How do I learn to ride the sitting trot?
In a recent lesson, a student requested we work on her sitting trot. She has a lovely Selle Francais, with correct gaits that are easy to ride to, however, she found herself unable to sit the trot. First, we checked the riders postion. The upper body must remain stable, lifted and relaxed. She tends to lean forward thus throwing off the balance of the horse. Once we established a correct postion, we slowed the trot down and began by posting several strides then sitting several strides, repeating the excercise until the rhythm and tempo did not change. Gradually we increased the sitting strides until she could maintain the correct postion. Be careful that when you slow the trot down, you are not allowing the horse to fall behind the aids, he must still remain active and in front of the riders aids.
