Beginner - keeping the horse trotting/leg aids

Is it the rising trot you are struggling to keep her going in? If I get a lazy horse I use the sit movement to put my leg on, instead of just letting my bum fall back to the saddle I wrap my legs and use them to pull me back down, this has the effect of giving a forwards cue each stride. I totally agree about getting your horse moving forward off your leg and like Skib I don't expect to have to ask every step but to cue once until I cue for something else, but it isn't always practicle on beginners RS horses too have them so responsive.
 
So many horses will slow down with an unbalanced rider, simply because they can feel you are unsteady, they are being nice to you. Part of it too is that an unbalanced rider is harder for them to carry. It a combination of the horse being nice to you and being a bit lazy too.

Don;t be hard on your self, as you gain balance you will find the horses are mor willing to keep going as they are not so worried about dropping you and you are easier to carry.
 
Is it the rising trot you are struggling to keep her going in? If I get a lazy horse I use the sit movement to put my leg on, instead of just letting my bum fall back to the saddle I wrap my legs and use them to pull me back down, this has the effect of giving a forwards cue each stride. I totally agree about getting your horse moving forward off your leg and like Skib I don't expect to have to ask every step but to cue once until I cue for something else, but it isn't always practicle on beginners RS horses too have them so responsive.
Thxs so much for the tip I will try that my next lesson but one problem is she is a fater horse and my legs are so small that it is hard to squeeze that is why I can't even try to jump her.
 
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Thxs so much for the tip I will try that my next lesson but one problem is she is a fater horse and my legs are so small that it is hard to squeeze that is why I can't even try to jump her.
Im not the tallest so know what you mean but you will get stronger the more you ride and the rhythmical little squeeze seems to work quite well so long as they arent totally dead to the leg
 
You are so right that I will get stronger. But I am also a competitive alyearound swimmer so my tongs are al Musial.
 
Most RS saints that beginners ride are sensitive to the rider, very few are 'dead to the leg' unless abused . Muscle strength is not required but balance and feel. To be honest I dont think riders should be taken off the lunge or lead until thay have control over their body position and legs and hands to create good riders however commercially we have to use our saintly horses to allow people to feel they are achieving!

Compare a member of the Spanish Riding School or the Cadre Noir who even as 'experienced riders' will spend 18 months being lunged to the average new rider who expects to be cantering by lesson 6!

If you want to learn to stay on that is one sort of lesson, good trekking centres are great at this, hold on tight and horse follows and you learn how it feels.

Real horsemanship takes many hours of work
 
Most RS saints that beginners ride are sensitive to the rider, very few are 'dead to the leg' unless abused . Muscle strength is not required but balance and feel. To be honest I dont think riders should be taken off the lunge or lead until thay have control over their body position and legs and hands to create good riders however commercially we have to use our saintly horses to allow people to feel they are achieving!

Compare a member of the Spanish Riding School or the Cadre Noir who even as 'experienced riders' will spend 18 months being lunged to the average new rider who expects to be cantering by lesson 6!

If you want to learn to stay on that is one sort of lesson, good trekking centres are great at this, hold on tight and horse follows and you learn how it feels.

Real horsemanship takes many hours of work
I am a very balanced rider I can jump bareback without holding on. The horse I was choose to train out of 10 girls has never been abused i was there the days after she was born and she has always been treated nicely. But I barn I will say we give them no harm but they respect all of us. I wasn't taken off a lunge line till I could walk trott and canter with a saddle and without (both not holding on using only my legs). I had 39 lessons before I was able to canter like it was second nature.
 
When I first started rising trot I couldn't master rising and then kicking the horse on at same time but in time it got easier until it become more natural so I'm sure it will with you. Also I changed horses to one that wasn't as slow and didn't need as much encouraging
 
I have been struggling with this also, I am a complete newbie to everything horse related, the rising is not the issue it is keeping my horse going, my RI is very focused on constantly kicking the horse on, the horse I ride is always the leader which makes it difficult on the very odd occasion we swap she follows the rest so keeps going not a problem, anyone have any advice?
 
Hi Rosie20, my name is Lacy and I totally now were your coming from I am training a horse that doe the same thing one thing that helps me is I use the ball of my hand to smack its rear then cluck and if they still don't go kick once than repeat.
 
Hmmmm.................not in favour of smacking horses, or even too much kicking. I don't understand why you're jumping and riding bareback if you haven't mastered rising trot yet???? Or have I missed something?
 
I can ride bareback because when I was very little I couldn't fit in a saddle so I learned bareback, and yes I am perfectly fine doing trotting with posting but yes anyone can have trouble training a horse when they are 12 years old. My barn does ridding and training horses so you are the boss and they respect you but are not afraid of you I smack cause my legs are not big. If you ever have trained a horse haven't you noticed that you have trouble doing anything on them. my trainer even told me it takes time and that I ride english and it is the harder than training a horse in western. ( Well known fact to any rider when you kick a horse they can barely feel it it is not like them kicking you!!!!!)
 
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Yes I understand the difficulty of training a horse, especially as you are a young rider. But a point of fact - if a horse can feel something as delicate as a fly, they can certainly feel you kicking them!
 
the only horse that doesn't kick or buck is a dead horse the only thing they do if I kick them is they go faster the way I want them to, but you are still in control. So what I'm saying is I will train a horse the way I want to and I don't feel like doing it another persons way as same as you cause your not going to do it the way people in Asheville do it. ( were are you from anyway?)
 
You guys aren't getting it I am only 12 years old I do what I am told and what I am told is we do it the old fashioned way and either I do it that way or I can't ride.
 
Just because you are 12 does not mean you have to agree with everything you are told. If you feel that you are being asked to treat a horse unfairly question it. Stand up for the horse. SO often gut feeling can be so right,
 
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I am having exactly the same problem as you at the moment and I totally understand how frustrating it is, I have just come back into riding after many years and it seems 1 step forward and 2 back. A few weeks ago I was do the rising trot really well and this week I struggle to do a whole lap without my cob stopping or my feet moving forward in the stirrups. Ive been told just practice practice practice but I just find I am struggling concentrating on rising, looking where I am going, reins, keeping my feet in position and keeping him going, nightmare!. think I am like you just overthinking everything and being too harsh on myself
 
It was years before I could trot a horse round corners or round the school. For me it was the reins really that were the problem. When you ride a horse in walk the head extends and comes back and you need to ride with relaxed hands moving with the forward stride of the horse. When you trot the head of the horse may be higher and steadier so you dont need to move your hands. RS students are often told to shorten the reins to trot and sure they need to be shorter than in walk. But they need to be still (in spite of your rising) . One can trot with ones hands resting in front of one, either side of the saddle. That steadies one's hands as one rises, imagine rolling one's hips forward between one's hands.
When one wants to turn a corner, the instinct is to grip a rein as one is taught to steer with the reins. But the pressure on the rein acts as a brake on the horse. You can steer in trot by looking the way you want to go or pointing your tummy button in that direction. Dont tighten the rein - and the horse wont mistake the rein as an ask for a stop.
I would also forget your feet poisition. Particularly older riders find it hard to keep a required textbook rider position ( which is in any case pretty arbitrary). Use safety stirrups and relax your feet and ankles as you rise - spreading out your toes inside your boots can help . But trying to hold an uncomfortable position is going to make you stiffen and act as a brake on the horse.
 
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