Common Rider Challenges that Equiseat Aid helps to resolve
These are the most common rider issues that Equiseat Aid helps to resolve:
1. Does your saddle consistently sit or slip to one side or the other?
The seat aid works to keep you more central. Habitually dropping the saddle is a long standing problem. Using the seat aid consistently will help you to keep a correct amount of pressure on each seat bone, which in turn allows the horse's muscles to develop evenly.
2. Do you find your horse bends and moves more freely on one rein compared to the other?
This is generally a weight distribution problem, but it can also be caused by a rider bracing their thigh against the horse. Equiseat Aid opens the thigh and engages the rider’s inside seat bone, thus allowing the horse to move its ribs to the outside of the circle. This allows freedom through the outside hind limb.
3. Does your horse suffer from muscle atrophy (wastage?)
Muscle atrophy or wastage is caused by many different things but mostly it’s created by riders not sitting central. This is a chicken and egg situation, which frequently results in the horse actively pushing the rider over to the weaker side. This is a hard habit to break but we have found that consistent use of Equiseat Aid has changed both horse and rider considerably. We have seen it take as little as 3 weeks to see this change.
4. Are you struggling with rider straightness and stability in the saddle?
This is the founding principle of Equiseat Aid and the very reason it was developed. Every rider has a stronger and a weaker side. The stronger side will be used to brace through, making it incredibly difficult to sit central (if not impossible). Equiseat Aid works by stopping the stronger leg from gripping up and this has an added effect in that it will stop the rider from falling out to the weaker side. It can also help with stabilising lower legs. By not allowing the rider to grip with the knee they take their weight more evenly through their stirrups. Equiseat Aid also helps prevent the rider collapsing through their shoulders and hips by opening up the hips and levelling up the rider's seat bones.
5. Do you habitually twist or move your weight on the approach, over and landing of a fence.
We all have lessons and no matter how much we try to improve our habits it’s very hard when it comes to a pressurised situation where you have more than one thing to think about. For example, when jumping it’s all well and good knowing what you need to do to stay straight, but actually staying straight when you are approaching a fence, going over the fence and landing is nearly impossible and we inevitably revert to bad habits.
Equiseat Aid helps by stopping your body from perpetuating that bad habit. The Equiseat Aid Story video clearly show a rider with a habit for this; she’s fundamentally an established, strong rider who has ridden at advanced level but it’s also clear she has these issues.