberosities (that's "seatbones" to those of you who are about to reach for your anatomy books). But it shouldn't ALL be there. Your weight should be distributed through your entire seat; that is to say, through the entire area that is in contact with the saddle. There will be, at various times, more or less weight on your crotch and on your buttocks, depending on what you are doing. There will be, at ALL times, weight in your thighs. If you are placing all your weight on your seatbones, you will ride "heavy", making your horse uncomfortable, and you will also make yourself sore in double-quick time. Sitting hard on your seatbones only will also tend to bring out or emphasize any unevenness of the pelvis or lower back - something you want to minimize.
Try to carry as much weight as possible on your thighs, so that you don't feel that your seatbones are grinding into the saddle. This one change may be enough to enable you (and your mare) to be much more comfortable on longer rides. But in case it isn't, welcome to the world of special-purpose saddle pads and riding underwear!
Many riders simply don't have a lot of natural padding between their seatbones and the saddles. This isn't something that you can predict from looking at a rider's shape or size - it's just a common variation in personal conformation. Riders who aren't well-padded can be absolutely miserable on saddles with hard seats; their better-padded friends just can't understand what all the fuss is about (lucky them). I'm glad you mentioned this, because there's no need for you to suffer in silence. There may, in fact, be no need for you to suffer AT ALL.
Almost every tack shop and catalogue has one or more "seat-saver" pads for sale. These pads are designed to fit on top of the saddle seat, and provide additional comfort, cushioning and/or warmth for the rider. They are available in sheepskin (wonderful if you aren't, as I am, allergic to wool), in synthetic fleece (which lacks the "loft" of sheepskin but makes a cold saddle-seat much more comfortable in winter), and in various forms of gel or gel-foam inside a smooth synthetic or leather cover. This last would be, I think, the best option for you. These pads are very comfortable, and provide incredible relief for padding-impaired riders with sore seatbones. ;-)
Another option would be special-purpose underwear. Again, most tack shops and catalogues have at least one sort of padded underwear available for riders; shop around until you find something that seems most likely to work well for you. Some offer more padding in the crotch than the seatbone area, and vice versa. Some are made from slippery fabrics, some aren't. Look at shops and catalogues that cater to endurance riders - you'll find tights, padded tights, and padded underwear. And if you don't find anything suitable in any of the tack and riding-equipment catalogues, go to a posh bicycle shop and look at the latest in underwear designed for cycling. Bicycle shops have always been a good source of shorts and tights with chamois crotches, and now there are special shorts available with liquid-gel padding, which might be the ideal alternative to a gel pad on the saddle.
Make yourself COMFORTABLE in the saddle, and you may find that your stretching and exercises suddenly become much more effective. You can't stretch when you're tense; you can't avoid being tense when you're uncomfortable. Get rid of the discomfort, let the tension go, and your ability to stretch should improve dramatically.
Good luck, and please let me know how all of this works out for you!
Jessica
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