# Not bouncing in western saddle



## kimberlyrae1993 (Mar 20, 2013)

Hmm I've never tried to better my riding off a horse??

But when I was a beginner my friends put me on A horse and said hold on and took off going all the way to a gallop needless to say you find your seat FAST and believe it or not it helped but is very dangerous but we were young and they had been riding since they where babies. 

Try round penning either ride the horse alone or have someone stand in middle and start a trot make a couple loops then pick up speed if you can master a trot you can master it all!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Larissa (Jan 25, 2014)

Do lunge lessons. Have somebody lunge the horse at a walk and trot for starters. In a western saddle, take away your stirrups and reins, no grabbing the horse with your legs or grabbing mane or saddle. Find your seat. When you find your seat, you wil feel both butt bones in contact with the saddle. Stay on these. This is a goal you should have, always be able to feel them, evenly in contact on both sides. This will help you find your seat, or actually will find your seat. And it hurts, trust me. It will hurt to sit after riding like this often until you build the muscle. Good luck


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

I've always been of the opinion that a decent rider can hold their own in most saddles... until I tried riding in barrel saddles. I can ride effectively in just about any other type of saddle, but the first time I rode in a barrel saddle I felt as though I was flopping all over the place at the trot and canter! I thought it was because I wasn't used to the saddle type, and that it would get better with practice. Bought my own western saddle (also a barrel saddle, coincidence or not) and same deal. Bought a reining type saddle, and never had the problem again. Sold that barrel saddle, lol.

Anyway, if they are an option then lunge lessons are a great idea!


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## Chasin Ponies (Dec 25, 2013)

Try concentrating on relaxing your body right above the hips and sit up very straight, shoulders back with a slight arch in your back. Find the rhythm of the trot and push your hips slightly down into the saddle on every down stroke while keeping your upper body still.
It is strenuous and difficult at first so don't get too discouraged. You will notice that the more you tense and tighten up the worse the trot feels. Just try to concentrate on relaxing and moving with the horse's movement-it will come!!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Superglue! ;-) Just kidding...

Recent discussion on a similar problem here:

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-riding/sitting-bouncy-trot-371554/


PS: A fun gymkhana event is trotting bareback while holding cups filled with water; the person with the most water in the cup at the end wins. Variation of this is in saddle but without stirrups!


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

SueC said:


> Superglue! ;-) Just kidding...
> 
> Recent discussion on a similar problem here:
> 
> ...


We always did the egg/spoon game when I took riding lessons with my friend. Better to replace the egg with a spoon, though, or you'll be wasting a lot of eggs! We loved it as young teens, but you need to have someone willing to hop off and get the balls or a ground buddy.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

DuckDodgers said:


> We always did the egg/spoon game when I took riding lessons with my friend. Better to replace the egg with a spoon, though, or you'll be wasting a lot of eggs! We loved it as young teens, but you need to have someone willing to hop off and get the balls or a ground buddy.


Hhmm, you could use boiled eggs! Or even your Easter Eggs! No waste then. If a boiled egg cracks when hitting the ground, it makes a great teaching metaphor for the importance of wearing helmets, and it is then ready to be peeled and eaten by the exhausted participants of these games! :wink:

Ground buddy? Getting on and off is SUCH good exercise! :lol: Especially bareback!

Another good game, popular with instructing beginning riders at one time, is to stick playing cards between the knee and saddle during a riding lesson, and see how long riders can go without losing them - no hands allowed near the cards! Discourages involuntary limb flapping at the trot in beginners.


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

SueC said:


> Hhmm, you could use boiled eggs! Or even your Easter Eggs! No waste then. If a boiled egg cracks when hitting the ground, it makes a great teaching metaphor for the importance of wearing helmets, and it is then ready to be peeled and eaten by the exhausted participants of these games! :wink:
> 
> Ground buddy? Getting on and off is SUCH good exercise! :lol: Especially bareback!
> 
> Another good game, popular with instructing beginning riders at one time, is to stick playing cards between the knee and saddle during a riding lesson, and see how long riders can go without losing them - no hands allowed near the cards! Discourages involuntary limb flapping at the trot in beginners.


It is good exercise, but when I'm paying for an hour lesson I don't expect to spend half of it chasing around an egg 

A boiled egg would definitely work, but we just kept the golf balls lying around the barn. Don't know that I'd want to be eating it once it ran its course, though!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

DuckDodgers said:


> It is good exercise, but when I'm paying for an hour lesson I don't expect to spend half of it chasing around an egg


Why, is the riding instructor charging more than a personal trainer? ;-)




> A boiled egg would definitely work, but we just kept the golf balls lying around the barn. Don't know that I'd want to be eating it once it ran its course, though!


No, it wouldn't be very tasty or nutritious, although probably still healthier than modern processed food and about the same risk of causing an impaction. ;-)

The problem with the egg-and-spoon or golf ball variations etc is that unscrupulous riders have been known to cheat using blu-tack or chewing gum in the spoon. It's much harder to cheat with cups of water!


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

SueC said:


> Why, is the riding instructor charging more than a personal trainer? ;-)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Lol, they're probably around the same price. I'll do those exercises on my own time  

I love boiled eggs more than most people I know... but I'd rather eat the egg while it's happy and not covered in silt, lol. 

In all seriousness, though, we only did this for the fun and learning value. If you're gonna cheat at it with chewing gum then it really defeats the purpose of it when riding on your own!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Duck Dodgers, I am suffering from acute cognitive dissonance because there's a duck in your name tag and your avatar looks like a Burmese type cat, and if you are using a normal keyboard to type then by all rights you should have movable digits and be classified as a primate. Or maybe you are not a primate but extraordinarily talented. It just goes to show you never really know who you are talking to on the Internet. Please excuse my confused aside, it's way past my Australian bedtime and I must now clearly get some sleep. Have a lovely Sunday!


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## Alexandra V (Jul 6, 2013)

What I tell anyone who has a hard time sitting the trot is practice a lot without stirrups! You won't have anything to act as a crutch, and if you're off-centered you'll figure it out quickly!

One thing to consider though is that you need to keep your horse at a reasonable pace - when you start off, it's much easier to sit a slow trot. Then as you get more and more comfortable you can play around with the speed and the stride to challenge yourself more.

A lot of transitions between posting and sitting help too; try something like post for 5 strides, sit for 5 strides. Or, when my instructor really wants to torture us in the arena, you post the two short sides, and then on one long side you drop your stirrups and sit, and on the other long side you drop your stirrups and keep posting. You'll want to arrange to have a friend pick you up and also wheel you around in a wheelchair the next day.


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## MandiFree (Mar 9, 2014)

Hello, so you are having some problems staying in the motion with your horse huh?
Its ok- lots of people do. however the secret is easy to figure out. its tipping your hip in time with the horses trot. envision yourself riding your horse with a belt on. now curl your belt buckle into your belly button with every stride of your horse.
Its like a crunch, but instead of your upper abbs its your lower. when you are doing it right, you will feel it. the more movement your horse has the larger your movement will be.
At first you will feel like you are forcing the movement because ou will be focusing on it. after you get the hang of it, it will come easily- and you will loose that hard to kill spot of fat that most of us that like to actually eat have lol.
Good luck!


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