# Riding a very "large" trot



## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I rarely sit at the trot. I post. I _can_ sit any trot I've tried to, though. Thinking about it, it takes a lot of hip flexion. Good muscle tone, but not tense at all.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Having a more stable core will allow you to stay with the horse's large movement better


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## paintedpastures (Jun 21, 2011)

posting the trot is the easiest ,know my one mare has a nice powerful forward trot  I love it!! could long trot her all day long.... better than her lope:wink:

PS I'm primarily western rider so don't post my trot regularly,but more if asking for more extented trot,rather than jog


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## Kay Armstrong (Jun 28, 2015)

From a dressage rider, it seems to help me if I think about moving my hips from side to side instead of forward and backward. If that makes any sense. As an example, stick your hand out straight with a fist pointing toward the ground. Then rotate your wrist side to side. That's how I think about moving when trying to sit a large trot.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

if the horse is "put together" you will be able to sit the trot better. that entails having him on the bit and asking him to slow down, soften to the bit and collect. do you have any idea how to achieve that?


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## Jan1975 (Sep 7, 2015)

Someone told me, and I can't remember if it was my trainer or someone here, that it's kind of like pedaling a bicycle. Obviously you don't move your feet, but if you think about that sensation and let your hips move in that way, it sort of helps. Maybe the advice was to pedal a bicycle backwards. This isn't very great advice is it. :lol: Maybe someone here can help, because once I started imagining that, it really did help me sit trot. My horse has a huge trot as well and it was very difficult for me to sit at first, but I got used to it.


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## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

Horses trot in many different ways. 

Some horses trot with their heads down which raises – not rounds – the back while almost shuffling their feet. Because they don’t raise their feet high, they don’t bend their legs much. Most people find such trots easy to sit.

Other horses flex all the joints of their legs while lifting their legs high. When done with relaxed muscles, these trots can also be easily ridden when sitting. I often have riders feel this difference when trotting over ground poles rather than simply trotting on flat ground. The feeling becomes more springy. 

Conversely, if the horse’s muscles are tense, trotting may feel like driving over a bumpy road without springs or shock absorbers. This can be true even if a horse bends the joints of its legs. If the horse’s legs bend less, the bumpiness becomes even greater.

Some trots are easier to sit because the horse’s balance is further back and the horse is using (and flexing) its rear legs more. One can often get an idea of this when trotting uphill rather than when trotting on flat ground. This same feeling may be enhanced when a horse becomes collected – body shortened while hind legs step further under the horse’s body and the back rounds. Understand that such collection takes great effort on the part of the horse and should only be continued for short lengths of time.

Tense muscles and energetic push offs when trotting make sitting the trot difficult. This is especially true if the horse is large and bursts off into the trot. Under these circumstances, even finding the rhythm of a rising trot may be difficult.

The best way to achieve a comfortable sitting trot is to release any unnecessary tension in the muscles of both rider and horse. This is a mutual arrangement in that tension in one may easily lead to tension in the other. Thankfully, releasing tension in one can also help lead to a release of tension in the other.

The muscles of a relaxed (tension free – not sloppy) rider can more easily follow the movements of the horse’s muscles. The muscles of a relaxed (tension free) horse move more smoothly and effortlessly. Thus, there is no need for the horse to add any extra energy and the takeoff is easier for the rider to follow even on an extremely large horse.


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

tinyliny said:


> if the horse is "put together" you will be able to sit the trot better. that entails having him on the bit and asking him to slow down, soften to the bit and collect. do you have any idea how to achieve that?


No, I don't have any idea. I'm only ridden him once and I don't know when I will again, plus his rider has health problems that prevent her from working on things like that.

@TXhorseman He's relaxed and very willing (doesn't drag his feet or put on the brakes as soon as I ask him to move faster), he's just a lot of horse (even though he's not that big). He's a QH, but has a lot of muscle and is very solidly built.


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## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

Individuals that are heavily muscled and solidly built have a tendency to use those muscles in a dramatic way. I remember seeing a film back in the 1960's that showed how some professional football players were given ballet lessons in order to learn to use their bodies in a different way. Rather than “muscling” through their movements, they began to “flow”. This same change can be effected in horses.

I occasionally work with a woman and her 17.3-hand Gelderlander. Initially, his movements were very spectacular to watch. However, the way he moved was neither ideal for him nor for a rider. On a hard surface, you could hear him slamming his feet to the ground. We worked to get him to soften his muscles. Eventually, even in the same tempo, his footsteps became quieter. 

Still, because of his size, his movements were exaggerated. He began his trots with a lot of energy and threw the rider forward. This was not so much caused by the speed of the movement as by the impulsion. 

Then, we discovered he could move differently. While trying to obtain a leg yield, King misread the rider’s cues and began to trot. His movement, however, was different. He took the trot so smoothly that his rider was even able to sit the trot for several strides. 

For various reasons, we have not been able to work together much since then, but I am looking forward into trying to develop this new movement more consistently.


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

That sounds awesome. I'd love to learn how to smooth him out a bit, but since he isn't mine and I'm not that experienced of a rider, I don't know how that could be done. 


Also I love Gelderlanders, you're so lucky for getting to work with one! I'm jealous.


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