What do you think?

[Malissa288288]

Hi,
I've newly returned to riding after a very long break.
I'm four lessons in.
I'm really really struggling with keeping the horse going in Trot. I feel like I can't give enough leg to continue whilst keeping my rhythm in rising trot and steering.
What can I do to help myself? I'm riding school ponies who are probably quite bombproof and a bit slow to go but I just don't feel like I can give enough leg to keep them going whilst doing rising trot as the leg on unbalances me.

What’s your core strength like? This sounds like a core strength and balance issue to me.

Weak! I've recently recovered from injury impacted heavy with core.
I'm trying to ride and do Pilates to help strengthen core.

Can you ask for some lunge lessons? When I returned to riding after an extremely long break I also struggled with getting the hang of rising trot on a very steady riding school beginner horse - it’s much easier to get the feel on a more forward horse. Lunge lessons are great as you can concentrate solely on what your body is doing and leave everything else to the instructor. Alternatively if there’s one near you could you get a lesson on a mechanical horse? And obviously continue working on your balance and strength in the meantime. It will suddenly ‘click’ and you’ll realise you’ve moved from walk into a lovely floating trot just by thinking ‘trot’.

Lunge! That's a great idea!

When you go back to riding the steady horse you could try making a clicking noise to encourage them forward. Really isn’t ideal for a school horse to keep dropping out of trot, the instructor should be helping with this as you can’t really be expected to put leg on whilst learning to balance.