You’ll hear instructors of all disciplines—western pleasure, hunt seat equitation or dressage, etc.—tell their students to “sit square” in the saddle.

Sitting square means sitting in balance with the horse. To sit in balance with your horse, you must take the proper position and correct it as needed while riding. Here are some suggestions for how to sit square—mental reminders you can say to yourself while you ride.

• Sit with your weight evenly distributed over your seat bones. Take note of your hips. Is one lower than the other? Are you too far to one side? If so, you’re not sitting squarely over the top of the saddle.
• Now take note of your shoulders. So many riders hike up their shoulders when they think “shoulders back.” Others hollow out their backs so much to jack their shoulders back, that their backs and seats become completely ineffective and just brace against the horse. Instead of thinking “shoulders back,” think of using your abdomen to lift your sternum. Lift your collarbone and chin. Now let your shoulders fall down and back.
• Be especially mindful of lifting from the sternum when turning your horse. Many riders collapse a side or drop a shoulder when turning. If you lift from the sternum, you can prevent this from happening.
• Are you holding your breath? Holding your breath and not breathing will almost guarantee a lopsided, not square, rider. Breathe deeply into the belly, consistently and rhythmically.
• Are you moving with the motion? Or are you ahead of it with rounded shoulders stooping forward? Or behind it, sitting on the flat of your butt instead of your seat bones? Sit up tall without hiking your shoulders up to your ears.
• Where are your legs? Is one heel up and one heel down? Are you sitting into one stirrup with too much weight in it and not the other? Are your toes hitting your horse’s elbow? (Definitely a sign of an incorrect seat and, most likely, a “chair” seat. A horse isn’t an easy chair!) Rebalance so your weight is evenly distributed across your seat bones. Now think of pushing your thigh and knee to the ground, which will allow your lower leg to fall in line beneath you and provide you with the needed support. Now think of dropping your weight into your heel (without jamming your stirrup forward).
• Keep your hands down over the wither and just forward of the saddle. If you can’t figure out where they are when you ride, try to feel some mane with your pinky while keeping your hands on the reins so you have an idea of how low you have to put your hands in relation to where they are.

These are your mental reminders: even weight over both seat bones, lift from the sternum, breathe deep into the belly, push your thigh and knee to the ground, heel down, toe up. If you take stock while you are riding and adjust your position, it will all become routine with practice.