Used well, the seat in dressage is a the way to lift our work with the horse to the highest levels, otherwise it is an anchor keeps our communication confused. The seat is the agent of all that is good and evil in our dressage.
It is most unfortunate that there is such confusion around the subject of the seat. There is no shortage of opinion and the range of opinion is vast and yet, how can this be?
A good seat is natural and without effort and yet effort must be made to establish it. Simplicity, harmony and exertion arises from a compassionate mind whose only concern it to lift the burden from the horse.
A good seat does not take the horse’s mind away from the activity at hand. One might say it is modest because it does not arrogantly announce its presence to the horse nor to a spectator.
There is an element of mindfulness in the seat. We stand on the horse and sit on it at once and our joints freely play and dance with the horse’s. We join heaven and earth together in a good seat. The body is sold and the mind elevated and from this both the horse and rider radiate a joyful presence.
Everyday, every moment in every session, we seek harmony and from that joy control arises and so it is that in good dressage we never forget our seat. It is the throne of the king set in the palace of the horse. To radiate kindness, that is good dressage.
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