There is no such thing as: "Rising to correct diagonal&

[Ivanka]

Just read an interesting discussion on an American dressage forum about 'posting trot' (read: rising trot).
the discussion is that there is no right and wrong way of doing it and you can't be marked down for rising to the inside foreleg.

What is your opinion on this? (I'm especially interested in judges to comment of course!)
I was always told to rise to the outside foreleg, unless you're training a young horse to do trot-canter transitions where it may be usefull to rise to the inside foreleg to ease the transition.

And importantly: Will a rider get marked down for rising on the "wrong" diagonal in a test??

[Helen Ward]

Well thats a very interesting concept and very diffrent.
I have been riding now for over 20 years and like you, have always been taught to rise to the outside fore. And as a coach I always teach to rise to the outside fore as well..
I have pencilled for judges who have made comments on the riders Dressage sheet that they are on the incorrect diagonal and have been marked down for this.
In my understanding the concept with rising to the outside fore is to make it easier on the horse to be able to bring his inside hind leg up and underneath himself by taking our weight out of the saddle.
As you know the trot is a 2 time hoof fall and the legs move in diagonal pairs.

[Ivanka]

yeah, that's what I thought.. but the US people were very firm on the fact that is shouldn't matter on which diagonal you rise and that a judge shouldn't mark you down for it...

Maybe there isn't really a rule for it as the FEI tests are the only real international tests and they don't have rising trot in it!

[Helen Ward]

Yeah good point..I think I will stick to the old one but it's worked for me all these years hey...

[Ivanka]

So will I, and when we change reins often enough we don't have to worry about under training a particular side of the horse...

[Bo]

As a rider, I have always been taught to rise on the correct diagonal. As a judge, I have always been taught that there is no recognition of diagonals in dressage- it is not in the rule book.

However ( and I bet you could see this coming) there is recognition that the rider can affect the horse's balance and be marked down accordingly. Rising on an incorrect diagonal may well affect balance.

[Equine Elegance]

Mum never taught any of us to rise on the correct diagonal mainly because she did all of her work sitting so it didn't matter to her but my instructor always jumps on me when I rise to the wrong diagonal (it's only on one rein that I "don't" get it) Plus once you're at novice or above you do most of your work sitting, apart from warm-up.

It was interesting when mum was talking to Sandra Pearson Adams, who was her coach at one stage, that Sandra said that in England they rise to the other diagonal to us, so my interpretation of that would be there is no correct diagonal as such.

Definitely the balance would play a big part, but does that make it a learned thing by both horse and rider that they are only balanced when on the "correct" diagonal?

[Bo]

Now that really is interesting.

We have all had horses that "throw" you onto the incorrect diagonal, obviously some of them prefer it the other way round.

[riverrange]

OK as a coach who encourages students to use the inside diagional for various reasons I will stick my neck out.

Rising trot is all about getting off the horse's back and allowing it to come through easier. all lateral work can also be done in rising trot if you use the diagonal which is effective at the time.

It is only possible to influence the horse's hindleg when it is coming off the ground and in rising trot it is easier to use your lower leg when you are sitting so therefore there are occasions when it is more beneficial to be sitting as the inside hind leg is coming offthe ground to be able to easily tell it where to go. especially when doing laterals like leg yielding, should-in (using inside diag) and traver (using outside diag)

I have had some occasions where a horse was so unbalance by the rider using the outside diag it was almost unridable, when I got her to change to the inside one the horse immediately settled and relaxed it's back.

I usually ride all my young horses on the inside diagonal as it is easier to get them to go forward to the outside rein this way. If I have a horse which falls badly on a particular shoulder no mater which way you go I always stay for a while in both directions on the diagional which best corrects this crookedness.

comments or critique most welcome

regards

Linda Shore

[ellmcg]

I would have to agree that it is about helping the horse - with balance. This is particularly important for the younger horses which would be doing tests with rising trot.

If your horse is balanced enough to work comfortably rising either way, then you're less likely to lose marks for it. That's just your good luck!

[Eva]

I agree with riverrange that sometimes posting on the "wrong"diagonal helps, it works for me with the lateral work, especially.
One probably should work on fixing the original problem though, not masking it with posting on the opposite diagonal for long....