Yet another trotting thread!

Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster

...wants to canter!
Mar 13, 2009
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Cambridge, UK
Well I'm doing the rising trot very badly in every lesson now- lower legs all over the place, bumping down in the saddle, legs aching and out of breath within half a lap of the school, losing rhythm regularly, sometimes coming too far forward- I'm almost giving up hope of ever getting it right! :eek:

But in her wisdom my RI has decided that we now need to start sitting trot too - so far that's involved me bumping around on the horses back for a few laps, with no direction other than 'relax your back'. I've tried to relax but I feel like a sack of spuds up there and weighing 12 stone- it cannot be good for the horses back.

At the end of my lesson both horses I have been riding are desperately stretching their necks down- I'm assuming this is because their backs are so sore and uncomfortable. My RI allows me to have a very long rein for the cool down to allow them to stretch the neck down, but I feel very uncomfortable about the whole thing. I know RS horses have to put up with a certain amount with beginners, but it doesn't feel right. I don't want to question my RI, she must know what she's doing?

Sorry for the long post- any thoughts or experiences on this would be appreciated- is this how you should learn sitting trot?
 
sitting trot- honestly i've been riding almost everyday since i was little like 3 and a half year old and i still struggle with sitting trot (now 17)

i find it good to think of your bum as two halves, so you copy the horses back leg- so outside back leg back outside bum cheek back and vica versa- this will soften your hips and help you absorb the movement better

(remember trot is pairs of diagonal legs, so front inside forward is back outside forwards aswell (and outside bum cheek forwards) ;))

hope it helps :D
 
It honestly doesn't sund like your RI is being very helpful if she's not teaching you to trot correctly. I think you should question her. Ask her if she can give you a bit more direction and instruction.

If need be, have a few private lunge lessons to get to grips with trotting. It sounds like you're struggling to maintain your balance, which is why you'd thump a bit. You also may just be unfit at the oment and have yet to develop the muscles that enable you to trot correctly. She can't expect you to accomplish sitting trot correctly and comfortably if you can't do rising trot, since you need a fair bit of balance and good core muscles to absorb the movement in ST.
 
Xandoz said:
It honestly doesn't sund like your RI is being very helpful if she's not teaching you to trot correctly. I think you should question her. Ask her if she can give you a bit more direction and instruction.

If need be, have a few private lunge lessons to get to grips with trotting. It sounds like you're struggling to maintain your balance, which is why you'd thump a bit. You also may just be unfit at the oment and have yet to develop the muscles that enable you to trot correctly. She can't expect you to accomplish sitting trot correctly and comfortably if you can't do rising trot, since you need a fair bit of balance and good core muscles to absorb the movement in ST.
Click to expand...

I strugled with the posting trot as well. So I started doing crunches, and other core strengthening muscles, and I improved dramaticaly!
 
Have you tried rising trot without stirrups? I think it's a good way to show you what muscles you are supposed to be using.

I wonder if you could be bracing off your feet a bit too much when you rise? That's my problem. Especially when I ride horses that are sluggish or lazy, I find myself trying to thrust them forward by bracing hard off my feet -- this swings my lower legs forward and gets me all off balance and out of tempo. Taking the irons away helps.


Best of luck.
 
Read the "kinder way" section on this forum. It should explain a lot. Plus, look for Heather Moffetts youtube vids http://www.youtube.com/user/enlighteneduk

I do think it is disgraceful that RI's cannot explain things more effectively than "relax your back". Not only is this shocking value for money but makes the poor horses suffer far longer (or at all) than is necessary. Also, WHY do they make you do whole circuits bouncing around? Build it up slowly, go back to walk and try again, that way you can also practise transitions. I do know how you feel, because like most people I was taught like this. I find it very rewarding, although sometimes I get twinges of envy, when I can now teach sitting and rising trot in a very short time.
 
reply

if you are struggling to master trot. Ask for some lunge lessons as they are good as it allows you to concentrate on the trotting and balance and not have to worry about the control and speed of the horse. Good luck hope you get the trotting soon:)
 
Thanks for the comments everyone- trying it without stirrups sounds like a brilliant idea - I keep getting stern tellings off for rising when I should be doing sitting trot, but I'm just trying to save the poor horses back (and my bum!). To be honest I can't see how you would be able to rise without stirrups so that in itself tells me there must be something fundamentally wrong in my technique!

I don't think they do lunge lessons at my RS, at least I've never seen anyone having them. They do sound like a great idea for this, I think I need to look around. I agree that my (lack of) fitness is probably also quite a big factor with this, so again, something I can work on.

Kathy, thanks for the link and your post has reassured me that I was not being silly about this, - hopefully I will have more confidence to speak out in my next lesson.
 
No problem CM. Unfortunatly a large proportion were and still are taught like this, but it doesn't make it right! Can you imagine having a driving lesson or tennis lesson and getting such wooly instruction, people would not put up with it. How about putting your instructor on the spot and saying something like, I don't understand what you mean, be more specific!
 
I also thought it would be very hard to do rising trot without stirrups, but its not that bad, and it will help a lot. :) Is your RI having you rise on the correct diagonal? It feels bouncier when you're not on the correct one, I think.

Best of luck.
 
I hate when this is done, bad for riders and bad for horses backs,

If keen on teaching sitting trot early then it is better to teach this, not as in just sit, before embarking on rising. Could you have a lunge lesson with another RI who can identify and help you with your problems.

I generally reckon that most people can be taught to do a rythmical rising trot around the school by the end of the first lesson. They may have problems controlling the horse but that is where lunging or using a schoolmaster horse comes in. After a few lessons when the rider can rise and steer enough to do a basic circle shape and long diagonal changes of rein then I teach diagonals. There is no point in doing it while the rhythm is all over the place.

I teach sitting once rising is established, really as a way of working to canter, just a couple of strides at a time and rise as soon as you start bouncing.
 
I always teach sitting trot first, then rising trot. Seems to work, normally can get a good no bounce trot (3-5 strides in the first lesson) obviously on the lunge, lead-rein or schoolmaster though! I like for people to have an independant seat before being allowed the privalidge of reins.
 
A huge revelation to me while learning sitting trot - instructor one day said "Slow him down and make it comfortable for YOU." Once you get a feel for it that way, posting trot will make more sense also. :)
 
Does sound like you are not being taught brilliantly.
However, if you can start to get the hand of sitting trot it may actually help you with rising. After far too much bouncing around on the poor horses back my sitting trot has improved a lot but my rising trot is still not great - like someone else mentioned - if the horse needs pushing forward I tend to start pushing off my stirrups causing my lower leg to swing. However knowing where my leg should be and what it should be doing - because I can do it sitting - is helping.
My RI gave me a lot more advice than relax your back though - agree you should ask for more direction!
 
I agree with eml, and with mothra.

I rode for a few weeks as a child - on holiday - and yes as you said, eml, established the basics of the rising rhythm in the first lesson. As it was when I learned again properly at the grand age of 40+.

Sitting trot is quite different, a few strides are necessary to get into canter of course. But our school is keen on sitting trot without stirrups to lengthen leg and deepen seat, and it works. But don't just bounce around. If you cant do it without bouncing (who can, at first?), slow horse down, grab hold of saddle and pull yourself into a deep seat, that helps get the hang of it.

Another tip I got was to imagine I had no legs. That way I could not grip with my knees or brace against the stirrups when using them... great for canter without stirrups too.
 
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