Riding a Perfect Pirouette and Sitting Trot

A pirouette is a turn around the horses inside hind leg. Horsemen devised the pirouette because it looks beautiful for display work and also because it gives excellent control of the forehand for quick turns such as getting away from a bull or an enemy. In dressage tests it is an advanced movement when requested at canter but walk pirouettes, developed from the turn on or about the haunches, are not that difficult for any rider.

Problems With Pirouettes

The reason some riders and horses have difficulty with pirouettes is often because of an effective use of the riders weight on the seatbone and/or stirrup. If you don't put your inside seatbone forward a little and weight it, or stretch your inside leg down which has the effect of weighting both the inside seatbone and the inside stirrup, you will get a turn of sorts but not a proper pirouette, in any gait.

When learning how to perform a pirouette, start by asking for just a step in the right direction. As you and your horse progress you will be able to build towards the complete movement. Start in walk until you and your horse are confident with the exercise; remember a canter pirouette is an advanced movement for the horse, both mentally and physically.

The aids, which are all part of the package, are:

Put your inside seatbone forward a little and weight it.

Put the whole of the outside leg back from the hip to stop the hindquarters swinging out, which they invariably will because the horse would rather perform his natural and easier turn on the centre.

Press intermittently with the outside rein on the neck just in front of the withers.

Keep gently asking for an inside flexion with the inside hand.

As with any new movement, or one with which you or your horse have been having problems, be delighted with even an indication that the horse is thinking of moving his forehand in the required direction. If, at your first attempt, you get a whole step, be over the moon and let your horse know it.

Bouncing About In Sitting Trot

I am sure that many cases of bruised backs are due to riders banging down on them (despite well-fitting saddles) in sitting trot.

Try to get access to a steady lunge horse with smooth gaits and have some sessions in trot, without stirrups or reins, to improve your seat and position. Imagine that you are gently but firmly stuck to your saddle with glue all over the seat of your jodhpurs. If the horse will jog, although most are firmly discouraged from doing so, this will help bring you into the technique gradually. Next, progress to a slow, but active trot and finally on to a horse with a bouncy trot, all on the lunge.

Concentrate on �â'¬Ëœglueing' your seat to the saddle by allowing the small of your back to gently move backwards and forwards, flattening and hollowing as the horse rises and lands, respectively, in trot. Look ahead and feel this with your seat rather than looking down at your horse, which reduces your sensitivity. The combination of the �â'¬Ëœglue' and the looseness of the legs will enable you to really sit to the trot with practice.

Stay focused and relaxed in your mind and once you've felt this soft, absorbing sitting trot, believe me you will never look back, and your horse will be so relieved.