Mise en selle

[racaille]

Well after the dressage disaster I had a long think about what went wrong and came up with a few conclusions. I realised that once the panic set in I lost my seat entirely so I decided I would need to go right back to basics. It seems that when I get flustered I tend to tip forward slightly which is why I have my wandering legs problem and explains why my sitting trot was so stiff and, well, not sitting.

So I had a session with E doing mise en selle. I don't know what you'd call it in English, literally it means 'put in the saddle' and you work on your position/seat. Started off with a very useful exercise which really showed me that I often ride on my pelvic bones rather than my seat bones: you sit in the saddle and put you knees forward over the flaps, towards the neck, and I really felt my bum slide forward and down. If you then release your legs you are in the ideal position but I also had to stay like this a while to work my sitting trot, which is not just 'sitting' but actively thrusting the pelvis forward with each stride.

I think this is an issue for large-chested women who have a tendency to round their shoulders to minimise their assets - I know I do this. It felt weird to be thrusting all my jelly - and belly - at the world But I did reconnect with proper sitting trot and my coach was pleased that I can still do it - and I stll have a good upper body apparently so things to be pleased about after the debacle - I just need to make this my default position. It also worked wonders for my legs - hard to move them backwards when I was properly in place. Then the dreaded no stirrups exercises

We also fine-tuned my hands to keep my elbows tight to my body - you make a bridge of the reins by passing each one across the neck to hold them both in each hand and it helped keep my hands together and my elbows in. Working in spirals using only small hand movements but lots of legs reminded me that I was using too much 'open rein' which is pretty novicey.

I have another lesson tomorrow and although it is physically hard to relearn basics it can be done, even at my age

[brigadier]

Just think Rac- you will get this established and then you will end up on a young horse/less established horse and it all goes out of the window!
I remember doing this quite a lot when younger and it is a hard exercise. Not sure Id want to do it now- ha ha! The other one is to ride with your legs completely open and off the saddle but not tucked in front of you- its a real opener of the hips- if it doesn't kill you first. The other thing you can do as an alternative to bridge-ing your reins is to lay your whip across the tops of your hands and hold in place with your thumb- its a great one to do whilst hacking- good for riders who flatten the hands also.

[solomon]

Thinking about having some school master sessions. My riding is feeble it's so long since I have done much. Ache today after hack of just over an hour!

[fleabitten]

Rac we have been doing these exercises in BHS training! Not easy! I think the bridging the reins is a good one as i think it would be good for training you to steer with your legs more, as its just too easy to use your reins to steer! Are you having a course of lessons rac?

[racaille]

Flea I have a lesson every week now that I have my arena in place. Boy it hurts!

Brig I think I like the sound of your whip exercise more than bridging the reins: today, practicing, I found that I have a tendency to 'motorbike' my hands so the whip one would keep my thumbs on top.

Aieee aiee, still so much to work on!

[racaille]

After yesterday's lesson I am feeling somewhat encouraged E worked me really hard (and it was boiling hot) and I was truly knackered afterwards.

But the sitting trot thing is going well - E said she was astonished at how quickly I've got it back. Yippee! It was ruddy hard to sit to extended trot - and to be fair you wouldn't have to in a test, it is the only time rising trot is allowed, but E was making me do it so that working trot seemed a doddle! She also commented at how much better my legs were, but I have to think about them all the time still. It's not rocket science but if I am sitting correctly everything else comes more easily.

Now she is taking me to task for my hands. She says the problem in actually my shoulders, I tend to tense and hunch them up and only when I relax them do my elbows and hands fall into place. So now I have to think about .... bum... legs ... shoulders ... look up (yes, I tend to look at the oss) ... hands .... elbows ....

It's a lot for a tired old brain

[fleabitten]

getting the arena was well worth it!

Thats great about your sitting trot! I was practicing sitting trot with and without stirrups last night when hacking out, its difficult to maintain it! I tried putting my hand behind my back to make me sit back on my seatbones as i find that i tend to bounce forward onto my fork - trotting with stirrups is hard because its all too easy to push down on your stirrups and bounce even more lol! Its hard work! I think its brilliant you have an instructor who has lots of tools and knowledge about improving riders.

[Blonde Donkey]

Whats this about not sticking boobs out? Though mine at 38F would take some bloody disguising . I need to try that exercise because my butt never seems to be in the saddle, more perched on, probably from years of riding buckers, bolters and the Savster - anything could happen even being abducted by aliens.

[racaille]

Flea, once you've got your position right in the saddle the trick to sitting trot is to thrust your pelvis forward with each stride. After a while your pelvis relaxes and you will do it naturally but for starters if you think of a Jack Russell humping you'd not be far wrong

[pboy]

Sounds like a great set of lessons Rac! I both love and hate lessons that focus on my seat - love them because I can always feel the improvement in me and my horse's way of going, and hate them because there is always way way more to work on than you manage to fix, and because of the sore muscles... I don't think there are many instructors in England who are good at teaching the seat and I love that there is a dedicated term for it in France!

Re: sitting trot, Heather Moffett suggests making a 'running' movement with your seat bones so you move with the horse's back and I found that to be a useful tip. Also the 'legs away' is brilliant but painful! I used to give my Hong Kong RI lunge lessons and she had very stiff hips (despite being a fab rider in general) so I got her to lift legs away, then point her toes down (I think that's a Sylvia Loch tip), move the legs back from the hip, then wrap the legs and pretend she was trying to touch her toes under the horse's belly, then back to normal. It's quite hard to walk afterwards but it does stretch the hips LOL!

I've rediscovered my canter seat - I imagine that I'm sitting like Geoff Billington (i.e. a bit 'sack of potatoes'-ish and hunched!) and it really helps me to go with the movement, then I can straighten up again. Whatever works!