Sitting Trot - How to relax yourself without bouncing off?!?!?

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little_mistress13

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I cannot for the life of me "relax". Everyone is saying the more you tense the more you bounce but when I relax it feels as if I am going to bounce off.

I have a trainer coming out Monday but don't want to waste money bouncing around when I do that on my own anyway. I want to nail this then have lessons.

How does everyone else do it and look so effortless?
 
I still bounce a little but it won't come instantly!

May not be that helpful but some things I've been told to help get the feel are:

1) (if your horse is sensible enough!) hold onto the front of the saddle with one hand and lean back as far as you can while sitting to the trot. Sit back on the bum and as the horse is trotting, think about your hips being thrown upwards. Focus on how your hips are moving in time with the horses hind legs

2) Remembering the feeling you had while leaning back try and feel the movement while sitting up normally. Think of having a left and right side to your body and your hips are moving in time with the horse. I try to think of it as if you were trying to walk on your seat bones (if that makes any sense)

3) I had a session with Becky Chapman on a mechanical horse and she told me to not think of it as the horse is bouncing you up, but more like your bum is bouncing the horse down

ETA the leaning back thing and allowing your hips to move is to get the feeling of relaxing your lower back
 
I don't think about it. I spend a lot of time riding bareback and if you think about keeping still you tense up and then you have a problem. It's hard to explain but I kind of detach my mind and think about nothing but the rhythm then it all kind of comes together. It's a bit like dancing, you feel for the beat then stick with it. It's probably not a very professional ethos and entirely inexplicable but it works for me.
 
I'd definitely have some lessons! Having someone on the ground watching you will not only look at you, but how your horse goes too. Its hard for someone on a forum to tell you as we don't have the faintest if you're perched, collapsed, sitting crooked etc. have a lesson (with a qualified instructor), then take some time to practise. Good luck!
 
Practise 'walking' with your seat-bones in time with the horse's movement at walk. When you can do this by feel, rather than counting, you will be ready to try sitting trot. But an instructor will be the best person to help you.

Ride as many different horses as possible, as some are much easier to sit to than others. I used to ride one who was easier to ride bareback at rising trot than to sit to, when taking him back to the field.
 
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It's definitely in the hips, you have to relax hips and lower back and make them really loose to go with the movement, while retaining a core stability. I think I've cracked it recently, after bouncing around for years!
 
If I try just doing sitting trot, my balance can be off. If I start schooling circles, leg yielding, shoulder in in sitting trot, suddenly I stop thinking about it and it just comes. Opening the hips and absorbing the movement is the key - once you start getting tense not only do you bounce more, but horse will go faster to get away from you!
 
I've heard making yourself laugh is good as it relaxes your stomache muscles, and trying to have a 'jelly belly' is good for relaxing until you have the rhythm, then can work on using core muscles to sit straight! I find it difficult too and I think it's only something you can do if you do it regularly, sort of use it or lose it! Definitely worth investing in some lessons OP :)
 
You need to develop flexibility in your lower back and hips so you can move with the horse. It's the same movement as for walk but its twice as fast for trot. You need to develop strength in your core muscles so the rest of you doesn't flop about. It's not really about relaxing in general. You relax any muscles that you're tensing in an effort to grip onto the horse. Trying to grip on pushes your seat out the saddle and makes you too inflexible to move with the horse.

Slow the horses trot right down when you first start practicing and only try a few steps at a time. Also keep the contact as normal in your outside hand so you can still turn corners and hold the pommel with your other hand (remember you should be able to turn without needing the inside rein, practice this first if you can't). If you pull upwards on the pommel a little it will help you anchor your seat in the saddle. Don't pull too hard though or you'll be sitting so deep and inflexible you'll block the horses forward movement and flexibility in his back. Doing sitting trot right will help you to build the right muscles, bouncing around won't help at all.
 
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