How Long Is A Piece Of String?

Laura4543

Member
May 20, 2019
36
5
8
40
Whenever I ask this question I am always told that different people learn at different rates etc, etc.
But I feel there must be some kind of normal progression.

My current problem, well actually it is a long term chronic problem is that my legs are like “wind screen wipers”
Apparently I kick too much but at the same time don’t keep the “leg on”.

I feel my legs swinging in and out in rising trot and I imagined I was doing the right thing but apparently not.

I don’t know how to control my legs and keep them still and on...
 
Of your legs are swinging in risk trot you are pushing out the saddle using your legs not controlling the moment using your core or hips.

Practice during squats as your legs can’t move and you have to control the rise and fall through your hips and core

Rising trot it not made by pushing up through your sturips when you do that the lower leg will swing

It ride riding trot correctly takes time so don’t worry how long it takes
 
Yep I'm with OBC, legs swinging about is generally from trying to stand up in the stirrups rather than the movement coming from the core, so progress with it can depend on how strong the core is to start with :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: sillygirlfun
Yep I'm with OBC, legs swinging about is generally from trying to stand up in the stirrups rather than the movement coming from the core, so progress with it can depend on how strong the core is to start with :)

But what baffles me is how to rise from the core. It is just so tempting (and it seems so right) to use your stirrups to stand up - you know you stand using your legs. I know it’s wrong but how do I stop?
 
But what baffles me is how to rise from the core. It is just so tempting (and it seems so right) to use your stirrups to stand up - you know you stand using your legs. I know it’s wrong but how do I stop?
Take away the stirrups! Rising trot without stirrups is the way to learn.
 
Yep that will definitely do it :) you use the horses motion to help you rise and an engaged core to carry it through, and you're not so much standing up, as swinging your pelvis up and forwards until you are just out of the seat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sillygirlfun
Thank you for your advice. When you say an engaged core what do you mean?
And swing your pelvis up and forward are there any real life movements that I can practice out of the saddle?
 
If you lay down on your back, find the point of your hips and move your fingers towards your midline a couple of inches, feeling with your fingers it's soft, then think about bringing your belly button back to your spine and flatten your spine to the floor, under your fingers you'll feel the muscles go hard, that's the core muscles engaging :)

The only way I can do it off-horse is feet shoulder width apart, bend the knees, keep the upper body vertical and find the point of balance (riding position), now without straightening your knees, straighten your hip angle. See how you have to bring your pelvis up and forward over your knees to straighten while your knees and lower leg stay still? Bit of a pelvic thrust type movement. Obviously it's not identical to when on a horse, but it's not far off and could help you build muscle memory and core strength.
Hopefully someone else can give you a better description, I'm not the best at describing these things :)
 
It really is a question of balance and using the horse's movement to your advantage. Forget about your lower leg for the moment.

I know people say rise and fall with the leg on the wall and we are told to look for the outside shoulder moving forward but I am going to suggest just the opposite! It also stops you looking down and upsetting the horse's balance.

Sit the walk to trot transition and feel for the INSIDE HIND leg & hip rising - use that movement to throw your pelvis forward, think of your belly button being attached to a rubber bungee with the other end attached to the horse's mane.

Once you have got the feeling, make sure you are not gripping with the knees and your lower leg is relaxed and off the horse's side - you should be pivoting on your knee and rising just an inch or two out of the saddle - many people rise too high and because their rhythm is slower than the horse's, the horse slows down.

Keeping your rise low means you can regulate the horse's trot without using your lower leg and when you DO put the leg on, the horse understands it rather than being "dead to the leg" from constant nagging.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sillygirlfun
Get a decent active trot and the horse pretty much lifts you anyway. If you are riding something lazy you could be over rising in an attempt to drive/ push them on. (voice of experience here)

You sound as if you are riding something wide and you leg can't go on anyway! I really have to open my hips in order to fold them round mine.

It's not actually rising trot, that implies that you stand up from the leg, it's more of a gentle lift that part of its the horse movement and part of it you absorb.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sillygirlfun
I don't normally ride English, but I use a rising post when I am out riding hard, or in the round pen. I learned to post by using the muscle above my knee without stirrups. Leg contact, not stirrups, helped me.
 
newrider.com