Should Sitting Trot Feel ‘Floppy’?
Ever had a riding theory question you couldn’t find the answer to? Or don’t have a go-to coach to ask? In this recurring segment, Amelia Newcomb is here to answer anything about your riding and dressage needs.
Should sitting the trot feel ‘floppy’? How do I know when I’m doing it right? How should it feel?
“Great question. When you sit the trot, especially when you’re first learning, it can definitely feel jarring and like you are getting flopped around. While we want to move with our horse, we don’t want to be so loose and relaxed that we are actually flopping in the saddle, but we also don’t want to try and “sit still”, which will lead to stiffness, and bouncing in the saddle as well. The trick is to find a happy medium between the two.
When you’re sitting the trot, you want to be engaging your muscles, but not so much that you are stiff. Think about having toned muscles. Your muscles are activated, but not clenched. The main muscle that helps you sit the trot well is your transverse abdominals. This muscle helps you keep your core stable, while your hips are moving and following your horse’s motion. When you sit the trot, you should also feel a little pressure or tone, at your knee and hamstring as these areas work to keep you in the correct alignment.
Once you learn to activate the right muscles and can sit the trot well, you will feel so connected to your horse, almost like you are a part of their back! You can feel each hindleg move under your seat, you feel a swing and float of the back as you absorb the motion with your pelvis. You are moving so in sync that it is no longer you matching the horse’s motion, but you’re just one moving together like a centaur. And any change or adjustment you make in your seat the horse will naturally adjust to keep that comfortable harmonious sync going. Just don’t change too much too fast or else the horse won’t be able to adjust and you’ll fall out of sync. It is through the development of the sitting trot that we can teach our horse to go from extended trot to piaffe and back again, but it takes time for the horse to develop both the mental ability to understand the seat aids and the physical ability for the horse to execute them.
This is an amazing feeling of harmony, and once you feel it you won’t be surprised how this opens a whole new level of communication with your horse. Learning to sit the trot well takes time, so don’t be too hard on yourself. When you’re practicing, keep in mind that quality over quantity is key. The more that you can practice the trot well, even if it is only for a few strides, the sooner you’ll be able to sit the trot with ease!”
If you are struggling with the sitting trot, check out my new Sitting Trot Challenge.
Inside I will walk you through step-by-step first how to prepare you and your horse for the sitting trot, then break down what each part of your body needs to do in order to sit the trot well. By the end of the challenge, you will be riding around your arena with such harmony and fluidity, that you will feel like a centaur! Are you ready to open a whole new level of communication with your horse?
Learn more about the Sitting Trot Challenge here.
Don’t feel like you’re ready for sitting trot yet? I get that! Check out this FREE PDF that will get you there. Get ‘5 exercises before you sit the trot’ today.
Amelia Newcomb is a USDF Gold medalist. Based in Somis, California, she incorporates complete dressage training from starting the young horse through the FEI levels in both her in person and online programs. Amelia works to develop a trusting and confident relationship between horse and rider. Her approach incorporates all aspects of horsemanship from basic groundwork to advanced dressage movements. Amelia’s mantra has always been “Dressage for All”, which is evident in both her in person and online coaching. With a successful YouTube video library of hundreds of free educational videos, over 220,000 subscribers (and counting!), and thousands of students enrolled in her online USDF accredited courses.