Tips for rising trot

Suec04

Suec04

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Hi All, My 13 yr old daughter has been riding at a local riding school for almost two years. She has had the same instructor up until about 2 months ago, when the girl left for pastures new. our new instructor has noticed that my daughter 'kicks on' when she rises in rising trot instead of when she has her bum in the saddle, resulting in her lower leg shooting back, her hips moving too far forward and the aid not being very effective. However, as this has only just been spotted after almost 2 yrs it has become a hard habit to break. does anyone have any tips that would help her please. thank you :)
 
Riding without stirrups both in rising and sitting trot. She will only be able to kick and sit at the same time or she will lose her balance! Sitting trot work, she will have to push the pony on whilst sitting and eventually it will become natural. Lunge lessons so she can concentrate on herself rather than worrying about the horse. Riding a more forward pony so she learns to squeeze rather than kick.
 
Sitting trot without stirrups really helps get a good seat and then when take stirrup backs keep that position.

Also instead of kicking, squeeze when she sits, if pony does not respond to squeeze, then a kick, she should not have to keep kicking, if pony is not responding after a kick by going more forward then she should give a little tap with stick behind her leg.

A little occassional tap is better than constant kicking. The pony will just become dead to the leg.

No stirrup work really helped me get a much better seat.
 
Mmmm, this is the problem with riding school horses TBH; ditto advice re. sitting trot without stirrups, that will fix her for sure :)

Also...... if you (and she!) are brave enough; put her on something that DOESN'T need kicking on - her only experience has been on dead-to-the-leg riding school horses so if you know someone who's got something that's forward going but safe and would let her ride out with it in company say, it might be something to aim for. Or perhaps the riding school have got something a bit more forward tucked away somewhere, but TBH I seriously doubt it.

IME there's nothing like a good fast ride across open country on a good horse to sort this sort of thing out; nothing beats it!!!
 
Brilliant! thank you for all your tips. She does do a lot of trot work without stirrups and loves doing it (strange girl :-) ) but hadn't thought about lunge work. She is a very nervous novice so the forward going horse would have to be safe, as you say, so as not to knock her confidence. She had a nasty experience out on her 2nd only hack where her normally 'dead-to-the-leg' horse took off with her across the field. she lost her reins and held on for dear life to the saddle until said horse decided to stop! I was very proud of her for staying on but its the most terrifying thing seeing the most precious thing in the world to you being carted off and there's naff all you can do about it. she hasn't hacked out since. We are looking to buy a horse to share in the spring and I will invest in some lessons for us both and then take her out on a lead rein if necessary. might look a bit daft as the horse we need to buy will be 16hh cobby type! :-). she's been riding that size horse from day one so isn't fazed by the height - luckily for me.

as you have pointed out, the Riding School horses are not that forward going and need encouragement with the whip as well but the one she has been assigned more recently is a bit more keen, though she senses when my daughter is particularly nervous and will slow down for her. bless! my daughter also is terrified of jumping, but that's for another thread! :-)

IMO she has been on riding school horses too long. when I started riding, I had 6 months of lessons before my dad considered me serious enough about my new hobby and bought me a pony. that's when I started to learn how to ride properly with a fantastic freelance instructor! I went from a nervous unbalanced novice to showing working hunters in just under a year, and i'm hoping that us having our own horse will help my daughter improve too. plus she can spend more time doing no stirrup work! :-)

thanks again :-)
 
TBH, my daughter prefers sitting trot and wants to concentrate on dressage too so that would suit her to a T! Unfortuantely, as she is in a group lesson most weeks, she has to do as she's told rather than what she prefers :-)
 
I agree with the previous advice. The habit of constant kicking is hard to break and makes for an ugly picture, so to find a safe but responsive ride would further her ridden education.
I always recall an adult friend of mine who had ridden for 8 years at a riding school having a ride on my very amenable ISH mare. She was walking around my manege and asked if she could pop her into trot to which I agreed only to witness my friend flying through the air as my mare bronced like a rodeo horse. My mare had NEVER done this before and do you know why she did it? My friend 'kicked' her into trot - poor mare was such a lovely responsive ride you only had to squeeze lightly:eek:
 
YasandCrystal - that is what i'm worried about. When we start looking at buying a horse of our own, if she 'kicks' a non-riding school horse she will end up in a heap on the floor! plus it doesn't look very nice and neither of us enjoy kicking the hell out of a horse to get it into trot. it certainly wasn't the way i was taught to ride and i find it very uncomfortable doin git at the riding school. on the plus side, she does have very good hands and gets complimented on them all the time. roll on the spring and horse hunting! :-)
 
Don't laugh at me, but a gym ball is brilliant for learning and practicing rising trot without the problem of steering, pulling on the reins etc. And yes, you can practice heel taps as you sit down too. I don't ride anymore but I do my rising trot on the ball every day to keep my legs strong.
 
i'm not laughing fatpiggy, thats an absolutely fantastic idea!!!! :D thank you so much!! as my daughter only rides once a week, having something to practice on between lessons is brilliant! off to buy a gymball !! hehe!
 
Suec04 said:
YasandCrystal - that is what i'm worried about. When we start looking at buying a horse of our own, if she 'kicks' a non-riding school horse she will end up in a heap on the floor! plus it doesn't look very nice and neither of us enjoy kicking the hell out of a horse to get it into trot. it certainly wasn't the way i was taught to ride and i find it very uncomfortable doin git at the riding school. on the plus side, she does have very good hands and gets complimented on them all the time. roll on the spring and horse hunting! :-)
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She will be fine I am sure - she is not so young that she won't remember to be sensitive with her ask of anything she is trying out. Youngsters learn so quickly - so I am sure she will easily adapt to a nice willing type.
 
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