Re: [RC] [RC] need help - riding a trotting horse - Beth Walker
Very good point - I used a dressage saddle for trail riding for years. ?My current saddle is an ASC Rubicon, and while I like it very much, it does put my feet a bit more forward than I like. ?Not enough to interfere with my posting, though.
The saddle, and the horse, can make posting easy to next to impossible. ?It is not always the rider. ?:) ?Some saddles put your feet too far out in front of you, and that makes posting very hard. ?
Try this: ?with your current saddle, try (at a halt or walk) two-pointing. ? If you find you keep falling back into the saddle, or if it is a real effort to get yourself over your feet, it could be the fault of the saddle. ?Try one which places the stirrups farther under your center of balance. ?
On May 19, 2008, at 10:13 AM, Kathy Mayeda wrote:
You can post very nicely in a dressage saddle.?? One guy who rides the hounds found it very difficult to do an LD in a jumping saddle - probably because there's a lot of "amplitude" when you post with an jumping saddle.
Find an instructor that will help you learn the way you want to ride not retrain your horse to a specific ?"style". I haven't had centered-riding lessons, it sounds like that focuses on the rider balance. That sounds like what you need.
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IMO, your friend is mistaken about a horse needing to be on the bit for safety. And, although Ranelle had the experience of a halter-ridden horse using her horse's butt as a way to control the "out of control" horse, the problem there is not in the headpiece used, but the level of training. ?I also rode my horse in a halter (on a loose rein) in Tevis, and he was more controlled than most horses with bits in their mouths, the reins being held tight. He doesn't tailgate, doesn't refuse to slow up when I ask but, like a bitted horse, sometimes I have to ask very firmly. He does not take advantage of not having a bit in his mouth. He wasn't put under saddle until he was 8 yrs old though, so there wasn't much foolishness in him, no worries about bucking, bolting, etc. I should have used a bit for his first 50. He had a cut on his nose from the trailer so I used a flat nylon halter instead of the rope one we'd been riding in. It didn't work well. Next time, I put the bit on as well as his rope halter, and switched the reins as soon as I saw that his ride behavior was good. We've never gone back to the bit, but will if his behavior is ever questionable.
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Kathy
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Beth wrote:
Is there some way that I can keep him the way he is and learn how to ride him at a trot in a way that makes us both happy.?? I like the fact that he can be ridden bitless?on a loose rein and doesn't require me to pump him along with my legs.? I never really thought about trotting and now it is all I can think about!? I want to do what is best for my horse and from what I gather, posting on long rides will be much better on him than trying to sit the trot?? What do you guys do, how do you ride?? BTW-my trainer has been sitting the trot.
