How do I stop my legs moving forward in rising trot?

Talesofthehorse

Talesofthehorse

New Member
Feb 23, 2007
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Hi guys,

Wondered if anyone could offer me any advice on keeping my legs still when in rising trot!

In my lesson last night my instructor was saying squeeze when I sit, I was trying but I think my legs still went forward when I was on the sit beat.

Any hints or tips would be much appreciated

Thanks
 
I'm having problems with this myself and have discussed it with my RI. She says it's because I'm straightening my leg to absorb shock. So, I've been trying to keep my thigh muscle relaxed and knee bent when I descend. It's certainly a "different" feeling. I feel like I'm banging into the back of the horse too hard now.
 
Allow the horse to push you out of the saddle -sounds strange but their movement will naturally push you out (which is why sitting trot can be so difficult!) and don't rise too far. Both those will help but essentially it's just practise practise practise! The muscles in your legs,back,hips etc need to build up and that takes time! :)
 
something I haven't mastered in the ridiculous length of time I have been learning to ride...

..... the command "and trot on..." just brings the picture of flappy feet underneath me.

I just hope my hands have stopped rising with me too...

good luck with this - sorry to be no help whatsoever, if you get a good hint, please share....

best wishes
 
You're probably trying too hard to rise and are riding in a GP saddle that doesn't have set back stirrup bars.

Unfortunately a lot of saddles out there just don't help us at all. Trying to ride correctly in a bog standard GP is nigh on impossible unless you've perfected the art of dragging your legs back into the 'correct' position. Because the stirrup bars are too far forwards you have to work harder to rise and then your lower leg almost *has* to shoot forwards when you sit again.

As Fanshawe says, try and let the horse do the work. Think of the horses back, it's in two halves which move independantly. Your butt has two halves which is really helpful as you can move your hip bones independantly too in time with the horses movement. Try it in walk first, let the horse move you. Then when you're comfortable try it in trot.

Moving hands are another symptom of the saddle and trying too hard!
 
Here are some suggestions that might help you. Check them out with the other members here and with your instructor to see if they're appropriate for your situation.

1. Check the length of your stirrups. If they're the incorrect length (especially too long), you're probably making things harder on yourself. This is the easiest solution for this type of problem, but worth mentioning since the remedy is simple enough and fairly straightforward.

2. One obvious way to work on the “sit” part of posting is to concentrate on learning how to sit the trot first and then slowly introduce posting. Once you learn how to sit the trot, post for a stride or two, then go back to sitting and then gradually add more strides until you can post as long as you want to. If you’re having trouble at any time, go back to sitting trot and start over again. This takes awhile, but learning to sit the trot is very valuable to riding, so it’s worth investing time in!

3. Don’t try to rise too high out of the saddle or sit for too long while posting, both of which can make the “sit” part of posting difficult. Think of rising slightly forward and out of the saddle and softly setting yourself down on the horse’s back. The trot is a two-beat gait, so thinking “up-down-up-down” or “one-two-one-two” while you’re doing this might also help you as well.

4. When you think about your heel, DO NOT just ram all of your weight into it in an effort to push your heels down, as this might cause your lower leg to move forward and your leg could move too far away from the horse. Try to sink your weight softly into your heel, especially when rising. Some people think about putting their heel back a little at the same time as they are putting their weight into their heel. I know of others who don't even think about their heel being down at all; instead, they think of lifting their toes up higher than their heel and their heel naturally falls into the right place.

5. Do LOTS of work without stirrups. (This applies to all positions at all gaits, but you get the idea. Even work without stirrups at a sitting trot or later, at a canter, in addition to posting at the trot can help stretch and strengthen your lower leg and improve balance with rising trot.)

6. For whatever gait you're on, you should lightly grip/hold/touch the saddle with your thigh muscles, but try to be relaxed and DO NOT squeeze too hard. This is where I’m slightly surprised that your instructor told you to “squeeze” because you might be accidentally trying too hard and are gripping too much, thus causing your problem! (Perhaps your instructor meant more along the lines of not taking your leg off of the saddle when doing the “sit” part of posting?) Think of holding a wet bar of soap in your hands. If you lightly hold it, your muscles slightly relaxed, no problems. BUT, the second you squeeze too tightly what happens? The bar seems to slide up and up (“Oh no, it’s slipping!”), so you squeeze harder trying desperately to hold onto it. However, this is a downward spiral because the situation will get worse and worse until it escapes from your fingers. Try this out for yourself. The same is true if you use your legs to over-squeeze or grip a horse/saddle too tightly while you are riding, especially while posting or sitting the trot. Try to relax and think of your thighs as being an old-fashioned clothespin, where the clothespins, i.e., your thighs, are made up of long legs (this is where I envy taller people!) that are stretching down to support you while lightly gripping/contacting the saddle/horse. We had one girl at our barn who once could be heard saying, “Be the clothespin. I AM the clothespin!” while competing a show. It put smiles on all of our faces, and it really helped her out a lot.

Well, I hope at least one of these suggestions helps you out! Good luck! :)
 
Whoops, almost forgot.... :p

As for the hands moving at posting trot, RELAX! If you are too tense, especially in your hands, upper and lower arms, you will get stiff and be unable to take the motion of posting. (Then your arms will go up and down while posting.)

One exercise you can do (I hope this all makes sense; this is hard to put into words!) is put your hands against the horse's neck and then start posting. Relax your upper and lower arms/hands and let your elbows "open and close" (move in and out sideways) while rising. After you get a general feel for it, you can take your hands away from the horse as you normally would ride. Eventually you will be able to post without thinking about relaxing or moving your elbows/arms and your arms won't have this problem anymore.
 
Thank you so much for all the replies! Especially purplehammer what a fab essay of advice (thanks for your time)

I should have looked sooner but my week has been totally crazy! I'm riding tonight and have been thinking about the advice over my lunch break and tried to put it to practice a bit in the office! Mad but true, i figure if I get the idea in my head it will be easier when riding!

I will try various things and let you know how it goes tonight

Thanks again

x
 
One more thing,

loved the clothespin analogy I will totally try that tonight! It made me giggle but it makes total sense about how you sit/ride a horse!
 
Update on last night,

Well we had a jumping lesson and I jumped and just about stayed on for the first time ever yeah! We did a little course of 4 jumps in trot, then one on its own. My third jump was fab and felt good but the others were not so!

My horse was quite strong and we were quite often trotting faster than I wanted (I kept trying to slow her down) so we were at the jump before I was really ready!

However it was good fun and I even managed to stay on when we jumped the bigger bit of the diagonal rather than the cross!

I tried the clothes horse idea, and keeping relaxed with the legs! I think it was a bit better but as we didn't do much flat work my RI never commented so I will try again next lesson.

I was mostly struggling to slow my horse who was quite strong, good for a flat lesson but I don't want to jump on her again! I need a slower trot to prepare myself in future.

I will have to read up on jumping tips, although we probably won't have another jump lesson for a while now.

x
 
Talesofthehorse said:
Hi guys,


In my lesson last night my instructor was saying squeeze when I sit, I was trying but I think my legs still went forward when I was on the sit beat.

Any hints or tips would be much appreciated

Thanks
Click to expand...


Hey there, I dont want to confise you or anything but squeezing wont keep your legs still as it will go agaisnt the movement of the horse. Try taking your legs off completely, you will also find that your aids are better recieved this way. After all if your sqeezing all the time then how will your horse know what is an aid and what isnt? I ride in dressage we are always taught not to use any leg unless your asking for a lateral movement, upward trans etc etc. Sometimes in training we dont even use the leg to go foward we just click etc.
Hope I have helped you and not confused you, dont forget as you progress you will get better, practise does in fact make perfect!
Good Luck
 
I'd also like to update from my session last night. First, let me say I was wrong in my previous post. My legs are moving forward on the RISE not the DESCENT.

I tried 2 different things to stop my legs going forward.

1) I kept my thigh muscles relaxed and didn't attempt to assist the rise in any way. This kept my legs back alright, but I was barely clearing the saddle and it felt all wrong.

2) I moved my feet back so that when I did push down in the stirrups, they just moved sideways a little (away from the horse) instead of forward.

Of these 2 approaches, I felt more comfortable with the latter, but I'm not sure it is correct.
 
Two things I've been told, and am now working on:

Every time you sit, move your legs back an inch or so so that when you rise again, they are back in position.

Every once in a while as you are posting, stay up in 2-point for a few strides. This will move your legs back underneath you in the correct position and then you can start to feel where they should be.
 
Well, I ran the two things I mentioned above by my RI this morning and she said #1 was the key -- keep the upper leg muscles relaxed and don't try to assist the upward movement. I have to admit that my feet did stay pretty still, doing this.

As for the stirrups placement on GP saddles, I have such big feet that it's not a problem for me.
 
I've not riden for some time now (hopefully starting up again very soon), It may not seem like it right now but rising trot will click into place and very soon you will be doing it without even thinking.
Just one little thing - I found that when I learnt I noticed that the movement (once I'd mastered it) came from my hips, I would say its sort of forward and up rather than just up down
 
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