Rising trot = impossible?

[StormTreader]

I've just had my second lesson ever - its a group lesson thing and everyone else seems to have gotten the trot right away and have moved on to cantering. I can't seem to feel trot as anything other than "I am being shoved vertically off the saddle and am only not dead because I am gripping so much" which is nonsense of course, but try telling my brain that!
The instructor is giving no individual instruction at all other than yelling "heels down!" and "one two one two!" which doesnt feel that helpful.
Can anyone give me a few basics I can try and take with me for this weekends lesson? Should I just try and stand in the stirrups before the trot starts or am I supposed to let it shove me up and try and have faith I wont fall off? I've always wanted to be able to ride but I'm genuinely wondering if I should just stop after this lesson since its just periods of terror right now.

Just in case it helps - I used to go to the Moor Farm place a few years ago and had decent lessons from Michele there. Not sure about any other instructors but worth a try.

Quick update for everyone who posted on this thread - I trotted on Saturday! Only for about 10-15 seconds at a time but I could feel how it was supposed to work and thats a huge weight off my mind - the rest is practice and muscle tone, I can work with that :)

We had a different teacher and she was much better, she had us going around individually rather than everyone just going in a herd, and I also had someone lead my horse around so I knew he wasn't going to try and repeat the adhoc jumping from before and also could be stopped if I started panicking again. I think it was a better lesson in general as everyone was walking away from the yard saying "my KNEES, arrgh!" so we must have been doing something!

Much thanks to everyone who posted :)

Glad your lesson went well, the first one sounded terribly unsafe! I'm also a BHS instructor, and my a)tip for rising trot would be:-

A) Try to feel the rhythm of the pace, counting up down or one two with each step can help.
B) Don't try too hard! If you are tense it is much more difficult, let the horse's movement 'throw' you out of the saddle, think more about the sitting than the rising, otherwise you'll be inclined to hover, miss a step and then land heavily in the saddle.
C) Incline your shoulders forwards as you rise, this helps to stop you getting left behind the movement.
D) As preiously mentioned, think of your hips going forwards slightly, not upwards.
E) Make sure you're using a neckstrap to help you balance and avoid pulling the horse's mouth.

I'd also recommend a lunge lesson, they are great for establishing a good seat and balance which makes everything easier. Hope that helps, good luck and enjoy your riding!

Op: I’m so pleased your second lesson was better and you managed a trot! I would try and request the instructor you had this time from now on and then it’s onwards and upwards. Good luck and enjoy it xx

This lesson sounds a lot better and I'm glad you felt safer. I would also pass this on to your instructor because 1) everyone loves nice feedback and 2) it's important that the riding school knows how the first instructor was teaching you!

Really glad you feel like you're making progress too :)

The original instructor is the actual owner of the stables so I'm not sure how well requesting "not you again please" would go over!

We practised standing in the "rise" position in the yard while the horses were standing and she said twice that mine was the best out of everyone, I couldn't help thinking "after all the research I've done and time thinking about it and visualising it, I should bloody hope so!"

I think the key for me was reading that you can technically spend all your time standing in trot if you want to - once I made the "up" the default when I lost the rhythm, I could start again when it came back, rather than sitting and being bounced around trying to start again. I did rise so much at one point I started to fall forwards for a second, I'm nothing if not trying 100%. I was also trying to change my seat a bit while stationary to feel how I was balanced when seated to the left or right which helped it feel a little less precarious knowing I didn't have to be "exactly centred" to feel secure. :)

Singing helps you relax and breathe. Twinkle twinkle little star is good for trot

Well, hopefully you can keep having lessons with this instructor and it works out. I'm very concerned that it was the owner who gave you such an unsafe lesson- normally they are the most concerned with safety as they are the ones who suffer if someone has an accident.

No wonder your knees were hurting afterwards if you were trying to hold yourself up in the trot when you lost the rhythm- that is bloody hard work!

The more you relax the better- it sounds like you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself to achieve a certain standard very quickly. I think new riders often have ideas about what they can achieve and get frustrated when they hit a road block- which isn't great. The more you relax, the easier everything becomes!

To be honest I used to ride at a place that would aim to get people doing a canter and a small jump on their first lesson. Moving at that pace isn't necessarily dangerous but it may well be you are not able to progress at the same speed as the rest of the group.

Rising trot took me a while to feel comfortable, one day I had a lesson on the lunge line to focus purely on the movement, then it just clicked. There are essentially two beats, one one you lift the belly button forward and up, on the other you just touch the saddle with your backside. Don't worry about which beat is which yet, getting the diagonal right can come later.