Riding lessons for life #10

Sitting the Trot:
The sitting trot- dreaded by all riding students around the globe! Why? The trot is the most animated and jarring of all the horse’s gaits, and riders usually “post” or purposely rise and fall in and out of the saddle with the horse’s rhythm so as not to get bounced around.  But the sitting trot is an important, advanced skill and important to develop as a rider.  It is challenging because most riders tend to want to stiffen up in order to try to hold themselves still and upright in the saddle.  This is actually counter-productive and will make you bounce more because you are stiffening up against the horse.  What a rider must learn to do is relax into the saddle, go with the horse’s motion, and allow the horse to carry you along, bumps and all.

It’s always amazing to teach rider’s to do the sitting trot. At first, many are tense, as I mentioned above, and are self conscious about getting bounced, so they don’t breathe, they tense their entire bodies and therefore they do get bounced!  I tell them that they must trust me on this one, they must breathe, relax their muscles from head to toe, sink deep into the saddle, and then I see a smile spread across their face! It really works! When you accept the gait for what it is (bouncy!) and are prepared to go with the motion of the horse, not against it, you and the horse will truly move as one.

Life is like doing a sitting trot on the bounciest horse imaginable!  When we try to fight the inevitable bumps that come along in life it tends to make things harder.  We can’t stop life from happening.  When we fight against the natural way of the universe, that’s when we get bounced out of the saddle!  The key is to accept that life is a bumpy road, relax into the flow of the life, and when we can do that then we can sit out the toughest bumps of all!  When we move as one with the natural flow of the energy of the universe we can go amazing places.  Stiffening up against the innate way of life will keep us stagnant.

Your challenge today is to accept that you are already saddled up and mounted on the bounciest horse in the stable of life and that your riding instructor has told you that today’s lesson is the sitting trot.  Learn to relax into the trot, relax into the bumps, and you’ll be carried gracefully along, moving as one!

Claire Affleck
Claire Affleck Training website
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