From: V R Lundy
Hi Jessica, I am a new subscriber, referred to your list by my friend Per-Tore Aasestrand in Bergen, Norway. I received my first week's posts last Wed., and found your answers and the topics to be excellent.
I own a small horse farm (I've bred one Arab mare, who settled after the first round of service, carried fine, foaled easily and quickly; my whole family got to watch, and the filly is a beautiful Morab, now almost 6 months old) and equine services business, which I hope to build up to be a successful but still-small business. We are on 3 acres, all but the house and yard is dry lot/pasture. We keep the horses out (with run-ins accessible) year-round. I have a fair amount of experience training horses: to peform certain jobs, building on basic schooling, reforming or "healing" problems, and working with babies as well as starting colts under saddle...and have ridden countless different horses & mules, of all ages, dispositions, and schooling levels. I am by no means qualified to train Grand Prix, but I do okay with getting them going and building a foundation in the different disciplines. I also have been teaching beginning riders for about 18 months, with a total of about a dozen pupils, all who've been satisfied with me. Again, I don't train for showing, just give basic riding lessons and then some guidance in the chosen style (h/j, wp, trails/cc, dressage)
My questions today:
I have been teaching how to ride a trot with a method that seems sound, and that I have discussed with other instructors, but have not seen specifically in any of the books I have read (dozens). Every "suggestion" I have RECEIVED from other riders/instructors has been unique, also, and I am a bit undecided about the BEST way to teach a beginner to ride a trot.
The system I developed for teaching it is based on what worked as I learned it, and by adding things that are appropriate to the rider's ability, age, or understanding. If one image doesn't work for them, I find another. I use Centered Riding (Sally Swift) and John Richard Young, and Wanless, and Margaret Clarke's imagery most often. Add to those the theories I heard at a seminar workshop about how riders of different ability levels ride the trot...
After LOTS of walking and some lunge work, including bareback riding at walk & trot, I begin trot in a saddle using Mary Wanless' image of the diving board (standing on the stirrup as though you are preparing to dive off backward). And I have them start out actually standing the trot. I teach them to sink their weight into their stirrups, and TRY to absorb the trot into their heels and ankles (based on the theory that the ankle is the correct "pivot point" for the rest of the body), but that their stability should be maintained by a "grip" with the inside of the lower thigh. I ask them to keep their arms forward (no rein tension) and their rear OFF the saddle entirely. This seems to make a *huge* difference, especially for the ones who are prone to have their weight above rather than IN the saddle, or those who bounce all over the place.
As they become more able to stay balanced when standing the trot with the thigh contact just above the knee and on the inside of the leg, and NOT use their hands to hang on (yes, I do take them off the horse if they hang on the reins), *then* I ask them to lower their seat just a hair until their pants *just* touch the saddle with each stride, but still insisting that they stay off the reins and keep the shock in their foot/heel, and keep their weight in their thighs, spread across the saddle. Little by little, they are able to get their seat down further. As with all beginners, their hip angle is not as big as with a long leg, which comes with relaxation, balance, fitness, and confidence/experience.
Eventually, with enough hours experience, I learned to sit the trot in this way. In the workshop I attended, (where the speaker showed a video tape of different level riders at the trot, and did angular measurements of their hip/knee/ankle) she answered my question about teaching a sitting trot by saying that the rider must first learn to post, by rising every fourth, then third, then second beat, gradually learning to get deeper and be more relaxed, and then once the balance is sure and the leg thus longer, they can begin to sit the trot.
I finally learned to relax and lengthen my leg, and to open the hip angle and sit the trot, after miles and miles and hours and hours of work at the trot, both in a balanced seat western and in a hunt seat, in figure-8s, straight lines, and on the trail. I started by standing, then eventually learned to sink my weight into my heels and allow them the shock, and THEN to relax my waist *totally* to sit the rhythm. NOW I can sit a trot, and I have a longer leg and open hip, and am relaxed and balanced with my weight distributed well over the saddle and into the stirrups, but it took a long time and lots of hard work and practice.
I still think this is an effective way to teach the trot, but the pupils are often in a big hurry to learn posting, and sometimes talk with other boarders/riders at their horse's stables and try on different methods.
My most recent student decided to try a co-boarder's suggestion and stop doing any gripping with his upper leg, and was trying to "relax", but in so doing, because he is not yet proficient in balance, weight distribution, or shock absorption, his weight was up in his rib cage and he was back to bouncing on the horse's kidneys, just like the first attempts he made. This horse is a beautifully trained EP horse, and he was tolerating the bouncing, but the rider was unable to complete even one circuit without him stopping. The client is wanting to begin work at a canter, and is anxious to progress, but this horse is new to him (he was learning on mine), and I think he still needs to work on the trot, the trot/walk/halt/walk/trot transitions, and his general balance before he moves on.
We have a good understanding that he (the client) is not REQUIRED to use my agenda at a lesson...he actually decides what sort of work he wants (or doesn't want) to do or try in any session. Now he has decided to drop lessons and work by himself for a while. This is fine, but I worry also that he will get confused and regress if he listens to the other riders (none of whom ride hunt seat -- all western) and stops lessons. He had come a LONG way with me, and made excellent progress, but we only had one session on the new horse, and he was wanting to do canters in an arena at that lesson....
I'd like your comments regarding my method of teaching the trot, and to know what you would suggest to my student, if he were to go to you for his next lesson...???
Thanks for reading this far, at least!! And thanks for the generosity of providing this list!
Renee Lundy
I like your system for teaching the trot, and I think it should be quite successful. This is very similar to the way I teach it, but I like to start beginner riders on the longeline, so that they work without reins until their position is solid and comfortable. That way, they won't go to the reins first, as brakes or as a "security blanket", when they lose their balance or when something unexpected happens. It's also useful as a teaching tool because it lets the rider focus entirely on his or her body and on the horse's rhythm. The rider is free to concentrate on balance, since he/she has NO responsibility for the horse's speed or direction.
The student you describe probably DOES need to do a lot of walk-halt, walk-trot, trot-walk transitions before attempting a canter; it would be better for his progress and much better for his horse's comfort and soundness. But the real problem here, I think, is not so much what he is doing -- it's the fact that you have no real jurisdiction over what he does with his own horse. It's a common situation -- is that any comfort?
Be patient, work with your other students, and be cheerful and polite with that student when you see him at the barn. But don't offer advice or assistance -- he knows that you have a system, and he knows that he can learn from you at any time, just by going back to his lessons with you. While he is accepting help from all manner of other riders at the barn, you will be frustrated and irritated -- that's natural! But try not to show it. If the atmosphere becomes unpleasant, the student won't come back to you, and THAT would be a shame.
If your student came to me for his next lesson.... what I would do would depend entirely on what I saw on the day. But he wouldn't necessarily be allowed to select his own agenda. In fact, he almost certainly would NOT be allowed to select his own agenda. Let me explain: I find that almost all riding problems are SYMPTOMS -- they come down to some flaw or flaws in the basics. I correct specific problems by analyzing them and working with the rider to improve the basic position or concept or aid that is causing the particular problem. In other words, if a rider comes to me at a clinic and says "I need advice on what kind of bit to buy, my bit isn't strong enough, my horse moves off as soon as I mount, no matter how much I pull the reins," I say to myself "Aha, this horse has not been trained to move forward in response to the leg -- it's a LEG problem and a FORWARD problem, it has nothing to do with the reins or the bit." Then we do exercises designed to teach the horse to wait for a leg signal, so that he goes forward when asked, and not at random, and by the end of the lesson, the horse is happy because he understands what the rider wants, and the rider is happy because he understands how to communicate with the horse. At this point, the rider is no longer planning to buy a more severe bit, even though THAT was what he thought he wanted when he came in for his lesson!
So, if a student who could not balance well at walk and trot came to me and asked to work at canter, I would work with him at walk and trot until he COULD work at canter without endangering himself or abusing the horse. But I find that most riders are very receptive to sensible help -- they want to be good riders, and they want to be kind to their horses. Often they just don't realize that it takes time and practice to gain proficiency -- they imagine that they "should" be able to canter, or jump, or do a shoulder-in, after a certain number of lessons, or a certain number of rides. And again, I find that most riders are quite happy to drop back a few steps to improve their basic skills before they move on -- some, in fact, are very grateful to be "allowed" to do this!
If a student goes "walkabout", try not to be angry or upset. Relax, and realize that your best advertisement is the calm competence of your other students. Sometimes a particular student feels the need to go elsewhere or experiment alone -- and yes, it can be frustrating for the instructor, but really, it's his own horse and his own decision, and you must respect that. If he doesn't find the magic solution elsewhere -- a good bet, since there IS no magic solution! -- he will probably be back.
Sometimes students DON'T come back -- either they lose interest in the sport, or they find that their personal style is more compatible with that of another instructor. If this happens, try not to take it personally -- it doesn't mean that the student is a bad person, and it doesn't mean that you are a bad person or a bad teacher. Smile, wish him well, and MEAN IT. Whether he comes back or not, you'll have no reason to reproach yourself.
Jessica
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