Sitting Trot Tutorial With Sarah Williams

International Dressage rider, Sarah Williams, gives us a quick video tutorial on the sitting trot, emphasising the importance of the horse and rider working together in the movement of the connection.

Here's what she had to say about the tutorial;

"Here's a quick tutorial on perfecting your sitting trot.

"Firstly I must apologise for my dulcet tones... I sound rather like a Sergeant Major! I was a little concerned that you wouldn’t be able to hear me as it was slightly windy so I was trying to speak up, so please forgive the shouty voice!

"I have used Chloe for this tutorial. She is very round in the ribcage so this shows you the problems with keeping the leg down. I wanted you to see that even a professional struggles! I constantly work on this because I'm only small and all my horses are very large.

"As you can see, Chloe is in the double... this is just by chance, no other reason, but if anybody would like to ask me any questions about the double bridal then please do so.

"In this tutorial I’m trying to show you the movement of the rider, and how you have to swing through your hips and soften your elbows. I have raised my hands a little bit which in turn has made Chloe go a little bit behind the vertical. I did this so you guys can see the movement a bit more. I would normally ride with a lower hand position.

"There are many aspects to the sitting trot; it’s all about the scales of training, obtaining a good forward rhythm, with balance, activity and to the contact, and then working on engagement and self-carriage. The more correct you can produce the horse in the balance over a more subtle back, the more comfortable sitting trot will become!!! If the horse is on the forehand and behind the leg, then you will just wobble and bang around.

"Also, if the horse is short in the neck and tense or tight, don’t do sitting trot. Instead, I would suggest you warm your horse up well before you do sitting trot, to get that relaxation... it's far nicer for both of you. Sitting trot can reduce the swing in the horse's back, so if it's done too early or too frequently, you could possibly lose some of the natural swing through the horse's body.

"If you have any questions please message me on either Facebook or Instagram @sarahwilliamsdressage and I will be happy to help!"