Improving Sitting Trot Question

She’s got very good balance!
Is she taking dressage lessons or hunt seat?
She is sitting in a chair seat but in a jump saddle it is very difficult to maintain the head, hip and heel alignment.

Her contact is good. Very consistent and a nice quiet seat and no extraneous motion.

The only thing I would have her change is her position and have her lower her knees and lengthen her thigh which again is hard to do in a jump saddle.

I hope she stays with it. She is awesome.

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More h/j but she wants to dabble in Dressage (because she thinks Piaffe looks fun, otherwise she doesn’t know anything about Dressage.)

She has rode in a Dressage saddle once or twice and she said it felt very different! Easier to have a longer leg for sure though.

They have been working more on confidence and just general balance/relaxation but it will be exciting to see how she does the more she learns. She had a bad experience at a different program where she got bucked off a couple of ponies and then got really scared. So this year has been more focused on the confidence / fun than any technical details. I fully suspect in a few years I will be needing to share my horse though lol!

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Well she shouldn’t really need to sit the trot for H/J, and the saddles don’t lend themselves to it too much. What I see is that her lower back is hollow and tight, so that is probably making everything a little harder. It’s that catch-22 where we try to sit up and look perfect, and end up stiff and braced.

I was feeling pretty good about my sitting trot game until my instructor had me sit and start building a little from the basic working trot on my 17H young warmblood. Another learning curve and level of postural strength is ahead!

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She loves sitting the trot though and likes to ride bareback too. Honestly at this age/level where she is at it’s more about exploring and having fun rather than being competitive or perfect in one thing. :slight_smile:
I agree she sits a bit hollow in her back. Not sure where that comes from because no instructor ever had encouraged the typical h/j hollow back that we see in many. Not sure if it’s her conformation, lack of core (she’s 10) or from watching others. But she’s got plenty of time to work on all the elements!