Rising trot in treeless saddle

[Marusenka]

Have just bought a lovely 4 year old piebald cob and have got a barefoot cheyenne saddle for him. I love it- it is so comfy to ride in and he moves wonderfully in it.
I have only ridden in it a couple of times and although i can do walk, sitting trot and canter fine i am finding it quite hard to master rising trot- don't think it helps that he is particularly bouncy at trot anyway!
Any tips for mastering rising trot or do i just keep practising until it all clicks into place?

[Whatanejit]

Hiya,

Not sure if I am going to be much help here but what you are experiencing is quite common.

I have the Trekker Talent which is not that much different to your cheyenne.

Am I right in thinking that the stirrup bars are further back than normal in yours like in the Trekker?

We found it tricky on our bouncy boy too and in fact I hated schooling in it so much we got a Wintec.

I do plan to go back to the Trekker occasionally, though once we start riding him again.

Oh yes, I found shortening my stirrups helped a bit.

[ShariN]

Work/practice posting riding bareback...this will help you build muscles to post in your BF.:D

[Wally]

Sounds like you are trying too hard. Let the horse do the work.

[carrieh]

Don't try to rise too high. Lean forward slightly. Took me a while to get used to rising trot in my treeless Fhoenix saddle!

Tips for better riding - rising trot in a treeless saddle with setback stirrup bars - written by Heather Moffett, classical rider. Half way down this page:

http://www.enlightenedequitation.com/public/fhoenix_booklet.html

[No_Angel]

make sure youve got your legs underneath you, you may be used to having your legs forward slightly in a treed saddle, and may be doing it in your barefoot without knowing, you you have your legs under you its much easier to ride, make sure your hips are going forward not your upper body:)

[virtuallyhorses]

As the others have said you are probably experiencing what most of us do when changing to a treeless saddle - the realisation that our previous position \riding style was pretty dodgy ;) You are probably attempting to use your stirrups to push you out of the saddle - you now need to alter your riding style to be more correct and have your legs under you, in particular your knees pointing downwards. The rise then rotates around the kneecap, the lower leg and feet have nothing to do with it, the pelvis rotates forward and slightly up and there is no extra pressure on the stirrups at all.