Rider not sitting straight....

As a rider do you know / suspect / feel you are not sitting straight?

First things first - 

get yourself checked out by a good chiropractor (or similar)
 

if your horse's back 'was out' 

(I hope) you wouldn't expect him to cope with anything other than light hacking  (trail riding)

until you'd got the 'back person' out to 'realign' him....

.... so treat your own body as kindly as you would treat his

(which reminds me, I really must get my neck 'seen to' !!!!!!!!!!)

if the 'chiro' identifies a conformational, chronic, or congenital issue 

- then obviously you will need to find a way of working with and through that....

but there is no point treating a symptom if you can fix the cause

i.e. start off with your body as 'correct' as it can be...

if, as a rider, you know / suspect / feel you are not sitting straight

the good news is that you are 
aware of what you're doing...

which is more than half the battle...

 

Two exercises which helped me to correct positional bad habits are:-

EITHER

close your eyes for a few strides 

in a safe place!!! 

- this really helps you 'feel' what your body is doing -

in order to identify what needs adjusting

and then correct it

(and remember to open your eyes again before hitting a tree, or the arena fence!!)

OR 

(a very good exercise to do out hacking/trail riding) 

run a 2 second check through each of your major joint groups

in turn

(e.g. head, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, thumbs, hips, knees, heels, toes)

progressing down through your body 

and back to the top
over and over again

in rotation

check each time

for each 'pair' 

that it's where it should be 

AND feels equal to the other side

adjust if necessary

then on to next joint group etc...
  

ALSO 

you need to identify 

IF you are SITTING to one side 

- in which case close your eyes 

and adjust your seat until the pressure / weight is equal on / through both your seat bones -

(no, not when asking for bend, obviously!)

OR are you COLLAPSING to one side 

- in which case lift your lower rib on the 'collapsed' side 

until the distance between your hip and your lower rib 

is the same on both sides 

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