What Is hunt Seat Riding?
Hunt seat riding is a style of riding horses that was developed to enable the animals to have speed and maintain balance when traveling over uneven terrain and encountering obstacles that must be jumped–such as fences enclosing fields. This style of riding is historically associated with England, in which groups of farmers would go hunting for foxes that were raiding their hen houses. Fox hunting is still practiced in England and elsewhere, but now is more of a sport and social gathering than a necessary pursuit in order to protect one’s property. In fact, most of the people who practice hunt-seat riding do so for the sake of competition or trail-riding, and the fox is left out of the picture entirely. An English-style saddle and bridle are used, and they are referred to as “tack.” The cut of the saddle and the short accompanying stirrup length enable riders to raise their seats out of the saddle when their horses are galloping, This is called “two-point position,” for only the rider’
