We’ve all heard the “old school” riding advice. Perhaps you were even one of the many riders taught to ride while imagining – or literally holding – tennis balls between your knees and the saddle. The logic was simple: if you grip hard enough, you won’t fall off.
However, as our understanding of rider biomechanics has evolved, we’ve realised that this “grip at all costs” mentality is often the very thing preventing us from achieving a deep, secure, and harmonious seat.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re bouncing in the saddle, or that your horse’s back is “blocked” and won’t swing, the culprit might just be your knees.
The “pivot point” problem
In my coaching sessions, I often talk about the physics of the seat. To be truly secure, a rider needs to be “wrapped” around the horse, with weight dropping through the heel.
When you pinch with your knees, you create a pivot point. Think of a nutcracker: when you apply pressure at the hinge (the knee), the ends (your seat and your lower leg) want to fly apart. By gripping with the knee, you inadvertently push your seat bones up and out of the saddle. Instead of being “plugged in” to your horse’s movement, you become top-heavy. If your horse spooks or trips, a gripped knee actually makes it easier for you to be “popped” out of the saddle.
The biomechanical “plug”
Beyond your own security, gripping with the knee has a massive impact on your horse’s ability to perform.
Because of where we sit in relation to the horse’s anatomy, a tight knee acts like a physical clamp on the horse’s scapula (shoulder). If you ride with a constant grip, you are effectively blocking the shoulder, preventing the horse from lifting their front end or swinging through their back.
In Flatwork, this makes the horse feel “stuck” or heavy in the hand. In Jumping, a gripped knee often leads to a sticky take-off, and a “swinging lower leg” over the fence, leaving the rider unbalanced on landing because they’ve lost their “wrap” around the horse’s barrel.
The solution: the “draped” leg
The goal of this isn’t a loose, floppy leg; it’s a draped one.
Think of the “Memory Foam” contact: your leg should mould to the shape of the horse’s barrel without applying pressure. This “even contact” allows you to feel the horse’s muscles and respond to their movement instantly, without the tension that comes from a forced grip.
The knee as a “comma” in the conversation
So, is the knee just a passenger? Not quite. In modern coaching, we view the knee as a precision tool – part of the “conversation” we have with the horse.
Think of the knee as a comma in a sentence. During a half-halt, we don’t “squeeze” to stop. Instead, we momentarily tense our thighs and knees to stabilise our own frame. This brief closure acts as a momentary “block” to the horse’s shoulder – a physical boundary that says, “Steady, rebalance, and wait for me.” Crucially, like a comma, this aid is momentary. It provides a structural pause that shifts the horse’s balance back toward the hocks before the “sentence” continues. It is a tool for clarity and rebalancing, used only for a split second before returning to that soft, draped contact that allows the shoulder to move freely again.
Putting it into practice
Next time you’re in the saddle, try these three things:
- The breath test. Take a deep breath and, as you exhale, imagine your weight melting past your knees and into your stirrups.
- The shoulder check. If your horse feels “stiff” in a turn, check your own knees. Are you clamping the shoulder you want them to lead with?
- The two-point check. Stand up in “two-point” position. If you have to pinch your knees to stay balanced, your weight isn’t centred.
Final thoughts
Moving away from the “tennis ball” era of riding requires us to trust our balance rather than our grip. But once you unlock those knees, you’ll find a level of connection and freedom in your horse’s movement – and a much more sophisticated “conversation” – than a firm grip could ever provide.
If you’ve enjoyed this technical breakdown, you might also like my thoughts on why the best students make the best riders.