Really great lesson!

N

Nazdaq

Guest
I had my first lesson since the X-mas break, and it was great! my rising trot is "almost spot on" according to RI (we will ignore the 'almost' in there!) and I tried trotting without stirrups for the first time today. Now I have lots of questions about this:
1) Without stirrups where should my legs be because, when I 'lengthen' my leg, it swings back as well (for some bizzare reason!) and then I get told to bring my leg forward again, but when I try to bring it forward, the bloody thing shoots up as well!
2) How to relax and 'sit deep' without going "Oh no, bloody hell this is bouncy...I'm gonna fall off....help, help!" and gripping with my knees, legs, ankles and everything and as a result almost falling off even more!
3) I got told to 'lean back' a little as well, is this becuase I am doing a 'fetal position' type thing ie: when I tense up and grip with knees legs, ankles etc. I also curl forwards subconsciously?

Thanks for the advice in advance, and yaaaay my rising trot is better!
P.S: the without stirrups bit was to get me to learn to sit to the trot (wasn't trying to rise without stirrups that would just be too much! :D
 
1) Without stirrups where should my legs be because, when I 'lengthen' my leg, it swings back as well (for some bizzare reason!) and then I get told to bring my leg forward again, but when I try to bring it forward, the bloody thing shoots up as well!
Just slightly behind the girth - ideally in almost the same position as with stirrups, except your lower leg should be stretched down. You need to work at keeping your heels down in the sitting trot-it's one of the biggest problems, because without weight in your heels, you unconsciously lift yourself up with your thighs.


2) How to relax and 'sit deep' without going "Oh no, bloody hell this is bouncy...I'm gonna fall off....help, help!" and gripping with my knees, legs, ankles and everything and as a result almost falling off even more!
Again with the heels. Relax your ankles, but keep your heels down, and if you need to grip, make sure its with your thighs and not your kness, as gripping with your knees will lead you to tip forward. And if you do get to the position where you feel unbalanced, just bring him back to a walk. Better getting 5-6 strides of really balanced work then 15-20 of clutching and puuting yourself in the wrong position.

3) I got told to 'lean back' a little as well, is this becuase I am doing a 'fetal position' type thing ie: when I tense up and grip with knees legs, ankles etc. I also curl forwards subconsciously?
Yup. Think about it; you grip with your knees and you upper body is forced forward to maintain some semblance of balance because instead of sinking down, you are pushing yourself up
 
its really complicated is sitting trot

someone on here posted a really simple and fabulous way of thinking about it and i can;t remember who

but they said they imagined that their saetbones were moving with the trot, so their seat bones did a little walk(not moving along the saddle, just that sort of movement) in the saddle in time with the horses back swinging as the horse moved its back legs in trot if you understand my bad explaination:eek:
 
Thank you very much everyone, I am going to book a one-on-one lunge lesson for early next week which i think will help me to learn, and I won't be so worried about falling off, because there is no-one except the RI to see! :D
 
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