Hands during rising trot - tips for more stability requested

[Naiad]

Ugh! No matter how hard I try, I still think that my hands are moving about a tad too much during posting/rising trot - they are not moving all over the place, but there is a slight motion that I am finding hard to fix. I've been having ridden lunge lessons in addition to regular riding lessons, and my RI and I are really focussing on my riding position and core stability.

Does anyone have any particular tips/hints on ways/tricks to try and convince my hands that they can indeed stay more steady during posting/rising trot??? I seem to have better hand stability during sitting trot.

Thank you in advance for replies! 

[Heather]

Is your RI asking you to keep your torso upright during rising trot,Yvonne? If so, this is the cause. If not, try putting a balance strap between the Ds of your saddle and hook your little fingers through it. Allow your forearms to rest lightly against your hipbones. Keeping the hands low and stabilising the forearm really helps.

[Naiad]

Is your RI asking you to keep your torso upright during rising trot,Yvonne? If so, this is the cause. If not, try putting a balance strap between the Ds of your saddle and hook your little fingers through it. Allow your forearms to rest lightly against your hipbones. Keeping the hands low and stabilising the forearm really helps.

My RI is not telling me to keep the torso upright, so that is probably not the problem. I do have a balance strap and I did try putting my finger through it on my solo ride yesterday after my RI noticed that I had way too much motion. I still felt a slight motion even when having the strap helping me out.

(i) Should the hands be *absolutely still* or does it take a lot of time/practice to achieve perfect motionless hands - is a small amount of motion (just a slight wavering/motion) acceptable in these early stages of riding or should I be capable of total still-ness at this stage of my riding - what can I realistically expect of myself here? Thanks.

(ii) So if the hands don't move in response to the human body's motion during the rising trot, do the elbows then need to be soft and do some gentle flexing etc. to take up the motion of the body???

[Lammy]

Your hands should appear still, you will be absorbing both your movement and your horses through your body.  Think of your elbows as heavy but soft and the angle of your elbow joint will be opening as you rise and closing as you sit although it is very subtle.

Have you tried rising trot without your horse with you standing in a riding position to feel how you need to allow your body to move.  Also have you checked your balance on your horse, in halt rise out of the saddle do you feel like you are falling forward or tipping back and then slowly sit back in the saddle then in halt rise and sit continously with only your skin touching the saddle as you sit then rise again.  You will need to incline from your hips and how much is personal to your own bodies balance then play with it incline too much where you feel you are falling forward then come to upright through your body where you feel you are going to fall backwards then incline to the middleground where you feel more in balance it can literally be a difference of 1cm that feels different and then maintain it.

Do the same in trot.   Then try trotting round and continously changing your diagonal but by rising for two rather than sitting for two, so you rise, rise, sit, rise, rise, sit etc etc.  This is one of my favourite exercises for checking your balance in rising trot.  Then when you go back to normal rising trot you should find it easier 

[Naiad]

Thanks Lammy for the helpful response. I will try that exercise at halt and play with my balance. So I would surmise that you think my hands may be moving around a bit to make up for a lack of balance on my rise perhaps??? I will also give the other exercise a try as well. 

[Lammy]

Pleasure. Yes it maybe your balance :-)

[Heather]

Excellent reply from one of our EET's Yvonne- thanks Sam!!