Which Leg To Sit To In Rising Trot

[coss]

Well that confirms it, ive been riding wrong all these years!!!!

ages ago in one of my lessons someone was rising on the "wrong" leg and instead of my RI just telling them to correct it she asked why they were doing it. that confused everyone and the person was really embarrassed. my RI then said that there are specific reasons you would rise on the "wrong" leg and non "BHS" ways and as she was teaching BHS she didn't tell us any more than that. i just thought that means there are people who teach you to sit on the insed

 

[Zingy]

I thought that strictly speaking it doesn't matter, just so long as you change when you change reins. Reason for rising with the outside foreleg moving forwards is that at the same time the inside hind leg is moving forwards. Being out of the saddle makes it easier for the horse to bring the inside hind leg underneath, hence most people consider that correct.

 

[Joyscarer]

What is inside and what is outside changes as you change the rein. On the straight it doesn't matter but I do change the diagonal I rise on every couple of hundred yards to aid with equal muscle development. Joy will try to throw me onto her prefered diagonal when we are on the straight though

 

[mayoguinness]

Never paid it any atention since I've had Mayo, in my lessons when I've trotted I've never been told that I'm doing it wrong so therefore never bothered to look, I just ride and sit as it feels comfortable and go with the beat

 

[CER1389]

I was always told the following (I hope it makes sense, if not I'll make some pretty diagrams to explain!)

A horse carries most of its weight on it's inside hind leg when in trot. So this is when the outside front leg is forward. Therefore you rise at this moment. This is so your weight isn't added to the weight that the horse is carrying on that foot. Then when it's outside front leg comes back it is using the other diagonal pair which does not carry as much weight so you can sit at this point to help the horse distribute the weight.

It was explained so much better than this! But the upshot of it was that if you were sitting when the inside front was back then you were adding another stone in weight to what the horse has to carry.

If anyone needs diagrams to understand this then I'm happy to create some! I know I explained it badly. It comes down very simply to: sit when the outside shoulder is back!

 

[Bay Mare]

I find the best way to feel it is to follow the outside hind (just to confuse it even further!).

When the outside hind come forwards ( ie the outside fore comes back) you can feel your outside hip 'dip' with the horse .... this is the 'sit' phase.

When the outside hind is back (ie the outside fore goes forwards) the outside hip will be pushed forwards by the horse (the rise).

I've played around and found that this way is much easier than concentrating on the shoulder for me especially as I'm trying to get the 'feel' instead of looking down to check. It may or may not work for you but could be worth a try

It's easier to explain when I'm on a horse or simulator so I hope that I've got it the right way!

 

[Bebe]

Standard practice is to "rise and fall with the leg on the wall"

However, really you should sit on whichever diagonal is appropriate to your horse at that particular time.

If I want to influence the outside hind more, then I'll sit on the wrong diagonal for that rein.

If I'm on a horse who's really one sided I might rise more on one diagonal than the other to try and help even them up a bit.