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RIDE WITH YOUR MIND (continued)
The Challenge of Rising Trot
if you’ve been following this series so far and having a go at some of the exercises you
may be finding a great deal of improvement at halt and walk, but how about at the
trot?
Can you keep your alignment, bear down (use your core stability), breathe, keep the connection
with your horse and influence the speed and athleticism of his stride when you move up to the
trot?
What have you been taught previously about rising trot?
The most probable scenarios are to ‘go up and down’ or
to minimise your rise and ‘keep it tidy’. Depending on your
horse’s preference you are likely to find one of two things
happen. Either he barely goes at all, or he runs on so that
you find yourself ‘pinged’ out of the saddle and going up and
down at a rate of knots to keep up with him, and pulling
on the reins to both try to slow him down and to keep
your balance (which actually only makes him go more and
more).
To reset the trot and have your horse move to your ‘tune’, it may be helpful to do the following
dismounted exercise. Find yourself a full length mirror and kneel down sideways on to it and
sit back on your heels (with the tops of your feet against the floor). Check out your alignment
making sure you have neither hollowed nor rounded your back (i.e. your spine is in ‘neutral’ as
defined by a physio or other bodyworker).
Place one hand on your tummy and one on your back, this is to ensure that when you make any
movement, neither your front nor your back lengthens or shortens. Next, pivot on your knee
so that your torso moves forward to open the angle at the front of the hip to 180 degrees (as
it would be if you were standing up). Then sit back onto your heels. Move between these two
positions several times. Each time ensure that you neither round nor follow your back.
It won’t take many repetitions for you to notice a strain in the thighs, especially the quadriceps at
the front of the thigh. This exercise mimics what should be happening in your body in rising trot.
So rather than ‘rising’ it is more of a thrust forwards, pivoting on the knee. This can only happen
if you have several other ‘ingredients’ for the recipe of riding in place, alignment, bear down and a
good deal of ‘tone’ in the muscles.
The thrust forwards and the sit are a dynamic movement, with a very slight ‘pause’ both at the
most forward part of the movement and in the sit. As you land it must be both positive yet light
so you make a definite contact without ‘squashing’ your horse! Once you can control your body
in this way, it becomes possible to ‘take your horse’ in a way that has him dancing to your tune,
rather than the other way around. So whether you need to motivate the horse that won’t go or
to contain the rather more enthusiastic mount that would rather go faster and faster – the answer
lies in the way you organise and control your body!
if you’d like help with organising your body to improve your riding, have fun, and really
impress your horse, please give me a call. as you work on some of these changes you
may find restrictions in your own movement or that of your horse, a few sessions of
shiatsu may well help to alleviate these problems.
Vivienne isaac, 01509 880652
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