Hi Folks, Just wondering if anyone works on this with their instructor? I have a small horse with a super short back. I have had a few instructors work with me on on a lighter, less “earthbound” or “saddlebound” posting. To me its a super interesting place to make progress. Other instructors focus on correct contact (for an example) and never work on lightening the posting. So thats interesting too! Is working on the posting more of a modern, biomechanics trend? What has helped you to maintain a less saddle-bound posting?
Thanks!
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One of my trainers (H/J) would have her students who were learning to post (or just riders with “dramatic” posting styles) start by going into two point at a trot (on a lunge and usually grabbing mane for beginners) and then very very slowly lowering down, trying to get as close to the saddle as you can, without actually sitting on it. As you get closer and closer to the saddle, you’ll start to get bounced and end up doing this sort of super light, tiny posting movement. If the rider lost their balance and started getting jostled too much, or just fell into the tack, she’d have them stop, go all the way back into two-point and just start at the beginning again.
Tbh, I was never sure if it was actually the “baby posting” that helped riders learn to post lightly, or if it was because the exercise targets the activation of your muscles right as you get close to the saddle, but regardless, it helped break me of my super mechanical posting that I’d learned on flat-moving quarter horses.
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In the past I used the “UP UP DOWN” exercise, or standing up in my stirrups, but as soon as I went back to UP DOWN normal posting, the heavy posting returned…
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I think that exercise builds stability at the peak of your post and for H/Js it helps develop two point, because that’s largely where all the hard work happens. But stand in front of a chair and then sit down, you’ll know that the two most stable parts of the exercise are at the beginning (standing) and end (sitting). If you’re weak, as you lower down, you’re going to thump into the chair at the end (or have to brace yourself with your hands on the armrests), right? However, the way to get stronger and prevent yourself from falling into the chair is NOT to just stand in front of it (in an already stable position). You’ll never make any progress. Instead, you have to focus on the part that you’re not great at (the moments right before you actually sit) and try to build strength through the range of the motion, not just the starting and ending points.
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Put on a jump saddle and go two point on the trails at a working trot. Go for the burn and do it until you can hold two point indefinitely. Then start light posting, where you don’t quite touch the saddle. The jump saddle uses your body differently than a dressage saddle, it really helps thigh and core.
Then practice in your dressage saddle. If you are fit to two point in a jump saddle you can two point in a dressage saddle that fits you and the horse and has an open enough seat and thigh block. But a dressage saddle that “locks you in place” may make it hard to post.
Realize also that after First Level dressage, you compete exclusively in sitting trot, including extended trot. Obviously you can still post as needed in schooling. But it means that dressage training typically doesn’t think much about posting or forward seat, while sitting trot can be a challenge to master. So it’s not that posting lightly is a new thing, it’s just that it’s more of a h/j thing. In h/j you’d do endless rounds of two point trot and two point trot without stirrups and posting without stirrups to work on your forward seat before you were even let near a jump.
I think the fitness from doing two point in a jump saddle translates to better sitting trot too.
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@Scribbler, good point about some thigh blocks locking in the rider.
OP: Make sure your stirrup leathers are not too long. Perhaps shorten a hole or two while you do up up down in your warm up.
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My instructor had me practice almost sitting at the bottom of the post, but rising again before my but fully made contact. It really helped. It also made me aware just how much inner thigh you need to use to control both the up and down in the post
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Yup, if I’m sore for whatever reason (too much no stirrup work or what have you), I find posting nicely/softly to be very very difficult.
OP, you can try some funky posting too, which will really stabilize your leg in general. Two up, one down. Two down, one up. Three up, two down. etc etc. Don’t get into a rhythm that allows you to just drop your weight down willy nilly.
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I had a trainer take my reins and I had to have a hand under each butt check and practice posting lightly. Makes you get what it should feel like and something to work towards. I crushed my hands for a long time till I got my legs under me and started using my core correctly.
If you push forward or backwards with your lower leg while posting, it makes it darn near impossible to post lightly. So practice keeping your legs under you and practice at the walk, then trot. You can even post the canter to build strength.
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A (LOOONG) time ago I recall my teacher just saying, “Don’t post so high!” I ended up with a more shallow posting style, and it did strangely lighten my seat.
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right! My coach says it’s not necessary to show any daylight on your Up. an inch is all you need.
’
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I am with the last two posters on this. There is a place for light posting where your rear just brushes the saddle and you spend more time in the air. The counterpoint to that, is to spend more time in the saddle, and only post a small amount. What you want to avoid is rising too high and then landing heavily on the horse’s back. For dressage, the more time in the saddle option gives you more time to influence the horse with your seat. There are times when lighter, more “air-time” posting can be handy in dressage, but it’s not my default for training once the horse is past needing to be ridden in a forward type seat.
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IIRC, posting lightly is about core strength, so any yoga or core exercises you can do to strengthen those muscles will help tremendously. Posting w/o stirrups also helps!!!
For me, the other thing that helped develop the ability to post lightly was to remember that it’s not up/down as much as up/forward/down. Posting through the elbows, rather than just up, makes your seat lighter and it also encourages you to go just high enough to clear the saddle, but not so much that you whump back down into the seat.
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Yes, the minimal up post in dressage is really useful and can be a way to start to transition to sitting trot. It still requires strength and body control.
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I think using a jump saddle with short stirrups teaches you to post lightly as well as the more forward/back and less up/down post.
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Beginners rise too high. It lowers as they get more competent.
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Usually, when I see people posting “heavily” it is because they actually “sit down”, take some of the weight out of their stirrups, and let their feet swing forward.
Concentrate on keeping your weight in your stirrups, and don’t let you legs “swing” at all.
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Whether doing a rising trot or a sitting trot, the rider must carry themselves. Do not make the horse carry you. This takes not only strength in the thighs, and core but also a mental reminder to ride tall. Feel as though you are being pulled upwards above the waist, while allowing your body to follow the horse.
Sad to say, but riding most assuredly, is an athletic endeavor
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I’ll second what @Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom said about core strength, and about following all the horse’s movement with your hips as you ride, not just the up and down component.
Obviously I haven’t seen OP ride, but it’s so common for AAs to lack the core strength to hold themselves in balance while remaining supple enough to fully move with the horse. As a result you end up with a posting style where the rider’s butt is lifted out of the saddle by the horse’s momentum, but they don’t have the core strength to control their movement as they sit back down, and end up plopping down until they’re pushed back up instead of gently settling back into the tack with the horse’s movement the same way you went up.
Have you ever watched an athlete from another sport learning to ride? They don’t necessarily have any better overall horsemanship than a non-athlete that learns to ride, but as a rule they learn to sit a horse decently well so much faster than the average adult beginner, because they’re already fit and their proprioception is much better tuned than that of somebody without a sports background.
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Interesting. I’ve more often seen riders that would benefit from more time in the saddle in posting trot. When you do the hover-and-bounce you aren’t in the saddle long enough to actually influence the horse with your seat. That said, a really important aspect to the whole posting trot dynamic is being in control of where your weight is at all times. You need to settle it carefully into the saddle and never thump on your horse’s back. You should be able to switch from a light post to a deep post and back at a moment’s notice.
Saddle design is key to being able to do this! (You knew I’d bring it back to saddles, right?!) Your feet need to be under your seat, which means the relationship between the stirrup bar and the deepest part of the seat needs to be right for your conformation. If it isn’t, you are fighting a losing battle.
Since it was mentioned, a small rise is also not something I usually see/hear recommended for dressage riders. A bigger post can deliver a bigger, more expressive trot.
It’s definitely worth experimenting with.
