Sitting the Trot or "Posting Down"

The sitting trot.
The most feared movement to be ridden by hunters and dressage riders alike.  Perhaps only the western pleasure rider sitting on a mount bred to jog nearly motionless laughs in the face of the sitting trot.
After all, we POST in order to make riding the trot more comfortable for ourselves as well as our mounts.  By rising and sitting in sync with the driving hind leg we conserve energy (ours as well as our horses'), reduce impact and concussion (to our horses' spines as well as our own pelvis), and even remove our self out of the way of our horses' movements so they can bend and flex more efficiently.

However, we need to develop our independent seat so that we can do all of these thing while sitting the trot and in many instances use the sitting trot to get a higher developed communication between horse and rider for certain movements.  Or, just be able to competently perform in an equitation class.  Which ever your goal for developing you sitting trot, the basics are the same.  (PLEASE NOTE individual horses' gaits will make learning sitting the trot more or less difficult depending. They will also shine a bright light on any faults should a horse have a more animated trot.)

This article is being written with the assumption the rider has a competent understanding of a correct posting trot.  If you are really not certain on your true comprehension of correct posting trot, NO WORRIES, please read "If less if more, Why does it seem more difficult".  And that phrase really applies to the sitting trot as well. 

Just like posting many riders try "too hard" to sit the trot.  They begin by jamming their heels down in to the stirrup (don't want to lose those), then they round their lower back and press their seat bones down in to the saddle (trainer told you to sit deep after all), then they brace for the inevitable bounce.  The first two strides don't seem so bad, but by stride 3 or 4 your horse is annoyed at the thumping on his spine so he gets a bit quicker.  Rider becomes more tense through the seat and spine, but DETERMINED not to fail they begin gripping with the backs of their upper thigh as though their bum can hold on to the seat of the saddle.  Now horse goes more forward, the cycle repeats and in about 20 strides you have a rider that resembles a badly puppeteered muppet.  We have ALL been there.  So just HOW  are we supposed to stop from doing our best Kermit the Frog imitation?

Posting DOWN.
We know that at the trot one hind leg is driving us up out of the tack and we then follow that leg down to post.  So, now I want you to swamp this concept around in your mind.  Instead of following the motion of the driving hind leg UP (correct diagonal) I want you to follow the diagonal DOWN. 
The reason we bounce at the sitting trot is simple lack of flexibility and following of the motion.  It is not a natural reaction for the human body to relax and allow it's self to fall with something drops out from underneath it.  In essence this is what happens when we sit the trot.  We are not actually being bounced up initially.  The horse's back drops from beneath us and our lumbar is tense and our legs grasps hold out of the instinctual fear of falling.  By then the horse's back is coming back up and thrusting our stiff body up with the motion making the next stride with the back dropping all the more dramatic; and before we know it, The Muppets Take Manhattan ;) . 
To keep this cycle from beginning (and it will perpetuate even as you learn and advance in your sitting trot work as your body tires or you simply lose the rhythm, but don't give up, this is normal) we first need to loosen and stretch our lumbar spine.  Start out of the saddle doing daily stretches, practicing belly dance movements concentrating on hip rotations, lifts and drops ("Dolphina" on youtube has fabulous beginner dance videos concentrating on these motions) to begin to feel and control the full range of motion you truly have in your pelvis. 

NOW, in the saddle.  Begin feeling the motion of your hips at the walk.  Lumbar soft, legs relaxed and hanging.  As your horse walks you will feel each seat bone move individually (your fitness and flexibility level will affect how much movement you will have in your pelvis).  You will feel each seat bone rotate forward with the corresponding hind leg, depending on your horse's walk you may even begin to feel your legs swing in rhythm with your horse's walk!  Let. It. Happen.  This means you are soft and following the motion.
Next, ask for the jog/trot (best scenario here is to be on a lunge line so you have NOTHING else you need to think about other than feel) with a soft cue from the seat.  And just like you would as if you were going to post feel for the diagonal.  However, instead of feeling for the inside hind to push you UP I want you to feel for the inside hind to drop and allow your relaxed lumbar to follow the leg, in the same motion of the leg.  Therefore your lower lumber is going to allow your pelvis to to move forward and down.  As the inside hind leg is again rising (the point at the post your would rise with) you are going to allow your seat to return to the neutral position.  Your legs are still hanging, soft, just laying heavy in the stirrup; not pressing forward as this will force your upper body back and restrict your lumbar spine; not gripping around the barrel as this will pitch your upper body forward and tilt you on to your pelvis.
RESIST the urge to thrust your pelvis forward.  Thrusting the pelvis forward at the sitting trot will result in the same byproduct as when posting such as getting out of rhythm and driving the horse more forward than intended.   The sitting trot is a following motion and while it DOES require the use of some abdominal muscles they are your deep posture muscles that are simply pulling the top of your pubic bone up, tipping it up towards your head and this helps to further stretch the lower lumbar spine to better follow the inside hind leg down and forward.  (This muscle will work much harder on a horse with a more animated trot than it will on a flat moving horse).  You will know you have these muscles working as you will feel a slight tug in the groin area and often many riders experience cramping in the groin area after working a successful sitting trot.  But like ANY muscle used in riding this will soon strengthen and develop.
PRACTICE:
Begin with only a few strides of sitting trot at a time.  Small bites at the apple.  You may go between posting and sitting or begin sitting trot and drop back to the walk. But only do a few strides at a time that you can complete correctly and then walk or resume posting before we head back to Seasame Street ;) Two reasons. 
1. Muscle memory.  We want to create a correct muscle memory and you can only do that when the last movement made by your body is made correctly.  In the eternal words of George Morris "PRACTICE DOESN'T MAKE PERFECT. PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT".

2. Strength.  Whether sitting on a western pleasure horse or a springy dressage horse sitting the trot requires muscles and rhythm we do not use in our every day lives.  So, even though 5 strides doesn't seem like very many it is the equivalent of NEVER doing pull ups and being asked to knock out 5 of them several times in a row.  So take it slow to properly build your muscles so you can refer back to reason number one.

And just think, this is merely the BASICS of sitting the trot.  I know it is a LOT to absorb.  But, trust me, if you stop trying to sit the trot and start POSTING DOWN you will unlock your body and your brain and begin to find the rhythm and the fabulous feeling of one with your horse.  And eventually, you will learn to adapt to what ever trot you end up sitting on that day.

HAPPY TRAILS!!

If less is more, why does it seem more difficult?

Today I want to discuss the proper use of the leg as it relates to forward seats.  We have discussed in earlier posts how to relax in to your heel with out forcing your lower leg forward and your upper body out of balance.  We have given you exercises to develop strength in your leg BUT we have not yet discussed how to properly utilize the leg so that you can have a soft and following pelvis as well as a lower leg that can constantly adjust for the best communication all while being locked in and secure.
So, to begin I am going to discuss the most common mistakes seen in using the leg.  We are going to focus on the leg at the trot as this will translate to your canter and over fences once you get the leg correct. 
The First of the common mistakes is posting off of the knee.  At a glance it looks ok, but on further inspection you will notice the lower leg and thigh are locked as is the hip.  It as if something drilled a hole through one knee, through the horse, and out the side of the other knee and clamped them together creating a pivot point.  These riders often find them selves up a horses neck over a fence and have little to no break in the waist.  They also had a tendency to lean heavily to one side or another through corners and are very easily pitched forward in the event of a hard stop or a sloppy downward transition.  I often refer to these riders and "Lawn Darts" as they flip off the front of a horse in a quick violent manner due to the pinching of the knee and the stiffness in the rest of the body.

Another of the most common mistakes seen (or very well hidden depending on the rider) is posting off of the foot.  Most often this is easily detected at the lower leg has either a definitive swing to it as the rider posts or, if the rider has managed to stop the leg from swinging at the nagging of their coach you will see the heel rising up as they post off of the toe/ball of the foot.  Posting higher out of the saddle than necessary is another symptom and impossible for a rider to hide when using the leg incorrectly along with the thrusting of the hips at the apex of each post.  The reason for the excessive height out of the saddle and the pelvic thrust is simple; momentum.  When a rider is using their foot as the basis of support to lift their body out of the saddle the foot is GOING to slide forward.  5/8-1/2" of leather is not going to be a sturdy platform to "stand" on. Add to that the rider must rock the their upper body forward to catch up to the foot to push themselves up out of the saddle and NOW comes the pelvic thrust, the thrusting forward of the pelvis is the actually tossing the upper body and the leg backwards to stop the forward motion from the momentum used to get out of the saddle.  Imagine running to the end of a cliff and having to stop abruptly, this is the motion the body makes at the apex of each post.

Now, marinate on that image for a moment.

With that thought in mind, what do you hear your coach saying to you about your knees?  KEEP THEM CLOSED! NO DAYLIGHT BETWEEN YOUR KNEE AND THE SADDLE! Right?  So, let's do a small experiment.  Stand up, Knees shoulder width apart, eyes down (yes, and this is probably a very rare time I will tell you to do that) so you can see how your body moves, and thrust your pelvis forward and back several times....I'll wait.
Waiting....
Waiting...
Still Waiting....
Ok, you back?
Great! I'm sure you noticed that with each thrust forward of your pelvis your knees either slightly or drastically (depending on your body type) opened outwards exposing your inside thigh to the world.  And just HOW are you supposed to keep your knee closed on the saddle if kinesiology dictates that a wide open pelvis means an open knee?

And so this is where we begin to discuss HOW to properly use that leg so it can work as the multi tool it really is!
If I don't want you pinching the knee and I don't want you pushing off your foot, just HOW are you supposed to get up out of your tack for 2 point and posting?  Well, AT THE WALK I want you to concentrate on relaxing the foot, ankle, and knee and using the inner thigh adductor muscles by ROLLING your thigh closed, letting the excess weight drop to the stirrup, letting the knee angle softly open, keeping your hip angle FOLLOWING the inner thigh (you will notice the hip does not want to thrust forward) you will reach the apex of this post when you feel the need to use your feet to push you higher and to thrust your hips forward DO NOT DO THIS.  Roll back down to your seated position.  DO NOT sit back and begin to rock forward to assist your body to rise out of the saddle, keep your slight forward angle, chest just ever so slightly over the pommel.  What I want you to visualize is that your FEMUR is a rolling pin rolling out cookie dough.  Each roll forward with the femur rises you up and each roll back sets you back down in to the tack. 

You are GOING to feel a slight pull in the groin, and some female riders may very well experience what feels like menstrual cramping the day following the exercise.  The reason for this is you are actively engaging your core muscles to lift you out of the saddle and place you back in position in a controlled manner.  At the walk you will feel as though your bum is hardly clearing the seat of the saddle and THAT IS OK! The entire point of posting and two point is simple: get out of the way.  And when you really think it over, if you are over posting using the wrong muscles and fighting to maintain your balance are you really out of your horses' way?  Besides, don't count out momentum of the horse.  Once you become strong and consistent posting this way at the walk, you will find your horse will be boosting you that little bit extra out of the tack at the trot.
And as you become stronger still, you will notice a lot more security in the saddle, you will find you hips are soft and able to follow and better communicate, you knee can open and close with out effort, your lower leg can slide to which ever position to cue your mount with out pushing you off balance.  And should you lose a stirrup you will notice it will just swing right back on your foot.  You will feel less of an urge to chase your horse across the fence as your hips are soft and able to close on their own as your horse's back comes up under you and folds your body.  You will be less likely to be left behind at a fence as you won't be caught up trying to use your upper body for momentum.  EVEN YOUR HANDS are going to improve. Why? Because when you are locked in the adductors of the thigh and soft in all your other lower joints, your upper body will follow suit (see post "It's all about breathing" for more details) and you will not feel as though your horse is "too fast" as you will be moving will him/her thus removing the desire to hang on the bit for balance and "control".

Now, I KNOW this information seems overwhelming, and honestly, it isn't easy.  It will require you to focus, be willing to go back to taking it slow (on the lunge is great, especially having extra eyes that can bust you when your body starts to cheat) But, YOU CAN DO THIS.

Attached is a video showing what I have been describing to you.  It is at the walk and standing so you can see the action and the rolling of the femur from different angles (don't mind the eyes looking down, taking time to post the walk is also why your's truly scans the area for any rocks, nails, etc that may have worked up from the desert sand ;) )

As ALWAYS please, feel to as for more clarification if you feel I did not explain something well enough to suit you.  You can contact me here or on our facebook group at  https://www.facebook.com/groups/AskTheHorseTrainers/