I recently started riding again after 18+ years off. I’ve been taking an hour lesson once a week since the beginning of September. Almost everytime I ask for a trot I am posting on the wrong diagonal. I dont even notice…it takes my instructor yelling across the arena for me to know. Should I sit a few strides after picking up the trot to try and feel it? Or is there another way to know if Im on the right diagonal? Im feeling a little frustrated, when I rode as a child I was never taught about diagonals so Im finding it difficult to pick up on this. Thank you.
My daughter has been ridding 2.5 yrs and now rides 3 times a week and struggles with diagonals. She cannot feel it and she cannot see it. The only time she seems to get in consistently is when she is transitioning from the canter.
She tries to sit the trot for a few strides and while it seems to help sometimes it has definately not solved the problem. Some days she hits the wrong diagonal every time it seems.
One instructor mentioned some horses kind of “push” you into the correct diagonal? Im not a horse person so I dont know but today she is going to try to get on one of those horses to give it a try and see if she can feel it.
Good luck!
Until you’re able to feel it without looking, the easiest way to check is to glance down at the horse’s shoulders when you pick up the trot. You should be rising at the same time the horse’s outside shoulder rises. You could try trotting and switching directions every once in a while to practice picking it up. For me, it took lots and lots of time in the saddle to be able to “feel” when I’m on the right diagonal! You’ll get there!
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Rise and fall with the leg on the wall 
Personally, if I am travelling right, I always get the correct diagonal, and if I’m travelling left, my natural inclination is always to be on the wrong diagonal, so I just wait an extra beat and that fixes it.
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Still can’t feel it after riding for years and I have to look quickly down to check my diagonals. But I don’t have to check when I come back to a rising trot after cantering, for some reason I get the correct diagonal every time then.
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I had issues as a redrider with my diagonals because I couldn’t even tell by glancing down at first.
So, I would suggest when you pick up the trot- stay sitting and look down (I assume you are riding a horse that won’t take advantage of you). Don’t worry about just glancing down at this point; take your time and actually look down and figure out when the outside leg is back and when it’s forward. Then, start to post on the correct diagonal. Keep doing it like this and over time it will take you less and less time looking to pick up the correct diagonal. Then you can move to just barely glancing down to see it. Once you consistently get it by glancing, try picking it up immediately off of the feel and then check yourself. After you get used to always posting on the correct diagonal, the wrong one will start to feel “funny”. No explanation in the world could ever help me, I just had to know how it is supposed to feel from lots of time posting on the correct diagonal. It is easier to feel the difference between right and wrong diagonal when you are on a circle than on a straight track.
While I’ve been riding horses for 30 years, I’ve only started playing around with English for the past 2 to 3 years.
One thing I learned is that if I just start posting without paying attention, I will ALWAYS post on the right diagonal. Must just be more comfortable for me, for whatever reason. At first, posting on the left diagonal just felt akward and weird.
While I can easily feel just about anything else, I do struggle with feeling any difference in the trot in order to pick up the correct diagonal by feel alone. So what I do, when I ask my horse to pick up the trot, I make sure I am sitting, and then I glance down with my eyes only to look at that outside front leg. Once I see it move, I can usually get myself on the correct diagonal within a stride or two.
In a sense, I feel like it’s “cheating” because I’m looking. But for my purposes, it works.
I’ve been riding for 20 years and still can’t feel my diagonal or my leads but I can see them in a millisecond so I just glance down. I really don’t think anyone will notice if you just “blink” to see it.
Also I’m pretty much always on the wrong diagonal and it’s whatever.
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Provided you are on the correct lead, you will always pick up the correct diagonal when coming back to the trot. This is my “check” to make sure I was on the correct lead!
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Working on this myself as well - I can see it easily, but getting it right on the first attempt every time by feel is a much longer time coming. I think my own one-sided-ness tends to have me pick up the same diagonal regardless of direction.
Last time I rode I stayed sitting for a few strides on most walk to trot transitions - I really tried to focus on the feel of the horse’s hind legs and tried to rise when I thought I felt the inside hind start forward. I think I had a higher correct percentage, but it wasn’t perfect.
Some people have a tough time with diagonals. Looking is typically the first step. Watching the outside shoulder, then after a while you can get the feel for it. A couple things I do when someone is having trouble: 1) have them watch someone else and tell me if they are correct or not. This ensures that they at least fully understand the concept. Once I have this confirmed, then 2) I help them to get it correct, then have them watch the outside shoulder to see if they can start to see it. Then I have them pick it up in correctly and again watch to see if they can see it. Sometimes knowing that you are right, and then “studying” what it looks will help you start to notice it. This of course takes a good reliable horse and a pretty empty arena since there is a lot of looking down involved.
As far as getting it form the canter. I don’t think anyone can say you will always get it from the canter or use the canter to tell. That’s not a great strategy since you shouldn’t have to canter to tell a diagonal at the trot.
Since transitions from walk to trot and canter to trot should be done sitting, it makes sense to sort it out from there. The purpose of sitting is to stabilize the trot gait before you attempt to rise. there is nothing more uncomfortable than the feeling of tottering, because your horse is not yet forward enough for you to comfortably rise.
IME jumpers want you to post immediately at the trot transition while dressage instructors want you to sit a few strides until the impulsion is there before posting.
Going straight down the long side you could post either diagonal and it should feel balanced the same. It is only on corners or circles that posting on the outside diagonal is going to feel noticeably better.
That said many horses and riders are one sided to some extent and some horses learn to pop students onto the horse’s preferred diagonal.
OP you have had by my count maybe 7 rides after 20 years away and you didn’t develop muscle memory for this aspect as a kid. Don’t be too hard on yourself. It will come! Watching other students is a great idea, also there is no shame in glancing down at the shoulder.
I returned to riding ten years ago and between what I’d forgotten and what Id learned wrong as a kid, I basically had to start from scratch. Some aspects of basic balance remained but my technique had to be rebuilt. Things went faster when I was finally able to ride more often. Some things like diagonals are really useful to work on alone, doing circles and figures changing direction and walk trot transitions. Obviously instruction is very important but I also benefit from time to figure things out when I can totally focus on the feel of the horse.
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I always just look down. I’m not even subtle about it either, I literally move my entire head and look down. When I try to be subtle, I hear “DIAGONAL!!!” 2 seconds later. Haha.
Thankfully I learned diagonals super young, and it’s still in my muscle memory, but I remember learning it initially as a kid and being like “…wut?” Even posting. “Sit for 2 beats to change your diagonal” was so difficult to wrap my head around. As adults, we learn differently, and riding is not easy! I had to re-learn 2-point and felt the same way as you – I just didn’t get it! I still don’t, really. LOL.
I never rode as a child so I understand when I learned to ride, I understand the concept of when the outside shoulder is in front I need to be up, the problem is by the time my brain process it, I’m already too late. So I will sit and look, and when the shoulder is in front I say up and continue saying up down up down until my body can follow, that worked for me. As for the feeling, I’ve been riding for 3-4 years and I’m still not always correct, so no help here.
Have your trainer teach you what each leg is doing at a specific point in the gait. Close your eyes and try to feel the swing of the left hind, the right hind, and what the corresponding front legs are doing at the same time. It takes practice but focus on really trying to feeeel that swing of the leg as they bring it up under their body, feel the subtle rise and fall of their hips with each step. This will help get you to feel the movements underneath you.
Now, to get on the correct diagonal… you will have to glance down at that outside shoulder. You want to rise out of the saddle as that shoulder and leg are about to move forward. So you go up and forward with the outside shoulder/leg. Think of rising with the outside shoulder as you try to pick up the right diagonal and you may glance down (don’t stare!) to get it. When the outside leg goes forward, so does the horse’s inside hind. The forward and up momentum of that inside hide helps to swing you up too. This is how we work with the movement of the horse. It makes both the job of the rider and the horse when we move fluidly together.
If you’re off, sit two beats to grab the correct one. If you need to sit the upward transition from walk to trot, go ahead and sit, glance down for that outside shoulder going forward and grab it when it’s time. Post up with the outside shoulder. Outside shoulder goes forward, so do you. You will get the feel of this and not have to look anymore. You’ll feel how awkward it feels to be “wrong” and automatically learn to just sit two beats and pick up the right one. Once you master this you’re going to feel great so keep working! You can do this!
PS: Here’s a link to a visual explanation. I have no affiliation with Callie or the blog, I just love her videos and as a re-rider, she has helped me so much!
I am still just about 50/50 at getting the right diagonal unless I sit during the transition.
One thing that really helps me is to start to post when the horse’s outside shoulder is moving back, because I have slow reflexes, so if I think “stand” as the horse’s shoulder starts to move forward, it is already moving back by the time I’ve actually posted.
I never rode in a regular way as a kid, and started lessons just a few years ago, so I have no advice at all about feeling diagonals!
Hope you are having fun with your lessons!
Before you ask for the trot, feel for the horse’s inside hind leg. When the leg is in the air, ask for the trot. Then you will be on the correct diagonal every time.
If you have the correct lead while cantering, your trot will be the correct diagonal every time - this is due to the footfall of the canter, and the footfall of the trot
I’m the opposite, if I’m traveling to the right I always want to pick up the left diagonal! I sit an extra beat too and 98% of the time that works, even on different horses.
I feel completely off balance if I pick up the wrong diagonal – when I was younger my trainer had us sit for a good 4 strides before we picked it up and we would have our eyes closed (on a line) Something about that made it easier for me to feel it. Now I can pick it after one stride and without looking. So maybe try the eyes closed for a bit and wait a few strides. Really focus on how it feels when it is wrong and then again when it is correct
