 When I back my horse up, I just think of like I'm pushing my chair back. And that's interesting because when I go forward, it's similar, I sit up, but now I bring my seat forward a little bit like I'm pushing a swing. I would like to make it his idea to trot. I would like to make my idea the horse's idea. Have you ever heard that phrase? Make your idea their idea? What does that mean? Well, fix it up so good, the horse thinks they came up with the idea. If you're a good salesman, you can do this, right? We call it planting a seed. So here we go. If I walk him really fast and I shorten my reign and his head comes up, I bring his life up, I'm bringing his life up and watch his legs. He goes, holy smokes, Jack, I can't walk this fast. I said, I'll just keep on going. So notice how fast my body's moving and he starts to go, holy smokes, this is hard for me to do this. And I say, just keep going. And he asked me the question. He says, can I trot? And I say, yep, and I sit up. So I say, yes. To walk, I squeeze release my seat, my thigh, my hands, my shoulders all together. Squeeze, release, squeeze, release. See the effect on the horse. To go, I sit up and I walk him fast and I get wife, energy, energy, energy. And then I sit up and my horse goes, cool, I get to trot. If I trot really slow, his ears will start to come back on me and he'll ask me a question. He'll say, this is pretty painfully slow, Jack. Could I walk? And so watch these ears. Those ears will start to come back a little bit on me. See, you see that? And he goes, can I walk? And then what I do is I go back to swing, back to front, back to front, back to front. Walk motion. So I say, ride with the body feel of a walking motion. This is it. Body feel of walk. I shorten up the rain. I walk faster. I sit up like I'm being lifted up to the ceiling and he trots. I'm not going back to front, I'm going up, down. Now, when I post the trot, do you see me rise and sit? You see that, right? I'm posting a rising trot, as we say. So I'm working this rising trot and it's very much up and down. Very much up and down, up, down, up, down. See, there's no back to front to this whatsoever. It's all up and down, okay? If I wanna walk, I exhale, I breathe into the saddle and I swing. I'm gonna play with this and make some transitions. Here we go. I'm gonna work them. I'm gonna make sure that we're walking. I'm gonna get his life up. His energy level up. I'm gonna get him lively, sit up and we trot. And I'm gonna walk. And watch how I do. And we trot and we'll walk. And we'll trot. And I'll just work some movements just to get him thinking and warmed up. And I'll walk. And I can halt, squeeze release, squeeze release. I can trot. We'll work this a little bit more. It'll get smoother. And we'll walk back to front, back to front, back to front. Lift up. Trot. Lift up more. Rising. Whoa, that's a canner. That comes later. Rising, move, lifting, lifting. The rising trot is really important because you're able to ride a rising trot all day long. You could do that all day if you know how to do it. So the rising trot is really a big deal. Now, for those of you that sit a lot, you might think you're sitting down on the saddle. And you sort of are. You're using your seat and your stirrups. And we call that a three points, three points of contact. But here's the deal. If I try to sit down, my horse hollows his back and lifts his head. I don't want you to think about sitting down. This is what I want you to think about. I want you to think about sitting up and I call it buffering the trot. Let me show you what I mean. If I'm rising, you clearly see me up down, all right? Well, if I just post lower and slower, pretty soon I'm sitting, but I'm still thinking up in my head. I'm still thinking up, up, up, up. I'm not sitting down. I'm sitting up, up, up, up. If I want to sit the trot slower and slow the tempo, the speed of the trot, I sit a slower rhythm. But if I want to go faster or more life, I go up, up, up, up. And he comes up, down, down, down. Up, up, up, down, down, down. And walk, swing, following, following. So the walk is very different, front to back, front to back. The trot is very much up, down. The lope or the canter, well that is what we call an offset. Pelvis, sit bones. So instead of my sit bones being square, they're offset. I'm going to exaggerate it just so you see it, but don't do this normally. But what I think about is my inside leg, my left leg being a little forward, my outside leg back a little bit, and my hips are a little offset. And so pretty soon we work this. And so what I'll do is I'll teach my horse, I'll get him a little lively, and we'll walk, and we'll trot, and I'll walk, and I'll go back and forth, and just get him real smooth back and forth. But now I bring my right shoulder back slightly, my left sit bone up and forward, and that indicates a canter. And then to trot, I bring my left sit bone back, and I sort of think about squaring off again. And I'll work this for a little bit. We won't canter a lot here, but I'll work this a little bit. So now I think about taking a right lead in my right sit bone sort of up and forward. And then I sit down, I exhale, and we'll walk slow, slower, slower, slower, slower, until we bring the life down. So cantering, I slightly take the lead myself. So my seat and my hips are what we call offset. The German term Creutz aids, invisible aids. It's very interesting. When I use my hands, y'all see it, don't you? When I use my hands, and I do, you see me, don't you? You see me use my hands. When I use my leg, you see me, right? So when I use my seat to halt or to rein back, or to turn, or to depart, or to come back, it's not as noticeable, is it? So the back up, I'm still centered, and I'm sitting up and I'm pushing my chair back, just like you're getting off your chair and you're gonna push your chair back. You're sitting in a chair seat. You wanna get up, you bring your chair back, you bring your legs back and you stand up. Well, when I back my horse up, I just think of like I'm pushing my chair back. And that's interesting, because when I go forward, it's similar, I sit up, but now I bring my seat forward a little bit like I'm pushing a swing. Remember, pushing a swing on a swing set. So if I sit up and push my seat back, or I sit up and I swing forward, you know, it's coming from my seat and my weight. So the invisible aids would be delivering your aids, your physical communication through a loose lower back, into your seat, your hips, and where you position your weight. I always wondered when people say ride with your weight. It took me a while to figure out what does that mean? And then I realized what they meant. It's where you position your weight. So the way I sit for a right lead is very different than the way I sit for a left lead, which is very different than a walk or a trot.