So the sitting trot and I are not friends...in fact we hate each other. We don't even pretend to like each other at parties. And I am convinced that my sitting trot is what cost me the first place in my Eq. class at this last show. And I think my trainer (although she has never said it out loud) would agree.

That being said, my horse has a lovely canter, but her trot is bouncy and I have yet to learn how to ride it sitting. I can do it pretty well without stirrups, but when I do it with stirrups, I use them to brace against and I end up all over the place.  And then one thing follows the other, I get tense because I'm trying to make it "look" good and it becomes a diaster in 2.5 seconds flat. I have a month before my next show, and this one is much bigger than any of the other ones this year so I need to come prepared. My trainer says that I need to relax and almost lightly lift my contact with my stirrups but when I do that, they tend to slip back too much and I'm sure that isn't looked at as great in the ring either. Help!

Ok! Quick tips for mastering this- my trainer says that you should "pet" the stirrup with your feet, so you dont really need a lot of pressure. The stirrups used to bug me too when I tried to sit the trot, and you can start without them and then put them super super long (like start out too long) and gradually shorten them until they dont bother you either way. My big cheat that I discovered was doing tons of sit ups the night before you ride, then you can feel your stomach muscles (because they are sore, lol) and you will already be focused on them so you can use them to steady yourself. I find ab exercises started helping my sitting trot days after I started doing them, so you could do a lot in a month! Really relax your shoulders and see if your horse will humor you with a really slow trot starting out, so if you start to lose balance, half halt to a jog, get situated, then increase speed gradually. The lungeline is your friend! See if someone you ride with doesnt mind taking turns lunging each other and practicing doing fun kid stuff like arm circles and twisting your ankles all around at a sitting trot. Make sure your arms are relaxed and the horse is balanced and on the bit, this will make the trot a lot smoother. You will find eventually you can hardly tolerate posting, I've gotten there recently, I hate to post at all, even my trainer's nearly 18 hand gelding with a MASSIVE trot, I just find it so much easier to keep them together and balanced to have my seat aids all there all the time.

 Thanks for your suggestions. I'll have to try the lengthening the stirrups thing and see if that helps. Lunging is not an option, unfortunately. Most of the time that I ride, nobody else is around and if they are, they are riding too. I can honestly say I have never seen anyone ride while someone holds the lungeline at my barn. I might try the ab thing too.

Relax your lower back too.  I've found if I focus on relaxing and letting my weight really sink in my seat, I do better than if I try to think about tightening certain things. 

When you're sitting trot/no stirrups, make a mental note of the position of your hips and back and try to mimick that when you catch your stirrups.  This works pretty good for me.  I have the problem of tilting too much and slightly arching my back which is not conducive to a nice sitting trot.

 I do that too and only at the sitting trot. I tense and tend to turn my shoulders in and roach my back, which is obviously not pretty because then the rest of my position goes to hell too.

 It does take a bit of effort to sit a nice, forward, working trot.  You'll need to "free up" your lower back and hips to follow the motion.  You can't be stiff and sit the trot well!

I think it's more difficult in huntseat, since you're sitting with more of a forward tilt to your pelvis and a somewhat hollowed lower back.  In order to follow the motion, you need to tilt and relax your pelvis back and get on your seat bones.  I don't mean lean back - I mean change the tilt of your hips.  This will also take out the hollow of your lower back, which will also help you.  With these changes, your body should be more able to move with the motion.  You can't just sit - you have to concentrate on swinging with the motion of the trot by using your abs to lift your pelvis forward and up to stay with the "up" motion.  

Your tendancy to turn your shoulders in and roach your back is an effort to stay with the motion by relaxing something, just not the right body parts.  Try not to lose your upper body position - stay upright and tall, but relax your lower back.  I think about "slouching", but only in my lower back.  

When you start working the sitting trot, just go for a few strides, then go back to posting, or your two point.  This way, you maintain the tempo and rhythm you want and don't slow the horse too much in order to sit.  Don't sacrifice the gait in order to sit.  Work up to longer and longer stretches of sitting trot.  If you're doing it correctly, you'll get (or you should!) tired quickly.

As for the stirrup problem, it seem to be universal.  Try to think about just resting your feet in the stirrups, don't "use" them.  You can have the leathers a little longer, since you are flatting, but you still need them short enough to get in your two point.  

Good luck and we want to hear stories about how sore your abs get! 

 Thanks remmer. As I was reading thisI was sitting at my desk trying to slouch with my lower back only and I see what you mean. I just hope I can replicate it on my horse. I like your idea of only going for a few strides. I do this with the trot/canter without stirrups because it is such torture. I've worked my way up to going around the arena completely once both ways, at both gaits. So I'll start small with this task too.

I have a lot to work on this weekend.

 One more thing guys...I seem to have an easier time sitting the trot (although it's still not fun or pretty) when I come to the trot from a walk, because I can start her out slower. However, when I try to come down to the sitting trot from a nice working posting trot, it goes horribly wrong and I end up trying to slow her so much that she comes down to a walk instead of a slower, but still working trot for me to sit.

At the shows, at least at this last one, they had us do sitting trot from a walk and they also had us do it from a posting trot. So any suggestions on this issue would be appreciated as well.

It's definitely harder going from posting to sitting. When I make that transition, I half halt and then think about sitting deep and driving the horse forward. Sometimes I think half halts balance me as much as the horse. :/ 

 Well I tried some of your suggestions this weekend and I felt a little better at the sitting trot. I'm just going to have to keep plugging away at it but hopefully it will improve before the show. Thanks guys.

I actually will drop my stirrups to find my rythm, then pick them back up.  I also think to relax my butt and 'give' with my abs and lower back...hard to explain how exactly.  But once I find it, it's smooth riding...

Try this - legs long thinks toes in (but have them forward NOT pointing out) and think of wrapping your legs around the horses barrel and lifting the barrel gently without clamping on the horses side and getting the horse to speed up. That should help lift the horses back which will allow you to sit the trot (it's more upper level dressage stuff).

 Thank you. I have a bad habit of pointing me feet out which I have been working on as well. I have to say that it is coming along much nice than my sitting trot.

Finding the right way to sit the trot takes a while. For a long time I always bounced. Then I decided to take the "looking good" out of it and just be comfortable. I sit way down on my tail bone and almost slide my feet in front of the girth and I ride around like this until I feel good. Then worry about how it looks. But I think the key to the sitting trot is to sit on your tail bone not your crotch. Good luck with your next Eq. class