Dressage riders.....sitting trot help

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Cheiro1

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I was wondering if any dressage riders could possibly help me....

I have the ride on a big warmblood who is currently competing novice but I am hoping he will go up the levels....HOWEVER....I am having a complete inability to ride when it comes to sitting to his trot. :o:o

Has anyone got any tips to help me learn to sit to his trot?!

He can be a bit quirky and sensitive so I am loathed to take my stirrups away on him (possibly part of the problem!!)

I have ridden since I was a child and done all the no stirrups work etc, but his trot is just so much bigger than anything I am used to.

Help please....:o:o:o:o
 
Batgirl said:
oooh, ditto, used to do lovely sitting trot on my old boy, can't do it at all on my new boy and his big paces :(
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In the nicest possible way - I am so glad I am not the only one who has this problem!! :o

I threatened to superglue some white jods to his saddle and jump into them ;)

Oh to be able to just sit like Charlotte does!
 
I don't profess to be an expert on this and I do find sitting trot difficult.

But my tip would be to try sitting trot at a very slow trot almost a jog and then as it gets easier to sit to this, gradually ask for a bigger and bigger trot.

The above helps me but I'm sure some dressage experts on this could enlighten us further :-)
 
B1ackhorse - thanks that is a really good idea. I can sit to him ok at a very slow trot so I will do more of that and slowly ask him out a bit :D

Batgirl - we could have group support sessions to get over the trauma!! ;)

ruth83 - thank you I will try this! I might pass on the lunging part, however I will definitely try the holding the back of the saddle!! Thank you!!
 
Can I join the support group as well please! I am competing at elementary but would love to try a medium test. However I am really worried about being laughed at as I just cannot stay with my 17.1 WBs medium trot :-( with practice I am now reasonably ok at working and collected trot but not a hope at medium. I keep working in my core strength in the vague hope it might help...
 
Of course you can Mavis!! Although I think you could be mentor having already mastered working trot!! haha

I am still voting for superglue ;)
 
b1ackhorse said:
I don't profess to be an expert on this and I do find sitting trot difficult.

But my tip would be to try sitting trot at a very slow trot almost a jog and then as it gets easier to sit to this, gradually ask for a bigger and bigger trot.

The above helps me but I'm sure some dressage experts on this could enlighten us further :-)
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This!

Sit to the jog, work on absorbing the movement and keeping your body relaxed and your hands soft, and move it up gear by gear as you feel comfortable. If you start to get unbalanced, this way you should be not enough out of your comfort zone that you can't regain control.

My boy has a massive trot, god knows where it comes from. I find my hands are softer in sitting but i bounce about a bit! His canter is almost as bad - its HUGE too :(
 
Are you sitting correctly I was balanced by the Connected riding people and after making it stay in my muscle memory I am a lot more stable.

http://www.connectedriding.com/home/cr2/cpage_81/connected_riding.html

The simple explainantion is to pull both legs up like a jokey when you are sitting in the saddle and then put them back down and keep your bum in that postion it gets you riding on your seat bones in a deep seat and will help with sitting trot, it takes a while to re learn how to sit and I had to pull my legs up for a while untill it became natural.
 
Don't think about sitting down on top of the trot. Allow your pelvis to rise and fall with the trot. Almost doing a little invisible rise. Carl Hester say he wears baggy breeches to disguise the need to rise slightly on very big moving horses.
 
I have the same problem but unfortunately the only thing that helps is work without stirrups. If he is flighty can you have regular lunge lessons where you can work on your position without stirrups? A neckstrap might help as well.

Personally I would not recommend a slow, joggy trot as sitting trot becomes easiest the more you engage the back and when he is slow/joggy he will be much stiffer in the back and more difficult to sit to. The trick with good riders is that they produce a good trot which is a lot easier to sit to but it's a tough circle to break into!
 
WOW - Can I just say thank you ALL so much for taking the time to help me? :)

Jenni_ said:
This!

Sit to the jog, work on absorbing the movement and keeping your body relaxed and your hands soft, and move it up gear by gear as you feel comfortable. If you start to get unbalanced, this way you should be not enough out of your comfort zone that you can't regain control.

My boy has a massive trot, god knows where it comes from. I find my hands are softer in sitting but i bounce about a bit! His canter is almost as bad - its HUGE too :(
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Thank you for this, it makes sense :)

sarahhelen1977 said:
Sticky spray and a balance strap to hang on to?!! ;)
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Yeah I think this would be easier ;) Might need superglue rather than sticky spray though ;)

maccachic said:
Are you sitting correctly I was balanced by the Connected riding people and after making it stay in my muscle memory I am a lot more stable.

http://www.connectedriding.com/home/cr2/cpage_81/connected_riding.html

The simple explainantion is to pull both legs up like a jokey when you are sitting in the saddle and then put them back down and keep your bum in that postion it gets you riding on your seat bones in a deep seat and will help with sitting trot, it takes a while to re learn how to sit and I had to pull my legs up for a while untill it became natural.
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Thanks, this is really interesting. I actually do that knees up thing a bit anyway as I feel it softens me through my hips when I am doing lateral work. I shall have to play with it a lot more!!

Thistle said:
Don't think about sitting down on top of the trot. Allow your pelvis to rise and fall with the trot. Almost doing a little invisible rise. Carl Hester say he wears baggy breeches to disguise the need to rise slightly on very big moving horses.
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Thank you - this makes a lot of sense, and I have been trying to "sit" onto the trot. This is really helpful!!

Booboos said:
I have the same problem but unfortunately the only thing that helps is work without stirrups. If he is flighty can you have regular lunge lessons where you can work on your position without stirrups? A neckstrap might help as well.

Personally I would not recommend a slow, joggy trot as sitting trot becomes easiest the more you engage the back and when he is slow/joggy he will be much stiffer in the back and more difficult to sit to. The trick with good riders is that they produce a good trot which is a lot easier to sit to but it's a tough circle to break into!
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Thank you - I am honestly not sure I would totally want to sit on him on the lunge either, but I could have lunge lessons on my little mare, however I am not sure it would help as she has little paces? Maybe I need to just pull my brave girl pants up and school without stirrups!

That does make a lot of sense about not going slow, he does go stiff and tight as he doesn't have the strength to hold the sit slower yet, so I can understand what you are saying.

Thank you again all so much!
 
The one singular tip from a PSG trainer was:

Remember when you were a kid and you sat on the edge of the bed and bounced the mattress, it required you to start the bounce, and maintain the bounce and you were in control of the bounce, that is how to sit to the trot, think 'bounce the mattress' when you get in sync with your horse its effortless!
 
i've only just started to get it after 4 yrs of owning my mare - shes no big warmblood but does have big movement (in fact i tried ridden hunter and the ride judge got off early saying that she'd be broken after a days hunting on her :o)
i've managed it with work without a saddle - work without sitrrups and with both starting very slowly - at a jog - then moving faster
i can on agood day now sit to a medium trot - extended... no chance lol
ditto above though about moving with the horse rather than trying to sit on the trot - actually sylvia loch's classic seat book (the first one) has good diagrams etc about that

my biggest problem is that my horse is too wide for my useless hips - so when i rally relax and open up my hips its great - but the next day i cant walk :o
 
I also have a big bouncy Warmblood and his trot was a nightmare to sit to. I took the no stirrup approach - starting off with a few strides down the long side of the school, then rising again, then sitting a few strides then rising again and as it got easier added a few more strides of sitting and so on.

And second making sure you are sitting properly - I had an instuctor help me with my position and rise - improving my rise in turn improved my sitting trot as I was moving my pelvis properly and rising as little as possible in the saddle
 
snopuma is closest-you need to absorb the movement and to do that your lower back and pelvis need to flex,rise, and fall, with each step.

the softer the horse is over the back and the more correctly he takes the contact forward, the easier it will be-he has to *give* you somewhere to sit, so before you even think about sitting work through suppling exercises to get him as soft and forward as you can.

before you go sitting, get someone to hold him and stretch each of your lesg out to the side, as high as you can, then forward, then back, then down, to force your inner thigh to open to allow you to sit down in to him and get in sync.
 
I have a big moving Warmblood which I am keen to start doing some Medium tests on and I just cant sit to his trot! I have tried everything!!! Any other horse i ride I seem to be ok :rolleyes:

So will be following this post and also picking up the helpful tips!!!!
 
Great, thanks for all these posts about not sitting to a big WB's trot. My WB is rising 4 and 16.1 and has a lot more growing and filling out to do. Ive never had any problem with sitting trot but just seeing his on the lunge makes me realise I will struggle to sit to it! Thought I was being silly and would be fine when i got up there......obviously not reading your posts! Any advice greatly appreciated though :D
 
Echo what PS says...

I cannot sit to the trot AT ALL if the horse isn't engaged, off the leg, and 'on' the contact. As soon as all the cogs are connected, it becomes very easy to sit to even big moving horses - but while I'm working through the check list and ticking off boxes, there's not a busting lot of point trying to sit. Id just fall off and look like a wally.

There is also rider glue! It's saved my bacon on a few big-moving, bucky, spinny horses with slippery saddles.
 
Booboos said:
Personally I would not recommend a slow, joggy trot as sitting trot becomes easiest the more you engage the back and when he is slow/joggy he will be much stiffer in the back and more difficult to sit to. The trick with good riders is that they produce a good trot which is a lot easier to sit to but it's a tough circle to break into!
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I agree with this to an extent, but I've sat on horses who have never felt looser when they're jogging/ slow trot. But I suppose thats work before hand on creating a supple and swingy horse.

With Dash, I'm working from the jog / collected trot up.

Another question - has anyone found their sitting trot impoved considerably straight away moving from a jumping / GP saddle to a dressage saddle?
 
snopuma said:
The one singular tip from a PSG trainer was:

Remember when you were a kid and you sat on the edge of the bed and bounced the mattress, it required you to start the bounce, and maintain the bounce and you were in control of the bounce, that is how to sit to the trot, think 'bounce the mattress' when you get in sync with your horse its effortless!
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Ooh, this I like! Make total sense to me :)
 
Thank you all so much - I really appreciate everyone taking the time to help me!!

I shall be going away and practising what everyone has suggested!!

PS I completely understand what you are saying, I try to just do a tiny bit at the end of a session when he is really soft and supple and engaged - Do you think this is ok??

Kirstyhen - I do have problems with being a bit wonky but I see the osteo quite regularly so I should be ok in that sense, I might ask him next time I do, I never even thought about that. Thank you!!
 
loads of good advice already. something else which helps is mixing up sitting and rising, rather than thinking "now I'm going to go to sitting trot" and then trying to keep it (and maybe getting bounced about!) So, a few strides of regular rising trot, a few sitting, a few rising, changing the number of rises, and gradually sitting for a few more strides at a time. sort of 'up down up down up down down down, up down down up down down down down down, up down down' kind of thing.
as above, if horse's back isn't accepting/swinging yet, it's pretty impossible to sit to it, imho.
 
Ditto kirstyhens advice!

You need to be able to relax into and absorb the movement if your lower back and pelvis are as stiff as a board it ain't going to happen!!

So many riders spend a fortune looking after their horses health but completely neglect their own. Sorry, as an osteopath myself its a pet subject of mine:o * steps of soapbox*

P.s. I was once given a piece of advice by David Pincus that in order to sit to the trot you need to make love to your saddle!! His language was some what cruder thou!!! :eek:
 
IMO, having a good strong core is the key to a secure sitting trot in harmony with the horses movement.

I go to the gym a fair bit and as a result am lucky to have quite a secure core and can cope with w/t/c bareback without losing my balance - pilates also really helped me.

I believe it's about being able to control your own movement without bouncing about or tensing as that will only make things worse.

Granted, I have a comfortable, round coblet but he has a biiiiigggg trot. :D
 
2/3 point postion will help with core strenth and balance. Plates has been recomended to me also - but a shortcut is to pull your stomach muscles in (like sucking in your stomach to get on a tight pair of jeans) as you are doing stuff (the more the better) this engages the core muscles and strenthens them :)
 
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