Advice - Finding it easier to sit to the trot rather than rise

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Penguin_Toes

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Hello All

I wondered if I could please ask you knowledgeable people for some advice.

I currently find it much easier to sit to the trot rather than rise. When I sit I find that my lower leg feels quite stable, for example on a circle my heels remains down and I can easily move my outside leg backwards without it gripping up. My horse goes forward in a lovely shape and I find that I can engage my core easily and support the horse and keep her balanced.

When I rise, I feel more unstable. I don’t feel like I engage my core any more, I feel like I tense up all over instead and start to grip. I feel like I have much less control over my lower legs, and on a circle I can see that the outside leg grips up and my toes are pointing downwards. I know my mare is feeling this as she is less consistent in the contact.

I’m pretty sure my balance is ok and I’m not banging down on my mare’s back or supporting myself with my hands as I am able to easily rise on lunge without holding the reins. She is lovely and soft through my transitions, but once I begin rising her way of going quickly declines!

I have regular private lessons and my instructor is aware of the problem. She assures me that I am a competent rider and that I’m certainly not doing any damage, but I really want to get this sorted.

If anyone has any advice or could provide good examples of visualisation that might help then it would be much appreciated!
 
Probably teaching grandma to suck eggs, but have you tried thinking of it as moving forwards and back rather than up and down? This would engage the core more, keep you closer to the saddle and hopefully make your lower leg feel more stable as that shouldn't be moving at all.

It might also be worth trying to do rising trot without stirrups, that should help with getting the right movement.

Good luck!
 
Ce'Nedra said:
Probably teaching grandma to suck eggs, but have you tried thinking of it as moving forwards and back rather than up and down? This would engage the core more, keep you closer to the saddle and hopefully make your lower leg feel more stable as that shouldn't be moving at all.

It might also be worth trying to do rising trot without stirrups, that should help with getting the right movement.

Good luck!
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This!

Does your mare have a big 'warmblood' scopey trot or a more 'native' flat trot?

I find riding to my boys trot hard because there is no natural push in his trot as it is so flat, so find myself over compensating and get more stressed about where everythign is.

I aslo blame a slightly sadistic instructor who used to make us do all out lesson without stirrups and in sitting trot for hours at a time :D
 
FinnMcCoul said:
Try shortening your stirrups :)
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I have been told that my stirrups are far too short as it is and I need to be a grown up and sort things out properly :D

I definitely think Ce'Nedra has a good point, perhaps I am moving up and down against the movement, rather than backwards and forwards with the movement!

My mare has a big, wobbly 5 year old warmblood trot - plenty of moevement so I can't even use that as an excuse!

Thanks for the replies!
 
I sit mostly on my highland - he is much happier, softer and more attentive if I sit, or rather he feels like he's inviting me to sit (because I know quick enough if he wants/needs me to rise). I have a horrible feeling it's because I'm an uncoordinating fool who can't rise and make all my body parts do as they're asked, but I also think he has some part to play as I can ride others/my old lad routinely rising with no change in manner of going.
 
Goldenstar said:
Have you tried rising trot without stirrups ? It's not much fun but it did help me a lot at one point.
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This is what came to mind as well, it's a real nightmare to do but it does help! Another idea for building core muscles and balance is to rise in the stirrups and stay rising (best done on the lunge), build this up to staying risen through transitions.

When you sit is your back straight or do you have a tendency to lean back a bit?
 
I'd be really interested in what other posters think about this as it's out my own head!

I used to teach new staff (usually volunteer teens) to see if we could get them able to exercise youngstock and comp horses. They all had years of riding under their belt but not this kind of horse or in a commercial yard and it is different.

One of the first things I always ended up trying to change was rising high in trot. I gather being taught to go up is almost universal but on youngstock you don't want too much distance up from the horse. I would teach them to sit, then allow a bounce without rising for a few strides to feel it, then I'd ask them to go no higher than the horse's actual bounce put them up and instead of rising just to hesitate before going down. I wanted a much shallower rise with no push up. If they could break years of habit and got it then I'd find the lower leg would get more stable by default as it wasn't being used to push every second so was freed up to give clear aids only. I also used to find the upper body changed, I think because the relationship was tied more to the horse and less to intent to rise and therefore was more of a 'listening' seat.

Bear in mind I wasn't trying to get girls to win rosettes at dressage or pass BHS exams, I was looking to get them safe on youngstock and functional in terms of not upsetting/working with rather than against either young or often fresh horses. At the time and still for that kind of riding I couldn't give a flying rat's bahooey if it's standard, watching horses and riders go more smoothly and safely it's one of the biggest reasons I want to teach my own daughter myself.
 
Like other have suggested, rising trot without stirrups. I have found it helps you stay more in rhythm and go with the horse more.
Also you say your stirrups are too short, you may benefit from doing some stretching exercises to open your hips and stretch your legs down so you could put them down a hole or two. If they are very short you may be rising too high and loosing your balance from that.
 
Have you checked your saddle? I had this problem and turns out my saddle was not balanced causing me to tip back, throw leg forward in horrible armchair position which was v unstable. Saddle reflocked and position much improved.
 
Interesting topic OP because I have the same problem! I can do rising trot but find when Im working my boy he goes downhill and leans more when Im rising so I tend to sit which means I can hold him with my legs. When Im rising my legs are flapping around like a fool! Id love to crack it because it looks so naff doing a novice test in sitting trot :(
 
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