Slowing my rising trot?

Question

I am only interested in hearing answers about how to slow my post down, not slowing my horse down.

I have a nasty habit of posting with my horse, and not posting to what I want. Any ideas you can give me to slow my body down?

Thank you!

Answer 1

learn how to post from your pelvis and not off of your feet. You need to strengthen your core muscels and be able to have total control over your body. I suggest doing not stirrup work and post with out them. Just rock your pelvis and let the horse do the work. I can post just as good without my stirrups because i don't post off of my feet. This helps cuz i just slow how i rock my pelvis and tighten my core muscels and the horse slows to find my rhythm in posting.

Answer 2

If you slow down your rising your horse will slow to the pace you're rising at. I've always been taught in dressage that the pace for a trot (rise trot) is the beat to Elton John, Crocodile Rock. My instructor told me to download it for my ipod and listen to it when I train.

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Answer 3

You should be posting with the horse but not posting to were you are flying out of the stirrups.  To slow your post, try posting closer to the horse and not so high.  You could also try posting at the canter, it might sound weird but it helps you find a rhythm and then when you go to post the trot, it's much easier.  You could also try posting without stirrups for long periods of time, that will really build your leg muscle and it might be easier to put your leg on and post slower.(I'm sorry if I'm getting you wrong, I'm not trying to say your a bad rider, I don't mean to offend you in any way.)

Answer 4

I understand its hard to slow down your post sometimes, but its necessary to know because it slows your horse down as well, and it makes your riding much more comfortable and smooth at a collected speed. So the key is to not think about slowing down your body, but instead when you're posting and you go down in the saddle sit down longer and your horse will then slow down and therefore your trot will become slower. So each time to sit down longer, rise, sit down a little bit longer, then rise again ect... Once you try this out next time, i promise your problem is solved. All you need is practice.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I agree with the first answerer. I had the issue of posting too high on a fast-posting pony. I found that when I sat the trot, I was much more relaxed and my back was looser. I tried to post the trot making it almost look like I was sitting to it, and my seat barely left the saddle. A couple people and a judge commented on how nice my posting was in a small show, and slowly posting also made my fast pony a slower trotter, because she was going too fast.

Answer 6

You've already answered your own question. The idea is to slow your body, then the horse will slow. The horse is controlling the rider at this point.  Relax, breath, make yourself heavy (without slumping of course) and physically post slower. Your horse WILL slow down. He can't help it.  Often, you might have to just go back to the walk and do  walk/trot transitions until he gets into the pace of the exercise.

Answer 7

its something you really have to think about... just really try to think about slowing your post down... you should be rolling off of you knees and lower thighs so think about slowing that "roll" down... its not a matter of sitting longer or staying up longer... you make the actual action of posting longer... its hard to explain... you just have to really think about it

EDIT: you also shouldn't think "up, down, up, down" you should make your posting/think "forward, back, forward, back"

Answer 8

Concentrate on your posting.  Try to think of not going with your horse.  Start going up then count to two and come down count to two then rise up again.  If you want to go slower count to three or four and that should slow your posting down to wahtever speed you would like.

Answer 9

Very simple trick.....

.....think this, "I'm going to allow him to throw me out of the saddle"....

Let his impulsion throw you out, you'll end up doing the most tiny post, that people will hardly see. They'll wonder how you improved your riding so much in 3 seconds!

(You are working too hard and standing in your stirrups - Keep it simple, and don't work yourself so hard, let your horse do the work)

Best of luck, my best instructor ever, told me this trick.

ps. just remembered another trick. Take your feet out of your stirrups and trot without them. Allow your horse to throw you out as you post, and then try and have this same feeling with your stirrups.

I just read above comment, you don't need to build muscles in your leg to correct this, it's just  relaxation and changing muscles habbits. Not to stand in your stirrups and resist against the movement and pop out of the saddle. Once you've relaxed and got it, you'll never to back to standing in your stirrups again.

Answer 10

Like the other answers, its all in the head. Forward-Back instead of up-down is good and you probably do need to strengthen your core muscles.

--I had the same problem with my horse. Try listening to music. It worked for me. Make a playlist of enough songs with a consistent beat. Make sure you can hear it evenly throughout your riding space. While the music plays, listen to the music instead of the up down of the horse. Dont forget to listen to the horse still. It is best if you can work on a lunge the first time.

Answer 11

When I ride my horse, the faster I go up and down in rising trot, the faster he goes and I find it difficult to keep to the same rythmn and go at my pace, to keep a nice steady trot and not the giddy fast one that he likes to go at!!

I think that the best way to maintain a consistent rythmn and slowing the posting is to listen to music with a beat that is similar to the one that you want to go to. This means that you have something to go by and can follow the beats. Singing or humming is good too...even just saying "up...down...up...down" or counting is good too.

Hope this helps you!!