Are you struggling with maintaining a strong half-seat or jumping position?
Has anyone ever told you to use your feet?!
Specifically, your food tripod.
No? Maybe? Not sure? Read on, my intrepid rider.
Yes, breathing can help create core pressure to support your upper body from the inside out, helping you maintain the upright position. Remember my spine cues? Because using those 5 tips will also help, especially if you:
Have a hollow low back
Drop your gut to the saddle
Pinch your shoulder blades together
Crank your head back and look like a Pez dispenser
In case you forget:
Neck Long but Chin Tucked.
Shoulders Open w/ Ribs Tucked Towards Hips.
Hips Level Front to Back (no tucking here, or tilting)
But also - how about getting up into your half-seat? Have you tried using your toes?!
Engaging the tripod of your feet will power your legs so you’re not just lifting yourself, absent-minded, out of the saddle, only to collapse or flop around or not maintain your position.
What does your foot tripod look like? Big toe, little toe, front of the heel.
Let’s activate these feet!
As you’re reading this, press your big toe down. You should feel a slight tension or activation of the inner leg muscle, all the way up to the groin.
Now let that relax and press your pinky toe down. You should feel the outer leg activate.
Last, ground through your heel. This can either look like pressing your heel down or pulling it back slightly (ideally both in the tack or your leg shoots out in front of you). This will fire up the back of your leg, including your glutes maximus, aka your biggest and most powerful butt muscle.
How does that feel? Can you picture how helpful this could be to secure your leg position and power yourself into a better half-seat?
Imagine the seconds this will save you after a fence:
You don’t have to balance yourself and then your horse.
You’re already balanced and ready for your next fence, so you can focus on your horse.
This is also helpful if you’re going uphill on the trails. Elsa thanks me every time I hold myself better in the saddle while she’s marching up our conditioning hill.
There's a fun exercise you can try to bring awareness to your tripods. Take 6 quarters and duct tape, and wipe any detritus off your soles. You're going to tape the quarters to the points of your tripod - at the end of the day (or however long you keep them in place) you'll have darker circles where you have more pressure and lighter circles where you have little to no regular contact.

Find the boniest spot at the bottom of your big toe, on the underside. Tape a quarter here. Then find the boniest prominence under your pinky toe, and tape a quarter here. Lastly, tape a quarter at the back of your arch, right where it slopes to become your heel. Repeat on the other foot.
That's your tripod, and now you have a way to see what, if any, compensations or pressure points you have. Bonus points if you ride with these on and tell me what you found during your ride!
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Now, I talk A LOT about breathing better to help you ride better, but using biomechanics will also help you understand how your body works, and why it does the weird things you feel like you can’t control in the saddle. (AND I can help you train those weird things so they don’t happen anymore!).
I use both breathwork & biomechanics in my EquiForm Program and Clinics, and I want to work with YOU!
If you’re a dedicated rider doing your damnedest to have a better half seat (or grip less, relax your muscles, keep your legs still, sit upright), EquiForm is for YOU! Comment "Half-Seat" below to learn more.
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