Help with sitting trot.

[oldie48]

Fantastic start!

I can finally feel my legs again so rode baby Skylla last night, still feel ok this morning so will ride two tonight. Going to start swimming again I think (it's easier on the knees ) and keep up the Zumba Strong class, debating about giving up booze for a month or so to see if that helps but don't drink an awful lot anyway so not sure if it will be worth it...

Just got back from a rather good family lunch out but you have to keep the family company, don't you? Did pass on having a pud though! I had a lesson this morning and worked on sitting trot for part of it. The idea of sitting up to the trot rather than down and using my core, certainly helped. I've a long way to go but it was less ugly than Wednesday's attempt and it really does help to get a much better canter strike off with a much better quality canter to boot. I am seriously contemplating a gel seat saver though.

 

[anguscat]

Hi...well here's a comment but I happily acknowledge I am not riding at anywhere near your level (just prelim/novice). However I am trying to marshall my getting- older body and to help I've recently had quite a few lunge lessons on big dressage schoolmaster types. One of the things that my instructor got me doing when the tense bounce came in, was to draw my legs up into jockey position and sit on my seat that way for a few mins, then gradually let my legs go gently down again. I found it seemed to help softly engaging my seat bones whilst allowing my pelvis to flex in rhythm. It helped me but as I saw I'm no dressage star.

 

[oldie48]

I have ordered an Acavallo Gel Out seat saver bought with the proceeds (but not quite) of taking a table at a tack sale yesterday, so I don't need to feel guilty about it. It will be a work in progress, methinks! Off to work my core!

 

[milliepops]

Was thinking about this again this morning. It's noticeably easier when the horse is properly through and in front of your leg and only needing tiny aids. Then you can relax your legs and let them hang rather than constantly needing to *do stuff*

The more sensitive you can make the horse, the better

 

[oldie48]

Was thinking about this again this morning. It's noticeably easier when the horse is properly through and in front of your leg and only needing tiny aids. Then you can relax your legs and let them hang rather than constantly needing to *do stuff*

The more sensitive you can make the horse, the better

Thanks, just come in from riding him and was interspersing very short sitting trot bits (ie 1/4 20 m circle) with lateral work in rising which does help to get him through and the more I did, the more accepting he was and it was definitely easier. Forgot to put mirror down so couldn't see what it looked like but it did feel less ugly and bouncy but tbh I did keep the trot pretty slow when sitting. I'll just have to keep working at it. Also finished with lots of trans from trot to walk, stretch down, collect up and back into trot and started to find he stopped jogging in anticipation. I think one of my problems is I tend to lean forward when I collect up the reins and the very smallest lightening of my seat allows him to jog. Boy, am I learning a lot from this horse! It was very blustery and the pony was hooning around but he just got on with things. Thanks again for yesterday!

 

[pennandh]

I'm the first to admit that I hate trying to trot on horses with a lot of knee action, but I do a lot of sitting trot (dodgy knee means rising for any real length of time is painful), and the best advice I can really offer is that you need to be aware that the two sides of the horse's back move separately. That sounds sort of ridiculously obvious, but I know it was a piece of knowledge I struggled to really make use of for a long time.

Play about a bit with lifting each side of your pelvis individually (on a chair, an exercise ball, or a quiet horse); then sort of allow each hip to describe little circles with the stride (up-forward-down-back) as though you were speed-walking on foot. You don't exactly want to put much effort into it, because you might inadvertently interfere with the stride, but the horse's movement ought to push you into the right motion if you let it.

Pilates and/or swimming may help you to improve the flexibility of your lower back, which will help as well; and it never does any harm to have a few lessons on something with a smoother movement to help you find your groove in a lower-pressure scenario.