A pain in the posterior

[rosemaryhannah]

Well Sophie and I have had time (and weather) over this holiday break to go for some lovely long rides. This has revealed a bit of a problem. Although Sophie is riding in a Freeform saddle, a foam based treeless, she is getting sore in some, er, rather tender parts. She plainly needs a seat saver of some kind. Recommendations, please and anything will have to suit the more or less 'flap free' shape of the Freeform, which fits both Sophie and Flame and in which Flame goes very well.

[marsayy]

If the saddle isn't fitting correctly enough to cause damage to her bum muscles I suspect s seat saver wouldn't improve it. I am no expert but a good fitting treeless saddle with the correct treeless pad shouldn't need a seat saver.

As a suggestion there is a few barefoot treeless saddle pads up for sale second hand at the moment on the usual sites that you could try. If I was you, I would get a expert to look either a saddle fitter (Who does actually know about treeless and an advocate of them) or a physio. A saddle fitter may push you towards a treed saddle so be careful, some people just don't like them. Then again maybe it isn't the correct one for your horses shape. I have been through quite a few treed and treeless and to be honest it is a jungle. I personally and this is only me, I found the freeform flattened out and squished as I am a heavier lady. I have had a lot of success with barefoot Arizona but they are difficult to find second hand. You could try borrowing other saddles to see if you get the same thing from friends or a nice fitter??

Good luck and great for noticing.

[rosemaryhannah]

I very much doubt it is the saddle as she has had the problem with every saddle and every horse she has ever ridden and the saddle really does fit the horse. Sophie is just heavy enough to satisfy the BMI index, but at five eight and a size 8 she is definitely a lighter lady. She does ride rather long, which means she is sitting on her crotch, rather, and it is the crotch which is suffering.

[Hannah]

Sophie needs to sit more on her seatbones. The seat saver made by Heather Moffett is excellent, well worth the cost, and you can sometimes pick them up second hand on ebay

[starbuck]

I've had this problem occasionally with some saddles and discovered a lot of it was to do with slightly sitting in a "fork" seat which it sounds like Sophie has a tendency to do. A simple exercise which sat me back on my seat bones was to lift my legs up and forward together so my knees were touching then let my legs down and try and keep the feeling of where the exercise put my seat.

HM seat savers are very comfortable, also I don't know if Christ Lammfelle do anything suitable but I've recently ridden in one of their bareback pads and it was the most comfortable thing I've ever sat in. Btw I'm also size 8-10.

[marsayy]

Ha HA OMG I so misread this post, I thought Sophie was the horse there's me harking on about saddles, you must have thought me mad!!!

So sorry, so funny though....

[rosemaryhannah]

Lol yes that is funny. Sophie probably does sit a bit too much on her fork, and she rides very long too. Will try out helpful suggestions at the weekend.

[cheekychops]

I have suffered with this too - I think mainly due to a forward-tilting pelvis. Might be worth her visiting an osteopath to have a look. Definitely give pilates a go too!

[jen526]

I have on the odd occasion had this problem, in addition to seat position - its very helpful to wear the right knickers too!

[jen526]

Silly phone, the question marks are meant to be laughing faces xx

[lroy]

Hi Rosemary- hope you are well?
I use a Heather Moffat seat saver( to help with sciatica) but am also having this problem- mainly on longer hacks. I don't have same problem if not using the seat saver- but its a catch 22 as then my sciatica plays up. So not sure that the seat saver would help with this issue- the seat saver makes the front of the saddle even higher so its more likely to rub.

[Deleted]

Might be worth getting Sophie a lesson from a EE teacher or Centered Riding as if her position is the issue the instructor should spot it and be able to help very quickly.

I used to suffer the same issue until I got Talin and learned more about saddle fit - I've come to the conclusion that my body shape is just all wrong for saddles with a narrow twist, or where the twist extends further back. Usually those saddles are narrow fitting and/or for high withered horses (I simply cannot ride in a thorowgood high wither GP, regardless of gullet width but I'm very happy in the standard thorowgood GP or their cob saddle). I found the Barefoot treeless saddles were the same. They have more of a twist than the similar looking Torsions because a lot of riders find a narrower saddle more comfortable.

[Deleted]

Riding in a saddle with a seat that is too small can also cause it, but a bigger seat size doesn't help me with saddles that have a narrow twist as I just end up using my stirrups to push myself backwards!!