Dala Dressage Training

🤩 If you are qualified and haven’t entered the USDF Region 5 and/or RMDS Championships- here is your reminder!!

💙 ENTRIES CLOSE TODAY! 💙

🐴 Great Rides Take Great Support! 💙

A huge thank you to Front Range Equine Performance for sponsoring The Rider’s Seat ABCs Through the Levels with Suzanne Galdun! 🎉

We are so grateful for your support of Boulder Valley Dressage and your commitment to helping us bring high-quality education and learning opportunities to our dressage community.

And speaking of great education… 👀

🐴 The Rider’s Seat ABCs Through the Levels with Suzanne Galdun
📅 August 29 & 30, 2026
📍 Boulder County Fairgrounds Indoor Arena

Come learn how awareness, breath, alignment, balance, and connection can change the way you ride—and how small changes in the saddle can make a big difference for your horse.

👀 Auditors are welcome! Watch Suzanne work with riders across the levels and learn from every ride.

👉 Sign up to audit: www.bouldervalleydressage.org

Thank you, Front Range Equine Performance, for helping us keep our dressage community learning, riding, and improving! ❤️🐴

Great rides take great support—and we appreciate yours!

🧐“But your thighs are in contact with the saddle, so they must be supporting body weight…”

It’s an argument I hear a lot, but it isn’t really what the sitting research shows.

Even when someone is sitting in a balanced position on a chair, with their thighs fully supported on a horizontal surface, the majority of body weight is still transferred through the ischial tuberosities (seat bones). The thighs share some of the load, but they don’t become the primary weight-bearing structure.

That’s on a chair, a saddle is different. The sides slope away from the rider with legs draped around the side of the horse, so we can’t assume the same mechanics apply just because the thighs are touching it.

On a flat surface, the support force acts opposite gravity, so the ball stays where it is. On a slope, the support force acts perpendicular to the surface instead, leaving a component of gravity pulling the ball downhill.

The ball hasn’t changed. Gravity hasn’t changed. Only the direction of the support force has.

The same principle applies in the saddle. Your seat and, when appropriate, your stirrups provide support from below. The sides of the saddle don’t.

This isn’t to say the thighs aren’t important. They absolutely are for stability, communication and force transmission. But contact isn’t the same as weight-bearing support.

And perhaps the bigger question is… why are we trying to offload the seat bones in the first place?

The seat bones are anatomically designed to support body weight, and saddles are designed to distribute that load over the horse’s back. Moving weight away from them doesn’t make the rider lighter - it simply changes the mechanics.

For me, the question isn’t “Can we offload the seat bones?”

It’s “Why would we want to?”

Do you agree?

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that successful horse development isn’t about rushing to the next show. It’s about building the foundation that allows a horse to thrive for the long term.

Every horse’s path is different, but the goal is always the same: a happy, confident athlete who enjoys the work and continues progressing year after year.

What is your favorite part of developing a horse? The beginning, the breakthroughs, or watching them reach their potential?

📍 Wellington, Florida



Lauren Pitylak Equestrian Triple Crown Feed Albion Saddlemakers Co. Ltd Airstride Pyranha Halter Ego Pivo Equestrian Ceecoach Equine Elixirs Lunar Dressage

Homepage BVD - Boulder Valley Dressage Boulder Valley Dressage - Welcome! BVD serves the Classical Dressage community in Boulder County, Colorado A chapter of the Rocky Mountain Dressage Society (RMDS) Read More about BVD 0 × “The object of dressage is the development of the horse into a happy athlete through harmonious education.” ...