Question for instructors

[Wally]

Can any of you guys think of a problem with sitting trot which would benefit from RAISING your knees up?

The only way I can think they mean is to adopt a bit of a chair seat.

[Tiger]

Hi Wally,
Could be part of a correction for someone sitting on their 'fork' - pubic bone :eek: (more often a female position fault ! ) to help reposition the pelvis, but a difficult one to answer properly without knowing the context.
Eg I have sometimes asked a rider to ' lean back',- but this is only where their upper body is in front of the vertical and on being asked to sit straighter/more vertical/ to bring the upper body further back ,or any similar request, it becomes apparent that they think they ARE vertical, in which case, a request to 'lean back' brings them upright, but FEELS to them at first, because it is different , as if they are BEHIND the vertical, which would , naturally, be undesirable. :(
It is of course important to explain fully to the rider ,what and why you are asking them to do something, in order to avoid confusion. :confused:
WHY WHY don't riders ask more and Instructors stop hiding behind jargon?? Come on guys - start asking for explanations
So Wally - do you have any more info? :) :)

[Shiny McShine]

Yes the only thing I can think of is that it would give a rider who sits on their crotch the feeling of being on the seat bones.

[IrisSilverMoon]

we do that all the time at my barn.

you can lift your knees and fix your seat, by scoothing your butt under you a little or lifting the knees proves that you aren't leaning on them and you are sitting back on your seat. if you do the fixing your seat thing it shouldn't put you in a chair seat position, but when you do drop your legs they will be repositioned in a proper place. *shrugs* i've been doing it for ages and never in my riding have i been accused of having a chair seat.

I am of course assume by raising your knees you mean picking them up and off the saddle...or am I wrong?

[chev]

Sorry, I'm not an instructor, but I remember a girl I used to lead in lessons being told to do this. She used to perch forward on her pelvis, so her seat bones lifted out of the saddle. The instructor we had at the time used to get her to raise her knees up to the pommel while trotting to rock her back on to her bum. Then she had to drop her legs down straight, so she was sat correctly. She did it for three or four lessons and did improve hugely. She did (as far as I remember) around one full circuit of the school with her knees raised before dropping her legs down again. It did seem to physically give her the idea of where on her seat she should sit.

[Santorium]

I do the excersise that ISM is talking about all the time, and it works a treat.

[cvb]

it can help people to get the feeling of movement in their lower back - rather than bracing in their stirrups to 'save' their back. It can also help to develop a deeper seat as people have no choice but to sit on their rear end if their legs are raised ;) I've done this and found it does help. However, I seem to remember that even ten years ago BHS were advising to only do it one leg at a time for safety reasons ! This seemed a bit odd to me as you risked getting a twist doing it that way, or getting the rider very 'off-centre' and unbalanced. Seemed to defeat the original purpose of the exercise.

[S_F_S]

I think thers a differnce in what is being said here.

The excersise which people are ferreing to is where you draw your legs up, knee's touching like a jockeyt, then out like a frog, then push down slowly. It gets the rider's seat in the right place (bottom underneath you!) and their legs hanging down straight. Usually only done at walk/halt- as far as I know- for safety!

However, if you were referring to rasing your knees up a couple of inches or so whilst trotting- I cannot think of anything that this could help and YES_ it does seem that ic could only produce an armchair seat.

Could you describe it a little more Wally?

[chev]

I know what you mean Scraffie, but the girl I remember was definitely not doing that - she was trotting, knees up. That's why I led her - she had to be on a lead to be even remotely safe! It's the only time I've ever seen anyone trot in that position, and it was only after everything else had failed to help her sit on her seat bones.

The raise legs and drop them exercise is different - we did that too, but not while moving and we didn't hold our knees up for any length of time.

She didn't develop an armchair seat because she was perching so far forward in the first place. I can't imagine it would have done much for someone who was sitting fairly well to begin with.

[S_F_S]

Well thats stumped me- never heard of it!! Doesn't sound very 'safe'....

[Claire Louise]

our college instructors made us trot and canter with our knees away from the saddle to prove we had a seat independant of the stirrups but just off the saddle a couple of centi meters and still down by the horses side.