It's About The Horse

ElaineW · Member Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 1465

Hey everyone!
last night I got my copy of Mark Rashid's sitting the trot dvd..
I enjoyed the dvd,, it has good information. I didn't really care for how it was set up.. but I was able to learn from it anyhow.
Okay, my question is.. have anyof YOU tried this? well what i mean is, watched the dvd and tried to employ these movements he suggests for the human to do.
from what I can see, and I am still kinda sick and can't ride, he was able to sit any speed of trot with out posting..
I am really enjoying my giddyupflix subscription! hahaha
getting to see lots of different things..

ElaineW · Member Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 1465

No one has? out of 40 veiws not a one of you out there has seen this video? or been to one of his clinics? if not to ride, maybe to audit?
That brings on a question. who all HAS seen Mark Rashid's clinics?

jackspark · Member Joined: 10 Jan 2010 Posts: 4477 Location: Missouri

All I know about MR is through his books and I loved everyone of them. I will get that DVD, Elaine. I am kinda consumed with AK now and have all of her DVDs, (many) queued up from now through the summer

Not hard to sit a trot around here, 3 out of 4 are gaited and I put a real nice slow jog on the other

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Flying Monkey Trainer

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begin with a single step. Lao Tzu

PasoBaby_CarolU · Site Admin Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 9038

I'm with you Nancy...and if one of them trots, I put them back in gait. I used to have trotters and would work on and get a nice jog trot to ride. I never rode English so always sat a trot or stood a fast trot. I don't think my neck will take a trot now...
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jackspark · Member Joined: 10 Jan 2010 Posts: 4477 Location: Missouri

I look at it this way, and I was raised in an english saddle, I love to post and enjoy a good quick trot to do just that. I also love sitting a great running walk. Why would I want to post a running walk or sit a trot? I do plan to take a look at MR DVDs, there might be a reason to learn that, at least some ideas for maybe making a more relaxed lower half

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Nancy

Flying Monkey Trainer

A journey of a thousand miles must
begin with a single step. Lao Tzu

Blue Flame · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:45 pm Post subject:

I've audited MR but he didn't cover sitting trot at the ones I saw. A participant question did lead him into the the biomechanics of the walk and he went over the movement of the riders hips for a walk.

His clinic format doesn't have a set list of things to cover as he deals with one rider at a time for about an hour each day and tailors the hour to the horse and rider team individually. Then when he moves onto the next rider, the previous rider spends a further hour with his assistant.

There are 3 things he consistently starts with for every horse/rider pair though before continuing with anything else:

1) Physical assessment of the horse - he will not work with a horse that has pain or injury. Will refund money if he discovers a horse like this.

2) Rider breathing.

3) A SOFT backup.

Those 3 appeared to be absolute pre-requisites to get sorted before doing anything else.

I have read eslewhere that you should not sit a trot unless the horse is offering/using his/her back for the trot.

ElaineW · Member Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 1465

Thanks for the info ya'll!

misstux · Member Joined: 27 Feb 2009 Posts: 948

After reading this, I went to giddyupflix and put most of his dvds in my queue.

Julie · Member Joined: 07 Feb 2009 Posts: 1297

I do wonder about the wisdom in using a horseman to teach a rider, rather than a great rider to teach the rider. Like Linda Parelli, is Rashid the person to teach the seat or are we expecting him to be all things to all men rather than a master of what he does best.

You sit the trot to ride and influence all 4 legs with an independant seat.
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ElaineW · Member Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 1465

jackspark · Member Joined: 10 Jan 2010 Posts: 4477 Location: Missouri

Are the terms great horseman and great rider mutually exclusive? Is Linda Parelli a great rider? Just askin, I'd take
_________________
Nancy

Flying Monkey Trainer

A journey of a thousand miles must
begin with a single step. Lao Tzu

jackspark · Member Joined: 10 Jan 2010 Posts: 4477 Location: Missouri

ElaineW · Member Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 1465

PasoBaby_CarolU · Site Admin Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 9038

Hertha · Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:21 am Post subject:

Don't have Giddyupflix down here so what I want to see I generally have to buy or borrow from kind friends.

Sitting trot is something I've always done as i did a lot of bareback riding when younger.

One good description I heard was to think of your lower spine as jelly and go with the flow.

I found Linda's 'balance point' concept made sense to me because it lightens the leg when you find it. If I'm riding in a saddle I know I have my personal 'balance point' when my feet are very light in the stirrup, in much the way they would be were I riding bareback.

I ride with a long stirrup more like the Spanish type riders I've seen.

Have only seen Mark Rashid's footfall DVD. It starts out not too bad but then tends to 'lose the viewer' with too much too fast and not enough footage of the things he is trying to explain.

From what I saw at local Western Riding shows (when i still used to go), few people can sit the jog, let alone the trot.

Linda had a good exercise with the rising trot where you imagine your lower back as a spring each time you come down - the spring compresses slightly backwards and sends you back up. I like to say, Boing, Boing, Boing, etc as I go along and it reminds me to loosen up.

If we can imagine our lower spine as a spring and learn to relax it totally, the butt will stay in the saddle. I think it also needs an awareness of the lateral movement of the horse's back muscles with each stride, and to get in synch with that too. The more we can let each hip move independently (from the other) with horse's movement, the easier it will be.

Remember Pat's exercise to rise, sit, and bounce at the trot. By doing the sit and the bounce, experimentation will find what the body needs to do in order to sit the jog.

An ideal way to learn it is to have someone lunge the horse while you experiment, so you can focus totally on what your body is doing and not worry about the horse.
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