We have already had several queries over the months on New Rider concerning how to sit to the trot. Riders are told to 'sit deeper' 'relax your lower back', 'go with the movement', and other similar phrases that might as well be in Indo-Chinese, for all they mean to the average beginner or novice.
I learnt to ride as a child, but even then thought that I did not actually learn an awful lot from my lessons. It wasn't until I had my first horse, at thirteen, that I really started to learn to ride, because for the first time, I had a chance to experiment to my heart's content. I knew that I didn't sit as deeply and easily in the saddle as I would like, and still bounced a bit in sitting trot, and was not as still in canter as I would like.
I used to watch Westerns as a child, and admired the way that cowboys seemed to sit with such ease in the saddle. I worked out what they were doing that enabled them to sit in this way, and tried it out myself. When friends noticed a great improvement in my riding, they asked me where I had been for lessons. I explained that I had worked it out myself by watching westerns! They asked me to teach them, and so I had to evaluate what I was doing.
'I hit on a method of teaching that
seems to be unique to me'
This was the beginning of my teaching career, and I am sure why it took a different path. Because I was looking at the problem of absorbing the horse's movement from the rider's point of view, not as that of a pupil, and through the fresh, uncluttered eyes of a child, I hit on a method of teaching that seems to be unique to me. I have read countless horse books since, and have never found anyone else who teaches it, yet it is simple and totally logical.
It stands to reason that because a horse's back moves up and down, that riders have to make a compensatory movement in order to avoid being thrown up and down as well. If you sit stiffly in the saddle, you will bounce like a cork on a rough sea. If you 'relax your back' and flop into the saddle, you will be loose and sit like the proverbial 'sack of potatoes'. Either way, it is unsafe for the rider, and uncomfortable or even painful for the horse.
Instead, if riders are taught from the beginning, the correct way to absorb this up and down movement, they never learn to bounce, then have to grip up with their legs to try to stay on board. The number of riding schools I have visited, where I have seen novice riders being made to do endless circuits of sitting trot without stirrups, hanging on for grim death round corners, and nearly bouncing 'out of the side door' in the mistaken belief that 'practise makes perfect'. It doesn't always! It is how you practise it that is the real criterion. We will be looking at this in more depth a little later on.
Firstly, it is necessary to understand how a horse moves in trot. His feet move in diagonal pairs, springing from one pair to the other, with a moment of suspension in between, so that the movement is two time- i.e. you can count one, two, one, two, in the rhythm of the stride.
Before I had the Equisimulator, which mimics the movement of the real horse very realistically, I used to use a saddle on a wooden saddle horse to teach the flexions of the lower back, at least at the halt, which still gives most riders at least an idea of how to absorb the horse's movement. It takes longer, but most people start to cotton on quite quickly, when they are told exactly how to achieve this adhesion to the saddle!
For those of you without your own horse or saddle, you can still practise it at home on a stool. If the rider is to sit easily in the saddle, as if softly glued to it, then the only way that this can happen is if the rider is totally synchronising his own lower back and pelvis to mirror the undulations of the horse's back.
Sitting on a stool, flex your back in, so that you emphasise the natural slight hollow in your lower back. Feel how your pelvis rocks forwards onto the front edge of your seatbones, which are shaped like the rockers of a rocking chair. Make sure that your upper body stays still, and that it is not also rocking back and forth, it is just the pelvis that should move. Now, return the pelvis to upright, so that the back is flattened again, taking care not to go past the point where it is just flat, and not rounded out the other way, so that the ribcage is collapsed. Practise this a few times, flexing the back in, then flattening, feeling your seatbones acting as a pivot point on the stool.
Back flat - pelvis upright
Back flexed in - pelvis tilted forward
This is the main movement used in absorbing all of the upwards and downward undulations of the horse's back. In essence, by flexing the spine in, you are shortening your spine by the same amount as the horse's back is rising, and by straightening the spine, you are lengthening it again, by the same amount that the horse's back is falling, in that way, the seat remains softly on the saddle, neither bouncing, nor gripping. The horse's back does not only move up and down, but also from side to side.
On the stool, place your hands on your hips, so that you can feel your hipbones. Practise tilting the top of your right hipbone forward as you flex your spine in, so that you feel your right seatbone tip onto the front edge of it's 'rocker', then bring the right hipbone back to upright, so that your spine is straight again, next tipping the left hipbone forward, flexing in your back, then bringing it back to upright again, straightening the spine. Put these four movements together, and it will feel like the four beats of the horse's walk. Now speed it up to the two time rhythm of the trot! Place your fingers on your hipbones again, and count one, two, one, two, out loud, pushing your left hip forward on the 'one', and your right hip forward on the 'two', also flexing your lower back in and out slightly in the rhythm of the one, two.
When practising sitting trot, it is important not to try to achieve too many strides at first. Most riders find it difficult to co-ordinate for more than half a dozen or so strides to start with, and the longer the duration of the trot, the rider starts to bounce, so the horse stiffens up his back muscles against the discomfort of the rider's seat thumping the saddle, so that the trot becomes even harder to adhere to. Do lots of transitions (changes of pace) between walk and trot, which will also greatly benefit your horse, ensuring that his stride stays soft and springy, therefore making it easier for you to sit to anyway. Do hold onto the strap on the front of the saddle, as when your hands stay down, invariably, so does your backside!
Gradually build up until you can maintain ten or twelve strides, then fifteen or sixteen, and so on, until, before you know it, you will be able to sit comfortably to the trot for as long as you need to when schooling or in a lesson. If your instructor does makes you do sitting trot without stirrups, or with them, for that matter, in amounts beyond where you feel able to cope, say so! Suggest doing smaller amounts, as I have described above, and don't allow yourself to be bullied into submission. You are paying for the lesson, and you have a right to have a say!
Find
out more details about Enlightened Equitation, seatbone savers,
saddles, equisimulators and training courses on www.enlightenedequitation.com
Comments
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Maria1st Jun 01
Wow! This article helped me ALOT! I always find trotting difficult for me and I always lose my balance and should I mention about trotting with no stirrups? My instructor never tried that on me yet, but I'm afraid he will! Your article will help me with my trotting and the "practice at home on a stool" was wonderful! Thankyou!
Nicole2nd Jun 01
Ok, now I'm lost. IS riding and sitting to the trot two different things, or part a and b of the same thing?
BTW I've only been riding for five weeks, and have been reading your website, as last week the whole trot thing was disastorous. This week, they told me I had a lovely line and sat really well (or something!!)
THANKS!
Lynne30th Oct 01
I have often taught the sitting trot by placing the clients the legs over the saddle flaps its best to be on the lunge for this exercise.
It helps the body to absorb the movement of the horse because it makes you sit on the full length of your seatbones thus enabling you to allow the pelvis to rock backwards amd forwards a lot easier
Leigh23rd Nov 01
Hi everyone,
I just started riding. I've only had one lesson so I'm really new at it. Anyway, in my lesson we walked and then my instructor got me to trot. I kinda picked up the rising trot almost straight away, which really surprised me because everyone said it was hard. But I don't get the sitting trot. I know I've only had one lesson, so maybe I need more practice, but I just felt like I was bumping up and down and hurting the horse, and that made me feel real horrible. I don't want the horse to hurt because I don't know what I'm doing. My instructor said I did really good, but I still feel bad. Did I hurt the horse? Will my sitting trot get better with lessons and time?
Love,
Leigh
Tori6th Dec 01
Hello. I have been riding for thirteen years, and I am sixteen years old. I own a horse named Savvy and he has a really bouncy trot. At first, it was really difficult to sit to his trot, but I have discovered a way to do it. What I did was remove the saddle and then ask for a trot. It is a lot easier to sit this way.
This idea helped me with my next horse, Lucy and I am buying my third horse tomorrow, named Prancer. She is a lovely thouroghbred chestnut. Luv ya,
*Tori*
Lin14th Feb 02
After many, many riding lessons I read Heather's instructions for sitting trot. At my next lesson, my instructor could not believe my improvement at sitting trot and asked if I had been having lessons elsewhere. I felt great and the trot was superb. It was a real thrill and I can't thank you enough! Now, on to canter!
Fiona17th Feb 02
I have just been sitting on a stool trying to follow your instructions but am totally lost!!!!
I've got the idea of the 'back flat' and 'back flexed in' but putting that together with tilting the left hipbone followed by the right hipbone to the count of 'one, two, one two...' has left me befuddled!
As you may have guessed, I haven't been riding long... Doh!
Laura31st Mar 02
Hi. Thanks for the advice! Until now I managed to sit to the trot by absorbing the bounce in my ankles which was OK but this way is more comfortable. It also made it easier to use my leg aids at the same time, and my horse,Louis, is more springy and has more rhythmn too. Thanks!
Elaine Smith26th May 02
Believe it or not, there is a book I read by a gentleman in Spain, Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling, "Dancing with Horses". He describes the exact motions for walk, trot and canter that you mention and has very good diagrams with arrows showing how the pelvis and hips are to move. He also complains about the traditional English/Dressage saddles in that they put the rider in the wrong position which makes is harder to stay balanced and in harmony with the horse's movement. Your website is extremely helpful and I am adding to my list of "favorites" for future reference. I am very interested in the saddle which you designed. Where can I get one? Anyway, this is a fantastic website!
jac30th May 02
hi.
i have to say that when at home on a chair in front of a mirror it worked,when at the stables on a horse it was crap! to be fair my friend has had more sucsess than me but no matter how i try to adaprt it to me and ym pony it still is not comfy and i am scaired of doing my back an injury from trying to move my back in time to my ponys trot! i do see the logic in moveing the pelvis back and fowards or what ever it is to compansate for not rising and on a stool it owrks but just not on my horse when i try to practis i feel like i am in danger of hurting ether me or my pony so that puts me of practising and when i do it is realy uncomfy i find it a lot easer just to stick to rising ( by the way the rising trot advise is spot on but i was kind of going that way in the first place )but i know i should get it sorted just for the sake of finaly understanding how to do it!
ps.kayliegh how did you figure this out!!!
Alice2nd Jun 02
At 32, I've been on a horse maybe a dozen times (usually at a walk, except for the one bucking-off incident - long story) and have tried trotting once. I know now how the sack of potatoes feels!
I have to wait to resume riding, pending my firstborn's arrival in September, but am anticipating getting back in the saddle to learn. This article gives me hope... the stool exercise helps the sitting trot make sense. Everyone here (East Tennessee, USA) seems to have grown up on horseback, my spouse especially, and they don't remember what it was like for someone who didn't have horses around as a kid... (even if I did grow up in Kentucky).
Formal (i.e., "paid") riding lessons aren't likely to be an option, so books and online articles are likely to be my best hope at figuring out how to keep from flopping around like a flounder, when everyone else seems to have inate horsemanship knowledge and a naturally beautiful saddle seat, and can't quite explain what I'm doing wrong (or more to the point, what I need to be doing to do it right.)
Thanks again for this website and tips, and good luck to all other new riders!
Olivia21st Jun 02
hi
i've just been practicing sitting trot on a stool like it says above, but i just can't get the tilting and flexing my back without my whole body wiggling from side to side like a worm!
does anyone have any tips that could help me to keep stiller, or would it be different if i were sitting on a horse?
Alycia16th Jul 02
hi...i did this exercise about 1/2 a year ago and it helped me TREMENDOUSLY!...i use to ride a 17 had thouroughbred...and his trot was ..i guess i should say powerful...this exercise really helped me learn the motion of the horse and how to sit deeper in the saddle...unfoutunatly he passed away and now i am riding a 14/3 quarterhorse mare who is a dream at her trot!..nice and slow and easy to sit to...this helped me SO much..tahnx!
~alycia
Erin20th Jul 02
You explained everything SO well and the diagram of the horse's movement in trot is very helpful because I find it's sometimes hard to visualize it in my head. I can't wait to try out the new "technique" to sitting trot in my next lesson! I tried practising it on a stool and found it quite easy, hopefully it will still be as easy when I'm on the horse!
sammie23rd Sep 02
I really used to struggle with the sititng trot until one day I tried it bareback - there are 2 benefits to this - firstly you really get to feel the horses movement beneath you and understand where its coming from and secondly without the hinderance of stirrups you seem to automatically assume the correct leg position and balance. It worked well for me and its a breeze even in the saddle although I still find it much easier without stirrups!
