Happy Riding Update! & a quick question at the end

[sonjanae]

I last posted just under a month ago, looking for tips on sitting the trot as I was anticipating having to work on that soon-- and I did. At my next lesson my RI had me try it out a few times. It was not smooth or easy lol. My husband, who rode for his university for 5 years and is a decent rider, tried to give me some tips as well-- grip with the inner groin muscles, and think of it as more of a back and forth motion, swing forward at the moment you'd post-- easier said than done, ha! So yes, first few attempts, a few strides at a time in that first lesson were rough.
But guyssss THE most amazing thing that has done wonders for my riding happened! The horse I ride for lessons is an amazing Warmblood who used to compete in 3rd level dressage. He's not the average ploddy lesson pony, which in and of itself is very lucky for me. Anyway, I learned that his owner hasn't actually been out to ride in years. He's just kind of been used for lessons to keep him in adequate-ish shape and let be. My RI told me I could come out and ride whenever I want because he can use the exercise!! Can you BELIEVE my luck? It's essentially like a free lease. I am OVER the MOON. How absolutely lucky am I?! It's been 3 weeks and I still cannot believe my fortune. This is a whole other topic I could gush about for days! So of course, with the ability to practice outside of lessons and experiment on my own, I've been learning significantly faster.
I first worked on sitting trot, but it's very jarring for me, and I have this problem where I guess I put too much weight in my feet and it causes me to pop out of the saddle? I don't quite know exactly what I'm doing wrong there, but I know it's not right. I'm always seeing everyone else talk (and gripe) about no stirrup work and how it improves the trot and the seat. Well, I started doing that on my own ASAP and found that I actually prefer riding with no stirrups entirely. I have this strap on the front of the saddle that's just for grabbing in case of emergency I believe, not quite sure what it's actually called, but my RI calls it the "oh sh*t strap" lol! and it helps me a lot to grab that so I'm not pulling on the mouth, and just sit deep and hold myself into the saddle. My husband says my sitting trot looks very impressive when I do that, and I go back and forth between using it for a few seconds to get the right feel, and then letting go and keeping a decent sit for as long as I can (less impressive lol). Baby steps
The entire reason I made my first post was because I was eager to canter and I knew I'd have to learn a bit of sitting trot before I moved on. Well, sure enough, 3 lessons later and my RI asked if I wanted to try a canter! This was last Wednesday. I said absolutely! I was feeling quite confident, especially as my husband stressed how much easier and natural the canter feels than sitting the trot. Well... it wasn't exactly what I expected. I did NOT expect my guy to take off and send me shooting out of the saddle, seemingly 5 feet in the air as if he were a WWII fighter jet and I was the ejected pilot! My instructor actually had to stifle a laugh! We only went a few strides, maybe 3-5, and tried it just once more in the lesson for about the same distance. I was a mess, and although I loved it for the sake of the speed and that I was just plain excited anyway... I was a bit disappointed in myself. I was slightly embarrassed, though my RI did say not too feel bad, that this particular horse has a very big canter, and that she'd try to think of someone a little smaller and with less "go" for me to learn on. But fast forward to tonight... I came out to ride this evening, as I do about 3 days a week outside of my lesson, and from the get-go my mans was FRESH! He's a good guy, but normally he does take some convincing and "firm tellings" to not be on the lazy side. NOT TONIGHT! We went off at a nice forward march as soon as I hopped on, and I only had to give the slightest increase in pressure to get a good working trot going. I warmed him up for a minute, and then, as I usually do, dropped my stirrups, crossing them over his withers. It was a little more difficult to sit his trot at the fast pace he was going, so I was using the front strap quite a bit right from the start. I could feel his engine revving!! Almost immediately he broke into a canter! Keep in mind I had NO stirrups!! Yet somehow this made it easier than I remember it being in the lesson? After the initial jolt and feeling as though my balance had been thrown off, I tightened my lower legs around him and within a few strides felt incredibly stable and balanced! We went down the entire long side of the arena before I got him back into a trot! Talk about a confidence boost! I was laughing the entire time. It felt AMAZING-- nearly exactly what I had expected it to feel like before I'd ever cantered. Maybe a little more rocking horse-like than I had imagined. Now, ,mind you, I don't know what my actual Eq looked like haha! But I can confidently say it at least *felt* so natural. I didn't want to overdo it, so I tried to let well enough alone, yet he was feeling fiery so we broke into unintentional canters many times! I probably shouldn't have let him get away with that to be honest, but I've never felt him have so much energy before, and I was quite enjoying myself! I felt comfortable enough to not use the strap because as it was I didn't feel as if I was using it to pull myself deeper into the motion of the saddle, so by the end I was cantering without it, yet also without feeling like I was tugging on his mouth to stabilize myself. I cannot stress how exhilarated I was/am!! I feel like I'm walking through the clouds in the happiest daze of my life! Like, did that really happen! Did I really have that much fun??!!

Yet, here's a question-- I did put my stirrups back down toward the end, as I could feel myself getting quite sloppy at the sitting trot as I got tired... and I encountered the same problem with the canter as I had in my lesson! What am I doing wrong?? It feels like with the stirrups I'm popping myself out of the saddle and losing balance? I thought it would be quite the opposite, that cantering without stirrups would be the problem! Can anyone explain this?

I just wanted to share my experience because I need to gush to a group of understanding people about how absolutely THRILLED I am! I feel as if my confidence has grown by miles again

 

[fourlegs]

Well done! I am guessing you could lengthen your stirrups a bit - your weight should be mainly taken by your thighs and seat bones and it sounds like you're putting too much weight into the stirrups. The balls of your feet should just rest lightly in the irons with your leg draped close to the horse but not gripping with your knees.

 

[Skib]

Lengthen your stirrups. And sitting trot is not up and down. Your two seat bones alternate, one rising and the other dipping. You should feel it side to side.
However it is easier to trot without stirrups - well known. And after lengthening your stirrups and then working with no stirrups you may want to let the stirrups down one hole further still.
I appreciate that you are young, fit and competitive. Whereas I learned to ride in old age and am not competitive at all. But riding is something to which one needs to give one's mind. You need to think out this sitting trot, feeling that side to side movement under your seat and then you will get it.
Later that understanding will come in useful when you want to cue one of the two back legs to move. Your seat bone sinks when the horse lifts his hind leg on that side. Think of it like a table with four legs. Remove one support leg and that corner of the table will dip.
Canter is almost the opposite as you have discovered. All you need to do is to relax and allow it to happen under you. That may be because the movement forward and back in canter is more natural to humans in forward motion than adjusting side to side. My old OH learned to canter well before he could do rising trot.

 

[Jessey]

It sounds like you are bracing against the stirrups and pushing yourself out of the saddle, lengthening them may help or it may not, if not you may find you need to work on not putting your stress into your legs (bracing) and instead just letting them hang there passively, focusing on sitting through your seat and keeping your legs soft.

 

[sonjanae]

I actually rode with the stirrups quite long I normally wrap them once, but haven't been doing that when I practice on my own. When I try to just lightly rest my feet and keep my legs still, I end up losing the stirrup! Can't figure out the right amount of pressure and balance. I do agree that the issue has to do with putting stress in the legs, but losing the stirrup when I DONT do that confuses me. Thanks for all the input so far!!

 

[fourlegs]

Sounds fairly normal to me - keeping the stirrup on the ball of your foot and the foot level is something that comes with practice.

 

[Jessey]

I actually rode with the stirrups quite long I normally wrap them once, but haven't been doing that when I practice on my own. When I try to just lightly rest my feet and keep my legs still, I end up losing the stirrup! Can't figure out the right amount of pressure and balance. I do agree that the issue has to do with putting stress in the legs, but losing the stirrup when I DONT do that confuses me. Thanks for all the input so far!!

Tension can work both ways, you push down or pull up, so it could still be that, work without stirrups is great for helping that. There is a big chunk of feel in it too, how much weight should be in the stirrup, and that just comes with practice