Slowing down by using seat

[sparkysunny]

Please could someone give me some advice? My very competent 13 year old daughter feels that her new pony, a powerful Section C, is a little too forward in trot and canter. She doesn't take off, but is a little more forward at times than Lucy would like her to be, and Lucy is looking for impulsion rather than speed. She is very aware that pulling on the reins is not the answer, but she feels that, when she tries to slow down by using her seat the pony actually gets quicker. I suggested this may be because she is inadvertently putting her leg on as she uses her seat and that she is, therefore, not using her seat correctly, but I find it really hard to explain to her exactly what it is she is doing wrong and what she needs to do to correct the fault. If anyone has any helpful tips, we'd love to hear from you. Very many thanks.

[maddiesmum]

I would start in walk, study your daughter ensure she is sitting correctly eg. Core engaged, symmetrical etc it is easy to be a fraction out and bear down through you legs rather than your seat this could potentially be happening & as you mention quickening the pony with her leg accidentally.
Get her to close her eyes and feel through her seat and say out loud to you which hind leg is stepping through. If she can do that easily then I would bet at that moment she is using her seat correctly, extend this to get her to increase/decrease the speed of the walk using her seat alone, just by quickening & slowing her own rhythm.
Then extend that into trot and canter, which is obviously harder, but once she has the feel for it she should be able to control the speed in all paces. My old dressage instructor took my reins away to teach me this properly, I'm not saying be that mean, but you get the idea! It really must be seat only...
I hope that is helpful & I've explained it ok!

[mandmgirl0164]

Try rising and sitting more slowly so rider dictates speed, not pony. Also, barely touch saddle with seat as you sit,so that seat isn't driving pony foward forcefully.

[sarahp]

This is a general comment, and obviously I have never seen your daughter ride, but I have noticed that in the show ring many many riders when trotting clutch up and back with the legs as they sit and push the legs out and forward as they rise again. I wonder what would happen to those who ride like this if they have to ride with no stirrups? I had to learn to do rising trot with no stirrups when I was small, and jumping with no reins or stirrups. My daughter learned aged 8yo to ride her pony with no reins, just seat and leg, both steering and going up and down the paces - her teacher then was a basically dressage lady too maddiesmum. They (four of them) were in an enclosed arena, for anyone worrying about H&S, and it wasn't mean, just a very good teaching exercise. The same teacher taught me as well as an adult, and I had to do it in lunge lessons, well the changing pace bit anyway, with no reins or stirrups.

[maxandpaddy]

Totally agree with the above take away the stirrups, on the lunge is fine and keep with that for a while....once the stirrups are given back ( quite often longer) it can make a huge difference. It makes the rider more aware of how much effect their balance and seat makes to how the pony/horse goes and the impact that has on speed

Best of luck xxx

[honeypot]

Try thinking about sitting on a swing. When you are on a swing your body follows the movement of the swing, to stop the swing your body has to stay still. Exercises in walk to get her to feel the movement in walk, and let her body go with it and then stop or slow the pony by making her seat still and her waist stiff. Core strength.
Then there is the piggy back. If you give someone a piggy back if they keep still and go with the movement its easier to carry them , if you wiggle its harder even if you are smaller than the person who is carrying you.
Use walk and halt, get her to see a spot, turn, stop and try and get the pony to do as its asked by turning her shoulders and looking at the spot and using leg aids. You can use poles on the floor as lanes.
The pony will go slower if the rider keeps the same rhythm. Pick a song or rhyme that is roughly the pace you want the pony to go at. Set off in trot, sing the song rise to that beat, if the pony wants to go faster just keep that rhythm, if the pony gets unbalanced or goes faster go back in to walk. Only do short bits like the length of the school and avoid corners until they both get it. She can use her voice, or if you lunge the pony it should remember, its lunge aids, so she use it at transitions, and walk and trot
She is a young so she will not get at once, a lot of adult riders do not ride with their seat or think about how their movement effects the way the horses goes. If she learns balance, gets a strong tummy muscles and sits on her bum bones, she should be able to feel them, she will get there.

[catkin]

lots of good advice above. I would also teach the pony to go more from the voice, so perhaps back on the lunge to reinforce the voice aids and then try when sitting on the pony. With v little children, I find the best way is to tell them to rise up and down slower. Your child is older, so may well be able to grasp the more complex instructions, but worth a try while you are working on things! Also, have you ridden the pony yourself? Its often hard to see exactly what is happening and sitting on and having a feel may well help.

[sageandonionagain]

I would get a trainer to school the pony to make sure the pony understands the correct aids and the half halt. Once pony is established and happy, daughter on board to make sure she understands the correct aids etc. The correct aid does actually require the use of the hand closing on the rein and it is very subtle. The buttons are a little different for every pony and it is necessary to feel the ride before your daughter can be helped.

[flee]

All the above is correct - it's just finding a way of explaining it to your child so that she really understands what she has to do . I struggled for years with riding ' leg into hand ' in half halt and downwards transitions as (I thought) I had been told by instructors . This is technically correct but continues to be one of the most misinterpreted aids I come across when teaching . It took 10 minutes with the right instructor for it to finally click with me . I had confused 'closing the leg ' ( correct ) with 'using the leg to send the horse forward' during the downwards transition ( incorrect ). 'Forward' and 'energy' are different things - you can have one without the other .
The way he made me understand was so simple I couldn't believe I hadn't worked it out for myself ! I walked my horse around the arena and he made me think about the way my seat was following the horse's movement ie I wasn't moving my seat myself ( pushing backwards and forwards ) but rather was sitting tall and relaxed and was letting the horse move me .If I then purposely stopped moving my seat the horse stopped too .The correct method is to stop moving the seat and simultaniously ' close the legs' and this is where people get confused . ' Closing the leg' DOES NOT MEAN PUT THE LEG ON !! When you 'close your leg' you draw your seat bones together and this 'locks' your seat ( try pulling your seat bones together and still following the horses movement !) . For the horse , if the seat is 'locked' it's like trying to drive with the handbrake on , thus he slows down and/or stops . I find when I'm teaching clients that telling them to ' close the thigh ' but not the calf is the thing that clicks . With children I will often walk beside them with my hand under their calf when we start this exercise , so I can feel if they're gripping up .I tell them to maintain the rein contact like ' a piece of stretched elastic ' but not to pull back , and to stop the movement through their their seat and 'give the pony a gentle hug' with their thighs . ( watch they don't over grip in their eagerness to do it right - the idea is to do as little as possible and give the pony a chance to respond correctly) .
This is how you slow down and/or ride downwards transitions , only softening the seat and riding forward once the transition has been made .
Half halt is the same but you soften and allow ( hand and seat ) immediately you have had the required reaction ie to collect or ' steady' the horse .
With usually only a very little practice you will find that your pony gets really tuned in to this aid , so that you only have to close your thigh the tiniest bit and you will feel him hesitate , 'sit' and come back to you. Which is , of course , the mysterious and elusive ' Half Halt' !

NB The other thing that people get confused about is how often you use Half Halt .You use it as often as you need to , so with a schooled horse you may only need to use it when you need to prepare or rebalance the horse but for a pony that is a bit onward bound say , you may need to use a subtle Half Halt ( closing the seat bones ) every other stride ! .And it is half halt as described above - it mustn't turn into a pulling/yanking match .

[honeypot]

I was twenty seven and had been riding since |I was about ten, taught the BHS way when I treated my self to some private lessons after having a baby. I do not know the name of the lady, she probably did not have any qualifications but worked on a small yard with eventers. In the space of one lesson she opened my eyes to weight aids and how we sit effects the movement, this was hardly mentioned in even text books in the 80's, or it was explained so no one could understand it.
I taught both my daughters to ride and start they thinking about how they sit from really small. They do not click at first, it seem impossible to them that just looking where they want to go and sitting harder on their inside seat bone actually works, and they do not need to pull to make a pony slow down.
My daughter was once at PC with her NF, who although willing had not the best confirmation and on her forehand so you really had to think about getting her to sit back and think rhythm. The PC instructor got on her and my daughter told me with pride, that she couldn't ride her as well as her, which at twelve is an achievement.

[honeypot]

Dec 23, 2015 14:24:19 GMT honeypot said:

I was twenty seven and had been riding since |I was about ten, taught the BHS way when I treated my self to some private lessons after having a baby. I do not know the name of the lady, she probably did not have any qualifications but worked on a small yard with eventers. In the space of one lesson she opened my eyes to weight aids and how we sit effects the movement, this was hardly mentioned in even text books in the 80's, or it was explained so no one could understand it.
I taught both my daughters to ride and started them thinking about how they sit from really small. They do not click at first, it seem impossible to them that just looking where they want to go and sitting harder on their inside seat bone actually works, and they do not need to pull to make a pony slow down.
My daughter was once at PC with her NF, who although willing had not the best confirmation and on her forehand so you really had to think about getting her to sit back and think rhythm. The PC instructor got on her and my daughter told me with pride, that she couldn't ride her as well as her, which at twelve is an achievement.

[gillwales]

Your daughter needs to "think" what she wants to do ( to be able to do this she does need to have an independant seat and not do what Sarahp has seen may show riders do ie clutch up when they sit ) So she needs to be relaxed and think herself heavy when she wants to slow down, push her seat through the saddle and close her fingers on the reins; breath out. To push a pony forward with her seat she willuse a forward motion with her seat, therefore she needs to avoid doing that when she is slowing down. Rhythm is king, this will help balance your pony and if she thinks about the rhythm it will help her focus on her riding.

This will take time to establish and it needs a lot of patience on both your part and your daughter. Slow music might help and this needs to be ongoing, therefore everytime she rides she will need to use this method , whether schooling or hacking. Vocal aids are a very good idea to help this along, work your daughter on the lunge so she has confidence that the pony will not tank off with her if there is a mis-understanding of aids. Use half-halts and transitions to get your pony to listen and be more responsive. If your daughter manages to acomplish this she will have acheived a true harmony with her pony.

Just remember it wont work every day, keep at it there is a lot to gain by doing this.

PS I recommend some relaxation breathing exercises everytime before your daughter rides.