Firstly, I'd like to welcome 2017 with the words of my trainer's New Year's toast: Here's to more circles and more transitions! And a fair warning, this will be a short but nerdy post.
Just in time for the new year, I figured out another little piece in my position. My eternal struggle has been to keep weight in my stirrups, having "helium legs". In order to use my legs, I had to draw them up. I felt like my energy flow stopped at my hips, there was a clear disconnect between the muscle tone of my upper body and butt, and my legs, even when consciously trying to fire those leg muscle up. I've also been told my seat was a little too "flat". We've been addressing this amongst other things with manually stuffing my thighs underneath my butt to create a little "cushion".
And then, I was blissfully cantering around on my favorite tiny pony, I stood up just a little bit in my stirrups but then immediately sank down with my legs rotated properly (with the toes pointing straight forward) so that that thigh flesh automatically comes underneath both seat bones, with a hollow part in the middle. Suddenly I had an even weight and energy distribution all the way from head to toe. Now I could use my leg much more effectively while keeping weight down, and also weigh one or the other seat bone quite easily.
To me, the phrase "sitting in the saddle" now seems very misleading. If you literally "sit" in the saddle like you would on any stationary resting device, you are sitting too heavily, too flat. The saddle is not really a place to sit but an area of interface along which to run energy on either side to influence what's happening underneath you.
It took me nearly a year to figure this out. But it's already paying off. So, here's to more circles, more transitions, and more figuring out. Happy 2017!