14/09/2025
Little Sunday morning read!! “Tuck your tailbone!”
📸 Using photos is invaluable for helping riders understand that what they feel isn’t always what’s actually happening.
This rider felt the photo on the left was neutral – it’s how she sits in the saddle, it’s where her pelvis naturally goes. After some pelvic tilting, I asked her to actually put weight into her seat bones. The stool is perfect for this – a flat, hard surface gives instant feedback.
When she saw the photo her first thought was: “But I thought that was a posterior tilt.”
👉 Relative to where she started, yes.
👉 But when we asked her to actually sit in posterior tilt while keeping shoulder–hip alignment, she couldn’t. The only way she could get there was by curving her whole spine into a “C.”
This is common. Riders who live in anterior tilt often think neutral feels like posterior – and can’t reach and isolated posterior tilt because of stiffness, weakness, or lack of control. Yet that ability to move through the range is what we need in riding.
One comment I often get is: “But we don’t want to hold ourselves in one position when riding.”
💯 Correct – we don’t. But if you can’t even find neutral and maintain it at rest, how do you expect to stabilise and move with the horse while giving independent aids?
And here’s the controversial bit…
👉 We’ve normalised anterior tilt so much it looks “correct” to so many riders.
👉 Some even promote 3-point contact – loading the pubic arch as well as the seat bones. But no evidence supports this as a healthy or effective weight-bearing strategy. The seat bones evolved for sitting – the pubic arch didn’t.
Yes, saddle fit matters (seat size, femur length, balance). But a saddle is not the answer. It can’t give you neutral – it can only nudge you one way or another.
The responsibility is on the rider. Neutral isn’t about holding still – it’s your starting point. From there you need pelvic, hip, and spinal mobility and control so you can follow the horse and give truly independent aids.
👉 The saddle can support you. But it won’t do the job for you.
👉 Riders have to take responsibility for their posture, mobility, and awareness if they want true balance.
🔗www.pegasusphysio.co.uk
