How do you: sitting Trot.

[TrasaM]

I had a bit of a breakthrough yesterday with my sitting trot and it got me thinking about how we communicate instructions.

I've had lots of lessons without stirrups and I though that my ST was ok ish..but once the stirrups were back it'd all go wrong.
Then yesterday I got it right ( different instructor) and in the way of those things once you get it you wonder why it'd taken you so long. Doh! I still need lots of practice but I'm so looking forwards to it instead of feeling that it's just so much hard work and sore backside.

So.. How do you sit to the trot and how long did it take to get the hang of?

 

[lurcherlu]

I did it a lot as a child and found it more comfortable when I was pregnant to sit to it, relax, go jelly like and it just happens....similar t floating when swimming

 

[Tnavas]

When I teach sitting trot I have the riders walking first with eyes shut and have them feel the movement of the hind legs, allowing their hips to move with the horses movement.

Shutting the eyes allows the rider to focus without the visual distractions.

Then, again with eyes shut move on into a very soft trot, still focusing on the feeling of the movement of the horses hind legs.

Explanation of the action is that when riders hip goes up and forward the other goes down and back. Almost like the movement of the hips when riding a bicycle.

As soon as the rider starts to bounce (tensed up) they go back to walk and pick up the rhythm again. Once softness has recovered back into trot.

With practice most riders find that sitting trot is not too horrendous.

The key is to have eyes closed so that it hightens your awarness of your seat in relation to the horses movement.

 

[Popos]

A good instructor makes a lot of difference! After 20 year of hating sitting trot I now choose it over rising and take my stirrups away as often as I can! I don't know that I can explain what it is that I've changed as I do it, but top quality instructors made the difference for me!

 

[JillA]

Lots and lots of riding ponies in from the field bareback! And riding green youngsters for whom softness is the key to their confidence. As above, soften your lower back and hips as much as you can and also it is important to keep your shoulders from dipping forward. Like Popos I prefer it, I feel I can keep my hands steadier than when I am posting.

 

[TrasaM]

TNavas..I'd been doing it as you describe and was taught exactly as you say: walk, feel movement on to gentle trot alternate hip up forwards and that was what I was doing yesterday when I got corrected and was told to do pelvic thrusts instead.
..can still see RI standing in middle of school shouting No No..like this as she did her pelvic thrusts

JillA.. Yes I'd noticed that my hands were steadier sitting even though in retrospect I wasn't doing it very well. Also yesterday I found my position really improved because you can't allow the pelvis back and forth properly if you lean forwards.


Popos.. Can you remember what it was that changed in how you were moving that made the difference.?

 

[Merrymoles]

Like JillA and Popos I prefer it and my hands are stiller. I was taught to lift my rib cage so that I sit very tall but to allow everything below that to stay very relaxed - I think "long" to myself and allow my weight to travel down my legs if that makes sense.
As a bonus, it's great for your stomach muscles!
JillA - haven't heard it called "posting" for donkeys' years - made me smile!

 

[Tnavas]

TNavas..I'd been doing it as you describe and was taught exactly as you say: walk, feel movement on to gentle trot alternate hip up forwards and that was what I was doing yesterday when I got corrected and was told to do pelvic thrusts instead.
..can still see RI standing in middle of school shouting No No..like this as she did her pelvic thrusts

JillA.. Yes I'd noticed that my hands were steadier sitting even though in retrospect I wasn't doing it very well. Also yesterday I found my position really improved because you can't allow the pelvis back and forth properly if you lean forwards.


Popos.. Can you remember what it was that changed in how you were moving that made the difference.?

Pelvic thrusts are not the way to do sitting trot - if the horse moved like a kangaroo then they would be fine - but they don't each hind leg is in a different level of motion.

 

[littleshetland]

All of the above sound like good advice, but make sure the horse is working 'through' his back properly - this makes it much easier, and is more comfortable for the horse.

 

[TrasaM]

Pelvic thrusts are not the way to do sitting trot - if the horse moved like a kangaroo then they would be fine - but they don't each hind leg is in a different level of motion.

Maybe I've not explained it properly .. Which brings me back around to how we explain / communicate instruction.
What I was doing before was creating a side to side movement. This may have been more down to how I had interpreted the instruction I'd been given.
What changed yesterday was by creating a more backwards and forwards hip motion sitting became far more comfortable.

 

[Merrymoles]

I think OP is right about communication - my interpretation of how I ride sitting trot would be that I keep my upper body still but relax my lower body to go "with" the movement. I guess exactly how that manifests itself depends on the gait of the particular horse.
I would not think of it as "creating" movement, rather "going with" movement but that may just be how I interpret it!

 

[TrasaM]

MoleskinMum.. You are right. I used the wrong word: create.. I should have said allowed or going with. Thank you.

 

[JillA]

Sometimes we try too hard! If your lower back is soft, your pelvis and hips can simply follow the movement - you don't have to think which and how, you just have to imitate a bean bag and allow yourself to adapt to the movement.

 

[samlf]

When I injured my ankle years ago, I was in a cast for about 10 days then crutches etc for a while. I really wanted to keep us both fit so had to ride for 6 weeks without stirrups - that does wonders when you have no choice!

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

Can also depend on the horse, and the quality of the trot. I am lucky that nugz has a trot that goes like the clappers underneath, but his back stays reasonably level so I can sit there and pretend I am fantastic at sitting trot However, my friends horse has a trot that catapults you into orbit, and needs a whole different way of sitting to his trot.

 

[Deseado]

You can't (or shouldn't) sit on a horse with a stiff back. Both rider and horse have to swing their backs, then it is easy to just follow the movement. Lots of people go too fast on tense horses and bang painfully up and down on both spines. Poor horses, and uncomfortable for the riders too.

 

[ghostie]

I love sitting trot - much prefer it to all that rising nonsense

 

[TigerTail]

Recent Carl Hester yard visit and he commented he doesnt do sitting trot until the horse is muscularly able to cope with it - quite interesting given how many people you see bashing about at it on horses clearly uncomfortable.

This vid is good for explaining the horses back and your bum movements

[video=youtube;6WfEjdk0gKs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WfEjdk0gKs[/video]

 

[TrasaM]

Good video. Pity more schools don't have simulators available to teach beginners before the poor horses backs get bounced on

 

[suestowford]

I've been on that very simulator
There's another one behind it which responds to the rider's movement. If you do too much it won't canter at all. That one was incredibly useful as I do have a tendency to overdo things and was blocking my horse.

 

[*sprinkles*]

I was just teaching this the other evening - I tried to explain how the horses back moves in trot to my student as I feel a lot of people try to ride the sitting trot either gripping with the leg or pushing the heel too far down to anchor themselves. I was teaching to ride it from the hips and pelvis, letting the seat bones move with the horses back to absorb the movement and anchor yourself with engaged core muscles instead of stiff legs with leaves the legs free to give aids and allow you to feel secure but moving with the horse. It took me a while to get I remember as it takes some trust of the horse and your own balance to stop gripping with the legs and tensing the shoulders. It's an amazing feeling to crack it though - feeling so in tune with the horse and balanced

 

[TrasaM]

Sprinkles.. Yes..it felt great. For ages I'd been trying hard but not quite getting it right and it's always been important to me to nail it. But then we passed over that part of riding and what I was doing was deemed good enough. So new eyes from different RI and a different instruction and hey voila
It's curious though. Given that humans have all roughly the same biomechanics and most horses have roughly similar trotting action that there can be so many different ways of describing what to do and so much lost in translation it seems also depending on how we interpret what our bodies are doing at any given time.