Clever riders stay seated — 4 Tips how to stay relaxed in a sitting trot
For a long time, I dreaded this moment.
This moment when the riding instructor says “and now sitting trot”.
And off we went with the hopping. And the guilt because I fell in the back of my horse.
I have tried everything possible: upper body forward, upper body backwards, knees closed, everything left loose, stiff … nothing really helped. And giving proper help was not possible anyway with the physical and mental cramping when sitting trotting.
So I avoided it where I could and just done posting trot.
Why sitting trot at all …
… if posting trotting is so much easier?
Because posting trot is easy for the rider only — not for the horse! The constantly fluctuating of the rider’s weight can disturb the balance of the horse.
Most riders lean forward when posting trotting. This puts more weight on the forehand and works against our goal — to let the horse load more with the hindquarters.
To exercise the horse under the saddle and to strengthen his (back) musculature, the lateral movements are also essential in the trot. But you can only give the correct aids if you are in a sitting trot.
I’ve also found that nervous horses that tend to run away are much calmer and more relaxed when I’m in a sitting trot.
And once you master the sitting trot, it’s less exhausting than a posting trot, at least for me.
So how do you do a correct sitting trot?
To explain this, it is important to be aware of how the horse’s body is moving. Maybe this is old hat for you — I still want you to think about it and make you really aware of what the movement looks like. Because exactly to this movement you have to adapt your body too.
In the trot, one side of the horse’s back alternately swings higher than the other (see picture). If the horse bumps with the left hind leg, the left side of the back is also higher. Meanwhile, the right hind leg swings forward, the right side of the back is slightly lower.
It is similar in a walk. The side of the back, on which the hind leg swings forward, feels a bit lower, the rider’s leg on this side swings slightly inward towards the horse’s abdomen.
My recommendation: before you try a sitting trot, you should be able to feel at ease in a walk, which hind leg is swinging straight forward. Of course, without looking. To do this, you can take someone to practice with you — you say which hind leg swings forward and he or she looks if you’re right. So you can already learn without stress and skipping around to feel how your horse moves. At the trot, it is very similar, only faster.
So in the trot, your left or right half of the bud stock is always thrown up alternately. The bouncing comes now from you, automatically thrown up by the movement, always come back a little too late. You come back to the horse back , when the horse is already coming torch you again and so you are behind the movement of the horse.
Now feeling comes into the game: When you feel the horse repel with the right hind leg and the left leg swings forward, you pull up the right side of your hips. Thus, your hip is already upwards before it is thrown up by the momentum. And because the hips are a rigid structure, your left side automatically goes down — so you adapt to the back and the hips of your horse and you stay in the saddle.
In order to support the movement of your hips, you can initially support yourself a bit in the stirrup — always with the leg on the side of which the hips have to rise.
That sounds like everything is terribly exhausting and complicated. In fact, it’s not that hard to get the hang of it and have the rhythm in it.
You can also move your legs as if you were cycling backwards — then your hips will automatically move properly. This movement can be minimized over time until you suddenly only move your hips.
Practice sitting trot at the beginning on the lunge line, then you do not have to worry about the other aids. Or you lay the reins on your horse’s neck, many horses trot well without rein aids on the arena rail. Of course, the faster the horse trots, the more difficult becomes the sitting trot. So first start to practice in a slow trot.
Try to stay relaxed and not cramp when practicing. I know that’s easier said than done. When I realize that I’m cramping, I pretend to juggle two balls to the beat of the trot. This helps me to keep the pace and not to focus too much on sitting.
Summarized briefly:
1. Take turns lifting your hips. The side on which the horseback swinging high must also be up on your end. So you have to actively sit and not let yourself being thrown out of the saddle by the movement — otherwise you will come behind the movement of the horse again and the bouncing starts.
2. Keep your knees relaxed. Forget the command “Knees closed”, this will only make you stiff and can not softly follow the movement of the horse. (Of course you should not pull your legs and knees away from the horse, just let them lightly rest on your horse’s body.)
3. Let your heels swing down gently. If you still have problems lifting your hips at the beginning, you can make it a little bit easier for you by supporting yourself with the appropriate leg in the stirrup.
4. Stay relaxed and let the movement of the horse flow through your hips. It helps me to concentrate not so much on sitting, but on the beat.
Common mistakes during a sitting trot
1. You lean too far back or forwards and hunch back
If your upper body is not straight you can only lift your hips with effort. The movement of the horse can not flow through your body. You are then not in balance and you maybe get too stiff in your body.
2. You cling to your knees (or your whole leg)
You can see that with most riders. By firmly pressed knees, a rider can also get a hold in the saddle. However, it is exhausting for the rider and uncomfortable for the horse. In addition, you are stiffening yourself and the movement of the horse can no longer be followed by your body. This then manifests itself then for example with a restless hand, wobbly legs or a nodding head — , because somewhere the rocking movement of the horse has to swing out of your body!
3. You try to keep your hands steady — which leads to even more tension
“Hand quiet” — even such a riding instructor command I’ll probably never get out of my head again. And the more you focus on keeping your hand steady, the tighter you become and the worse your hand wiggles. If you are sitting properly, the hand will automatically move gently with the horse’s movement as it should.
4. You just let everything hang loose and do not have enough body tension
Some riders seek salvation by simply letting go of everything and being harder to sit on. Unfortunately, you can quickly get behind the movement of the horse. And correct aids are only limited possible without body tension.
5. You pull yourself with the reins in the saddle
Of course this is very bad, because your horse has to catch your imbalance directly with his mouth. Therefore, I recommend practicing sitting on very long reins or without reins on a lunge line, then you will not be tempted to hold on to the reins.
You have problems to let your hip swing loosely with the movement?
For many of us it is not so easy to be loose in the hip.
Years of sitting in office chairs, bad posture, shortened muscles, but also diseases or herniated discs can limit the mobility of the hip.
Even if you have no problems with your hips or spine, you should warm up before riding and occasionally do exercises to maintain or improve the flexibility of the hips.
I can really only recommend Yoga to everybody. No matter how old you are, how much you weigh or how agile you are, everyone can do yoga. It’s not about being the most amazing and the most agile, but about doing something good to your body within its possibilities.
Also, “normal” stretching or dancing can help you and make the hips more flexible. The main thing is that you do something.
Your horse can only go loose and relaxed if you are relaxed!
Conclusion
The seat is one of the (if not the most)important aids. To be able to use your seat you have to be able to do a correct sitting trot.
If you want to move forward in horseback riding and be able to ride your horse with very fine aids, you will not get around a correct sitting trot. So it is time to practice and not be afraid to sit and trot.
