Sitting trot tips?

candyflosspot

candyflosspot

bossy boots
Sep 7, 2010
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Sheffield
Does anyone have any advice on how to master sitting trot please? We were working on ST during my lesson on saturday, and i felt like i was just bouncing around. I did try to "feel my horses movement" and go along with her but it still felt wrong..
if anyone has any advice to offer, it would be gratefully received.
 
Get yourself a wide, soft-backed, flat-stepping daisycutting bogpony like Ziggy and get him to jog. You'll hardly know it's trot!

For those occasions when you have to sit a trot with bounce - sit upright so your hips can flex, and soften yourself in the hip area as much as you can. I think of myself like an accordion (squeezebox) pleating up and unpleating, just absorbing the motion. Resistance is useless!
 
I might be wrong, but I kind of relax into it, think cowboy, and sit on the pockets of your jeans a bit, and go with the flow. But I am no expert and this is probably not right.
 
When you are told to feel the movement, it is not the bounce you are meant to feel. If you sit on the horse in walk you should feel your hips dip in turn as his hind feet move. Breathe slow and deep and relax into that feel. If you can, find someone to lunge you or give you a lunge lesson so you can shut your eyes if you want.
The good news is that the movement of those hind legs in trot is rthe same as in walk.
POn some horses it is easy to feel and let your seat bones did with the trot.
But on a bouncy horse, the abrupt up down movement and being precarious invades your brain and you stiffen. On a very bouncy trotter, I need to relax and even shut my eyes to "get" the side to side movment, but once you have got it into your head, your body should pick up the feel and allow it to happen under you. Breathe and relax and allow your seat bones to dip with the movment, first one side and then the other, just as you did in walk.
Then you should have the same sort of feel as you had in walk.
If you dont get the feel of it it fairly soon, I think it is better to come back to walk, (in order not to get bounced and unstable in trot) and ask for the transition again - at least that is how I was taught to trot bareback.
But once you get the feel, it is like riding a bike. I dont forget (my body doesnt forget) from one summer to the next.
Just one more point. Some people find it harder on one rein than on the other, and a horse may be smoother on one rein than the other. So if you have a problem going one way, try it in the other direction. I learned to trot bareback on the right rein a whole week before I learned to do it on the left rein.

I hope this helps. Those of us who learned sitting trot from the start find the rising trot difficult!
 
Get a dressage saddle!!! lol only joking but OH used to find it easy on Joe in his ds saddle. 'Fraid it eludes me on Storm - after 8 years plus I give up. Am leaving it to the professionals!!!
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
Get yourself a wide, soft-backed, flat-stepping daisycutting bogpony like Ziggy and get him to jog. You'll hardly know it's trot!

For those occasions when you have to sit a trot with bounce - sit upright so your hips can flex, and soften yourself in the hip area as much as you can. I think of myself like an accordion (squeezebox) pleating up and unpleating, just absorbing the motion. Resistance is useless!
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This but insert wide soft backed flat-stepping bulldozer like Belle instead!

I thinks Jane's description is very good and can do it ok but the second I tense up it all goes out the window.
 
Think of your belly as being replaced by a large spring, the bottom half moves and the spring in your middle absorbs the movement so the top stays still :)
 
I have got better at this (still not great) and it was thanks to Skib's advice. When I manage to sit to the trot like a cowboy (yeeha!) and really feel like I am moving at one with the horse, it is because:

1) I am relaxed, but upright (feels like leaning back to me but I'm told its upright!) with my head up (I visualise a piece of string attaching the top of my head to the ceiling but that is just me!) and my shoulders back.

2) I feel the side to side movement and let myself follow it by allowing my hips to move up and down. That was Skib's suggestion and it really clicked for me, before that I had only ever felt the bounce. Now I can sometimes even sit very bouncy horses trot (until I tense and then it all goes out the window)!
 
Thanks for the all the really useful suggestions. :smile:

I normally have a group lesson so would have to book an extra lesson should i want to practice on the lunge. This is a good idea though as it means the RI can concentrate solely on me rather than a class of people.

Hope we get to practice again this weekend - we tend to do something different each week which isnt ideal. I would prefer to concentrate on mastering the trot (sitting & rising) before canter, and getting my balance right.
 
Yes, the best description is still Heather Moffett's (under the Kinder Way link, in the Site Links on the right): I think she was the first to talk about your hips moving independently, like Skib said, left and right as the hind legs move them. She says how fortunate it is that our bum is in two halves, like the horse's back. :wink:
 
Don;t try to sit to the trot for long periods. Feel the flexing of your back and the rise and fall of your hips in walk, push up to trot, keep that sense of your back flexing and absorbing the movement for a few strides and then drop back into walk. A few strides at a time then build up slowly. As soon as you tense or get out of synch with the movement you will bounce, then you will lose balance, then you will grip and bounce all the more!
 
kathyt1 said:
My advice is to have a simulator lesson. There is one in Sheffield
http://www.equestrian-training.co.uk/Equisimulator.html
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I have looked into this actually but as its on the other side of town (plus i dont drive), and as its a little out of the way it put me off (it would take around 2 hours each way after i have faffed with public transport). That said i havent totally wrote a session off just because its out of the way.

LindaAd said:
Yes, the best description is still Heather Moffett's (under the Kinder Way link, in the Site Links on the right): I think she was the first to talk about your hips moving independently, like Skib said, left and right as the hind legs move them. She says how fortunate it is that our bum is in two halves, like the horse's back. :wink:
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Thanks LindaAd. Will check out the link in a moment.

Thyme & Me said:
Don;t try to sit to the trot for long periods. Feel the flexing of your back and the rise and fall of your hips in walk, push up to trot, keep that sense of your back flexing and absorbing the movement for a few strides and then drop back into walk. A few strides at a time then build up slowly. As soon as you tense or get out of synch with the movement you will bounce, then you will lose balance, then you will grip and bounce all the more!
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This is what was happening on saturday, i was totally off balance. The horse i was on pretty sensitive to leg aids ( i didnt need to nudge/kick but a firm squeeze was enough to get her moving) but i found she did slow when i was practising the sitting trot which i suspect was because i was tensing my legs.

The one positive was my RI said that my hands were still so i wasnt jabbing her in the mouth which is great but as i had sore shoulders the following day i suspect i was very tense in the top half of my body - i think because i am always concious of my hands being jabby so i try to stay still because i want it to be as comfortable as possible for the horse i am riding. I really hate the thought that i am causing a horse discomfort.
 
I've never struggled to sit to sitting trot - maybe I'm doing it wrong! Oh well, at least I find ONE thing about riding do-able!
 
The horse can make a big difference, some horses are very smooth and will make you look like an expert and others would make an expert look like a beginner :wink:
 
joellie said:
The horse can make a big difference, some horses are very smooth and will make you look like an expert and others would make an expert look like a beginner :wink:
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I was just about to type the same thing. My horse is very easy to sit to the trot. He is very comfy to ride bareback as well, it's just the way he is. I have no problems at all sitting to his trot, but put me on a different horse I would probably bounce off!


My advice would be to try a different horse at the RS and see if you still have the same problem.
 
Mary Poppins said:
I have no problems at all sitting to his trot, but put me on a different horse I would probably bounce off!
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This is me too. I can sit Ziggy's trot all day (unless he has decided to be a daft driving pony). Mattie, on the other hand, does this Arab more-upward-than-forward thing and I can't sit it half as easily, if at all!
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
Get yourself a wide, soft-backed, flat-stepping daisycutting bogpony like Ziggy and get him to jog. You'll hardly know it's trot!
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Definitely this. Ask for a horse with a lovely trot. I learned on a wee highland that seemed to glide along! Differed greatly from the 16.2 huge cob that I initially tried and failed on. Will definitely help you to get started if the horse is easy to ride.

Oh, and if you're like me, make sure you are wearing multiple sports bras.:wink:
 
Just to add to everyone else's comments, I found that trotting without stirrups really helped to sit deep and absorb the movement. I also agree that the horse makes a difference too - one particular horse I ride is like a big, soft armchair and both her trot and canter are very smooth and easy to sit.
 
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