# Sitting trot is my nemesis...



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

I posted this on another forum too, but since I know there are a lot of dressage riders here that have to do sitting trot regularly, I thought I would post it here as well. 



So the sitting trot and I are not friends...in fact we hate each other. We don't even pretend to like each other at parties. And I am convinced that my sitting trot is what cost me the first place in my Eq. class at this last show (I got second but whatever). And I think my trainer (although she has never said it out loud) would agree. 
That being said, my horse has a lovely canter, but her trot is bouncy and I have yet to learn how to ride it sitting. I can do it pretty well without stirrups, but when I do it with stirrups, I use them to brace against and I end up all over the place. And then one thing follows the other, I get tense because I'm trying to make it "look" good and it becomes a disaster in 2.5 seconds flat. I have a month before my next show, and this one is much bigger than any of the other ones this year so I need to come prepared. My trainer says that I need to relax and almost lightly lift my contact with my stirrups but when I do that, they tend to slip back too much and I'm sure that isn't looked at as great in the ring either. Help!


----------



## lauraa94x (Mar 24, 2009)

I've had a few problems with Sitting Trot before, but what I do, is just put enough pressure into the stirrups so they stay in the same place, and let your body move to the way of the trot. I've been told (and it works!) to think that my pelvis has sort of sunk into the saddle, keep my back strong and follow the rhythm of the horse - hope it helps! x


----------



## LeahKathleen (Mar 5, 2009)

I ride western, so I might be telling you something wrong. I always tell my students to stretch their weight down into their heels, and almost act as though the stirrups aren't there - they just mark where your feet should go. Does that make sense? It also helps to tell them to relax and really concentrate on the rythem of the trot. Your body starts to sync up with the movement, and putting your weight in your heels, exactly the same way you do without stirrups, will anchor your butt to the saddle, so to speak.

I hope that makes sense, and if it's different for dressage IGNORE ME. Ha ha.


----------



## 1dog3cats17rodents (Dec 7, 2007)

Well, I'm no dressage rider, but when I was having trouble, I sink my weight into the stirrups, and sit deep in the saddle, on my thighs. I give up looking good and kinda slouch along untill I can relax and move with the hore, not on top of the horse. Once I have the rythm I start to sit up more and look "pretty"


----------



## LeahKathleen (Mar 5, 2009)

1dog3cats17rodents said:


> Well, I'm no dressage rider, but when I was having trouble, I sink my weight into the stirrups, and sit deep in the saddle, on my thighs. I give up looking good and kinda slouch along untill I can relax and move with the hore, not on top of the horse. Once I have the rythm I start to sit up more and look "pretty"


A point I forgot to mention - the "pretty" will come later. :] I wouldn't "slouch" per say, but I would focus my attention on feeling the trot and sitting it, and then looking show-perfect while doing it.


----------



## 1dog3cats17rodents (Dec 7, 2007)

Yeah, slouch isn't the right word. I guess what I mean is don't try so hard to sit straight that you are tense and stiff. Relax your body and move with the movement. Once you do that you can work on the pretty. Bleh, how do you guys explain stuff so well?


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

Well I'm not a dressage rider either, I do H/J. But, sitting trot is one of the exercises requested in my flat eq. classes at shows. What you guys are saying does make sense. Basically sink into my heel without totally sinking into my stirrup and using it as a brace?


----------



## .A.j. (Aug 29, 2007)

My coach showed me a trick that improved my sitting trot immensely!! 

If you're uncomfortable doing this on your own, ask your coach to put you on the longe. Take both feet out of your stirrups and raise your knees to the pommel of the saddle. Really think about sitting deep on the "pockets" of your pants. And BREATHE!!
Alternate holding both knees up then lowering one then the other, mix it up.

Give it a try if you have a patient horse lol.


----------



## Shawneen (Apr 22, 2009)

Heels down - shock absorbers. Sit deep - loosen your hips and let them roll, kind of like they aren't part of your torso.

AJ that sounds like an interesting exercise, I think I'll try it just to see


----------



## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

IrishRider said:


> I posted this on another forum too, but since I know there are a lot of dressage riders here that have to do sitting trot regularly, I thought I would post it here as well.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Have you ever watched the sport of rowing ? Way back when the oarsman would sit in a conventional static seat and used his shoulders to pull the oar through the water to propel themselves forward.

Then someone came up with a brilliant idea and constructed the seat that they sit on so it would slide. This sliding motion was more in tune with the motion the oarsmen were using and gave the person greater power over the motion of his upper body.

Think of the horses back/saddle as two sliding seats. The horse has a diagonal motion when they trot with each set of diagonals going forward alternately. What this does is move the muscles on each side of the horses spine forward and then back alternately in rhythm with the diagonal trot. What you have to do is think that you are sitting on that oarsman's sliding seat in an alternative motion....NOT and up and down motion. If you allowed each side of your seat bone to follow that sliding seat the horse offers you will also find that your legs will touch the horse in an alternating motion also.

The problem with losing the stirrups is that most riders are trying to ride an up/down motion when it is actually an up forward down back motion. If you lightened your seat and opened your pelvis,sitting very slightly behind your pelvis and allowed your legs to accept the forward back motion ( it feels to your legs like the horse's belly is swinging left/right) then when the belly swings to the left side...your left leg will close on that belly (not griping) and gently push it back to the right side with the right leg doing the same. So now your legs have a job to do and the funny thing is once you make an effort to give them a job they seem to do just fine....all by themselves. 

Start slow to get the feeling then add speed a bit at a time.


----------



## HorseRiderLover (Jan 13, 2009)

I'm too lazy to read the other posts at the moment, but I'll do it tomorrow when I'm actually awake. I tense up when I canter and loose my stirrups all over the place. I sort of blame my instructor for not putting me on lunge for my first canter even if that sounds baby-ish, but it's like throwing someone out of a plane with a parachute expecting them to know how to work it. Okay, maybe that's a tad over exaggerated, but anyways. I fell off the other day in canter so stupidly because I lost my stirrup, and I nosedived. I'm working on it. Good luck with your sitting trot, apparently all I need to do is "relax". If only it was that simple.


----------



## xeventer17 (Jan 26, 2009)

HorseRiderLover said:


> I'm too lazy to read the other posts at the moment, but I'll do it tomorrow when I'm actually awake. I tense up when I canter and loose my stirrups all over the place. I sort of blame my instructor for not putting me on lunge for my first canter even if that sounds baby-ish, but it's like throwing someone out of a plane with a parachute expecting them to know how to work it. Okay, maybe that's a tad over exaggerated, but anyways. I fell off the other day in canter so stupidly because I lost my stirrup, and I nosedived. I'm working on it. Good luck with your sitting trot, apparently all I need to do is "relax". If only it was that simple.


i have issues with my stirrups in the canter as well, but although i lose them quite often, i've never fallen because of it because i have a strong SEAT. everyone is always so concerned with their legs and using the stirrups to balance that they never take the time to develop a strong balanced seat. that's the key, it has nothing to do with your instructor not lunging you.

now to tie this back into the original post, don't worry about your legs at first. if your stirrups slip too far back on your feet or if your feet come out all the way don't be too concerned. just let your legs fall into their natural position while you work on being able to absorb the shock of the sitting trot through your seat and hip bones. try to imagine that someone glued your butt to the saddle and keep your seat touching it. don't worry about looking pretty at first. once you can properly sit it and absorb the shock then worry about your legs. if your feet are slipping through or coming out of the stirrups you can either shorten them to accommodate your natural leg position (though i wouldn't recommend it, that's kinda the easy way out) or you can really work on reaching down with your legs, through your heels, and wrapping your legs around the horses stomach. you can even lengthen your stirrups for a while and once you get used to that, when you shorten them back up you will naturally be reaching further with your leg (always heel first) and you should be able to steady your feet in the stirrups.


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

A.j., interesting excercise.

Thanks Spyder, I have never heard it described like that but it makes sense. I worked on it a little this weekend but picturing the motion like this helps because a lot of people do interpret the trot as up-down. Great visual!


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

Thanks guys. HorseRiderLover, good luck with the canter. Once you master it, it's so much fun!

Thanks xeventer 17. I am confident that I have a good seat and my legs and position seem to improve every day. I worked on the sitting trot in sections this weekend. Posting trot a few steps, then sitting trot, and it seemed to feel a little better as we went on. I still have a lot of work to do but you guys all have some great suggestions for me to try. I just hope I can get it a little more polished in a month.


----------



## StarFeesh (Apr 27, 2009)

I can't take long to describe this, so let me know if you'd like a better explanation behind what I said. [: I'm super sleepy right now. 

One of my Dressage instructors recently told me to think of pushing my knee down instead of my heel. Keep your lower leg tight against the horse but push your knee down as far as you can. It keeps you super glued to the saddle. Don't pinch with the knee, just push down.


----------



## ShannonSevenfold (Oct 11, 2008)

Well, I ride Western so...

My instructor always yells at me about my heels. Stretch your heels wayyyy down without using the stirrups much at all, if that makes sense. Sink yourself deep into the saddle. I figured this out on my own: If you have a strong rising trot, think about the motion of the horse and the motion of your own body when you're posting. Follow the movement of the horse's back (ie. up, down. up, down.) only very subtly so that you don't even lose contact with the saddle. It's more in your back than your legs.

That's probably the worst description ever. So, sorry if it doesn't make too much sense. =)


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

It makes sense ShannonSevenfold. Someone recently explained it to me as a reverse posting trot..focusing on the downward motion and keeping with that instead of rising with the upward motion. I'm just going to continue to work at it tonight.


----------



## eviltwist007 (May 13, 2009)

I had a very long struggle with this myself and I used several tricks:
- the thing that helped me is mastering it at an extremely slow, collected trot. Some horses associate the sitting trot with a canter transition so make sure you slow him before you sit.
- relax your hip completely! don't think about them. Only focus on putting your heels down, and stretching tall tall tall
- do it without stirrups! even if you can only get in a couple strides before you have to transition to a walk.
- I read it in some forum at one point and it works... sing the oompa loompa song in your head
- alternate putting more weight in left heel/right heel, instead of posting up and down.
- post a slow, collect trot, and make your up/down smaller, smaller until your in the saddle

If you can trust your horse in an arena, I find it always helped me learn to sit a trot/canter by closing my eyes, relaxing, stretching tall, and imagining me being one with the horse. I know it sounds super hippie... but to each their own.

And remember: practise! do at least 2 laps of sitting trot each riding session (even if you have to walk to rebalance yourself in between)

If your hips are tight, try rotating them and loosening them first (unless your horse isn't the type to like that sort of stuff of course )


----------



## Aliboo (Jun 20, 2008)

I think the key is to focus on being able to do it well, once you can do it well focus on making it look nice


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

Thanks guys. Eviltwist, you made me laugh with the oopma loompa song. I'll have to try the posting trot until you are in the saddle thing tonight. Interesting.


----------



## gabrielstriumph (Mar 15, 2009)

Try really moving your hips and pelvis side to side with each stride. As you get used to the motion, lessen and lessen the side to side movement until you're just barely rocking and you are really moving with your horse, not against.


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

Thanks. I am still having issues with it. I'm not bracing against my stirrups as much but I still don't feel like my seat is touching the saddle as much as it should be. My show is this coming weekend so i don't have much more time to work on it. Kinda freaking out a bit.


----------



## Chella (May 23, 2009)

sitting the trot no problem -- posting the trot and looking pretty - thats hard!!! I am a western rider and when I tried to learn posting the trot 3 yrs ago on my Morgan I looked broken lol! still not the best at it!


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

See, I would much rather post than sit. Haha.


----------



## whitetrashwarmblood (Aug 24, 2008)

IrishRider said:


> See, I would much rather post than sit. Haha.



Amen to that. 
:lol:

My mare has a bouncy trot to sit to, so this thread is pretty helpful.


----------



## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

Well I'm glad that this thread will be helpful to others too.  I had our show this weekend and thankfully they didn't ask for the sitting trot in my flat class. The only time I had to do it was when I entered the ring for my Eq. over fences class and it was much better. We got a first in the Eq. over Fences and got a Reserve Champ for the weekend over all!


----------



## SilentBravery09 (May 22, 2009)

Congrats. Sypder explained it excatly how I was taught, to let your hips move with your horses diagonal, it really puts you in harmony. Good Luck With It. Once you get the sitting trot it'll be so easy, I much rather sit then post... sitting the extended is a different story though!


----------

