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Fayetteville, NC

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What is the difference between a hunt seat rider and a stock seat rider? Can you do both styles? Yes, you can. Today's busy rider often competes in both hunt seat classes and western classes, some even using the same horse.

Let's first point out the similarities in the two styles. Both hunt seat and stock seat riders use a balanced seat. The balanced seat is where the rider sits on their seat bones with the their shoulder, hip, and heel in a proper line. In both styles, heels are kept in the down position.

The average stock horse is expected to cover a lot of ground while giving their rider a smooth ride. When working on a ranch, the stock horse often travels long distances and learns to conserve energy by keeping a relaxed and steady gait. The horse is ridden with a loose rein. In western classes the horse's head is kept low with the horse doing a slow jog and canter that are very relaxed. The stock seat rider has a longer stirrup and rides with the reins in one hand, having little contact with the bit.

The hunt seat horse is expected to perform in the field, their riders hunting across country with their horses jumping over fences and keeping up with the hunt. The hunt seat rider has a shorter stirrup and rides with a rein in each hand. The rider maintains steady contact with the bit at all times. This doesn't mean pulling on the reins, it means the rider merely has to flex their hands and fingers when wanting to collect the horse. The rider drives the horse forward using their legs and weight while using their hands on the bit to shift the horse's weight over its hocks to produce the collected trot and canter.

When the hunt seat rider moves to an extended gait, this doesn't mean the horse just goes faster. It means the horse takes the same number of strides, but the strides are longer. To do this, the rider keeps contact with the horse's mouth, but moves their hands forward, driving the horse with their legs and weight to get the horse to stretch its neck to keep contact with the bit, thus lengthening its stride.

The stock seat rider new to hunt seat riding must also learn to post. When riding the posting trot, the rider must keep on the correct diagonal. To do this, the rider rises and falls with the outside front leg as the horse trots. To be on the wrong diagonal may diminish the horse's performance and also shows poor form on the rider's part. Posting is easy to learn and most stock seat riders pick the skill up very quickly.

To keep from getting confused when learning to ride both stock seat and hunt seat, just keep in mind what the horse is expected to do for each style. When sitting in your western saddle, imagine the wide open prairie in front of you and how its going to take you all day to get to your destination. You're in for a long ride so you'll want to take things slow and easy.

When sitting in your hunt seat saddle, imagine the cultured farmland in front of you being separated by numerous fences that you now have to maneuver over or around to keep up with the other riders in the hunt for those nasty varmints (thankfully this is falling out of style for those of us who like foxes). You're going to want to keep contact with your horse at all times as you prepare to take jumps and swerve around dangerous objects while keeping a rapid pace.

Learning to ride both hunt seat and stock seat will give you an opportunity to broaden your experiences and improve your horsemanship. Yee-haa! and Tally ho! aren't that far apart when you think about it. East can meet West and still enjoy the ride.