More on Keeping Still Feet in Rising Trot

wanabe

wanabe

New Member
Apr 8, 2005
993
0
0
Pine Forests of Southeast Texas
We've had a couple of posts about this recently. In those I had mentioned that my RI had said to NOT use the thigh muscle to assist the rise but that when I did that -- although it kept my feet much stiller -- I rose so little from the saddle that it didn't feel/seem correct.

Watching some of the senior students (girls 15-17, LOL), with their quiet feet, I noticed them coming way out of the saddle, but it was done by thrusting their hips forward and upward. In other words, the angle of the thigh to the abdomen was being changed.

I tried that at the same time as keeping my calf and thigh muscles relaxed and although it felt "right", my feet were still moving around quite a bit. So, then I tried "freezing" the angle formed at my knee between lower leg and upper leg and this seemed to be the key. I'll have to work more on this next week and see if I'm satisfied with the results.
 
You don't need to rise high and you certainly shouldn't be thrusting your hips forward. The rise should be as a result of the horse pushing you up and the amount of rise dependant on the horse's movement. Your upper body should be inclined SLIGHTLY forwards of the vertical so that you can return to the saddle quietly without any pressure on the horse's back.

When you're rising correctly you should be able to put your hand under the back of the saddle and barely feel the pressure. I'd lay bets that if you did that with the senior students there would be a heck of a lot of pressure which, if you think about it, is going directly onto the horses back.
 
Bay Mare -- I'm sure you're right -- if I did that with my senior students there WOULD be a lot of pressure. Their hands pressing (at speed) on my face! LOL

Seriously, tho, what I'm getting at is, all this time, I've been channeling the upward impetus of the horse into allowing my knee angle to change. Now, I've switched to using that same impetus into allowing my hip angle to change, instead.
 
Last edited:
Your knee is supposed to flex every time you rise and sit. Here's what I've been working on: start posting and then go into 2 point for several strides. If you fall back into the saddle, your legs are too far forward, so put them back. When you can balance in 2 point, keep your legs there and start posting again. Keep alternating. Once your legs are starting to stay back, every time you sit, move your feet back an inch or two. Then when you rise again, they will not have crept forward.

Also try this: lean forward and use the horse's neck for support (take up the slack in the reins and to turn, just slide your hand up or down the neck). When you start to post, it will feel very natural. In fact, do this part first before what's in the other paragraph.

ARe you going tomorrow??
 
I echo BayMare - you don't rise any more than the horse has lifted you, then hold it, then control your descent to meet the horse, ready to be by lifted again.

You'd look awfully silly trying to rise like those girls on a pony! You could never keep up with a pony's movement by thrusting yourself all over the place.

When I went from ponies to horses (I had a horse, retired him, had a pony for a couple years, retired him & got a horse again), I felt really strange! I was lifted higher and holding my rise longer... very odd sensation!

You seems a little perplexed by LJ's advice. The first part, she's suggesting you test two things about yourself.
1) your lower leg position. If your lower leg is not balanced, rising trot will be much hard than it ought to be.
2) Your leg and core strength. If you are weak in you leg and core (lower tummy muscles), you find it difficult to achieve and maintain a balanced position.
Feel free to ask your instructor about it. It is both an effective test, and exercise. I should do it more often! :eek::p

For the second part of LJ's post... Sorry, but I disagree. leaning forward is a horrible habit that is even harder to fix than wobbly legs. Leaning forward at any gait raises your center of gravity, and de-stablises (sp??!?) your seat. This does two things - makes your aids to the horse ineffectual and encourages you to fall off, over the shoulder of the horse. I would know, it took me 4 years to break this habit, and caused all of my falls.

If you need some extra support in your rising, install a monkey strap on to your pommel. make it long enough for you to still hold your reins in a good position, but short enough for you to tighten any slack if you feel unbalanced.

Best of luck in your learnings. :D
I like how you post how you are going. It's very brave to be open about the highs and lows of learning. I know I suddenly go very quiet on the forum if things aren't going too well. ;) :)
 
Entreat, the leaning forward to rest on the horse's neck is just to get the idea of how posting should feel and to get your legs back where they belong. It is just an exercise that my RI had me do, I know it's not the way you should be really. If you do it a bit at the start of a practice session, and then go on to the other suggestion I gave, it should help get your legs back, etc.
 
Entreat -- these girls are not on ponies. Two of them are on horses over 17 HH. My horse is only 16.2 HH.

I can see these girls are thrusting their hips foward and up -- at least I think I see this -- and they look good in their rising trots. I guess I'll take closer notice, now that I've thought about there being 2 different angles involved -- knee-angle and hip-angle and see what they're changing.
 
wanabe said:
Entreat -- these girls are not on ponies. Two of them are on horses over 17 HH. My horse is only 16.2 HH.

I can see these girls are thrusting their hips foward and up -- at least I think I see this -- and they look good in their rising trots. I guess I'll take closer notice, now that I've thought about there being 2 different angles involved -- knee-angle and hip-angle and see what they're changing.
Click to expand...

That's my point. I know they are not on ponies.

My point is - over riding the posting trot a) makes you looks silly and b) causes your aids to be fairly ineffectual because you spend the whole time battling against the horses movement instead of being in harmony. My point was - try this on a pony and look even sillier.

You cannot possibly lock your knee (or hip) in a particular angle - it's bio-mechanics. To get lift, you need two joints to work in unison - the hip & knee joints - both need to open. You can try it now - sit on your chair lightly with your legs open around the sides (as though you are sitting on a horse) with your knees bent softly. Now try to rise (as in a trot). Basically - it's like trying to run without bending your knees... not gonna happen.
 
The only way i've ever had a stable lower leg is by gripping at the knees....

which you shouldn't do by any means.

I've worked alot on the lunge, without stirrups and even bareback to strengthen my calf and core muscles, and now have a much stabler lower leg position. Nowhere near perfect, but i'd rather be relaxed and slightly bad than tense and good. :)
 
Okay, I've been thinking about your post, Laura Jeanne. So what you seem to be saying is that we move our feet because they aren't directly under us. (?)

To keep our feet under us when we're lowering we have to stay balanced over our feet. To get our feet under us on the rise we have to move them foward 1 or 2 inches, just before.

I'll try this, but I'm really wondering if those people who have mastered this skill are doing that "moving foward 1 or 2 inches" part.
 
Move them BACK an inch or so every time you sit. When you rise, the tendency is for your feet to slowly move forward on each rise. So if you move them back on each sit, they will be back underneath you when you rise. No, people who have mastered the skill do not do this because their leg muscles already have learned to stay back in the first place.
 
Have you tried LOTS of work without stirrups?

I must admit, I've not read your previous posts so don't know your history, but in my case, I find that rising trot WITHOUT stirrups really helps me. When I take the stirrups back my lower leg position is much more stable.

I just need to work out how to maintain this with the stirrups now :p
 
LEARN HOW TO SIT TROT using stomach muscles

Dear all.
I have been reading your posts and you all have a common problem.
CORE STABILITY.
Riding requires great strength and stability and control of many muscles.
I have ridden for years up to 4 star level eventing and know it is bloody hard work.
Stop beating yourselves up and learn what all natural rider have and do.
Core Stability.
look at
www.appliedpostureriding.com.au
If you ride and want to be as good as the top riders then try the program it works.
cheers aussieannie
 
Oh oh! I have that book... but my ball got lost in my move to Kalgoorlie. Will need to buy a new ball to do all my exercises.

The book is awesome! But if you haven't used a fit-ball before, start slowly, and work you way up to longer sessions. I get *really* dizzy the first time!!
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back