i’d say that a childhood of ballet lessons would set you up for life. And if not that, then yoga as an adult would also do the trick.
This rider will not be able to post lightly. Her center of balance is well behind her feet. Her stirrup leathers are vertical, so bringing her lower legs back is not a solution. To bring her seat forward over her feet would require her sitting on the pommel. In all likelihood she compensates by leaning her shoulders forward which brings her weight over her feet, but effective dressage riders need to sit up (luckily for her she isn’t a dressage rider). @eightpondfarm no matter how much ballet or yoga she does, she will never overcome her saddle. Physics is against her.
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great pic and commentary no.stirrups! Your post and pic remind me “the devil is in the details”. What about dressage saddles that put you in a hole? Then you’re fighting gravity to swing your hips forward and up to post. Seems a lot of them do.
Ugh! i see your point! is that like…a close contact/hunt seat kind of saddle? A saddle that is meant to have rider jumpseathovering over the horse’s withers? (sorry i don’t have the terminology, don’t know a THING about jumping or it’s associated tack)
Looks like an “all purpose” english saddle to me (although I think Jim Wofford prefers the term “no purpose” saddle)
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I tell the little girls that when they come down from the rise to imagine there’s a pancake in the saddle and they don’t want to squish it by sitting hard in the saddle.
For myself, riding horses that tried to ‘squirt’ forward from under me helped me learn to focus on my weight and balance at the posting trot at all times. Being light and in control of my body helped maintain their rhythm. Not scientific by any means, but just my observation.
This thread makes me relieved to read that people are thinking of the way they come down on their horse’s backs regardless of the discipline.
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@eightpondfarm and @Mander it’s an English show saddle. Accoutrements in English showing are similar to what you’d see in the hunt field but they like a straight flap to show off the horse’s shoulder. We don’t really have an equivalent in the US but it has some similarities to breed shows in how it is judged, or even, loosely, to saddleseat in that it’s a style of competition unto itself.
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It is totally possible to post lightly from this position. It takes a clamped on lower leg and abs and back of steel, but it can absolutely be done. Is it a great way to have light posting - imo, nope. That’ said, I’ve seen some very accomplished dressage riders do just that. It’s a sort of a functional chair seat that you don’t see too much any more (thank goodness, because no horse needs your legs clamped on like that), but was definitely a thing.
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Yes, the mechanics of the posting trot have been dissected in detail by Mary Wanless. And that work has been spreading out into horse culture in general, if not in specific. You won’t find her too often mentioned in Hunter/Jumper land, but many dressage folks have heard of her detailed rider organization work. She had written several books, and was doing multiple clinic tours yearly prior to Covid. She has online material also. You can find some videos on YouTube, or her books are available on Amazon. I would recommend her Ride With Your Mind Essentials book. If you want a basic introduction to the core concepts, with plenty of illustrations.
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I’ve been predominantly hunter which means light posting but forward. Keeping a barely touching seat gets trickier when your more upright or on young horses which is what I do most work with.
Learning to rotate your thigh so more inner thigh connects the saddle and the back of your thigh is pointing straight back. (Similar to if your standing on the ground, legs apart like your in a saddle and turn your toes straight versus slightly out like most people stand), ‘centered riding’, gains more contact in the thigh, a straighter leg and takes your lower leg away from the sides of the horse a bit so you can have a more effective leg for other movements.
There after, make sure you have a good forward trot and I think ‘BOWW-OUNCE’ through my thighs, not using stirrup pressure and think about aiming the energy through my hands and towards the horses ears. (The BOWWW being the lift through your thigh, the OUNCE being the top tier ‘reach’ where you hold just a second)
I find just that thought engages my core and it keeps my centre of gravity closer to the saddle.
Also, ride a hot 
sensitive mare for awhile! That fixes a hard seat faster than any theory you try 
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All of us riding this brand of horse could start offering specialized lesson packages and short-term lease opportunities ala 'The School of Spicy Mare."
This could be a promising side-hustle. “Is your butt busting your best friend’s back?! Call now! The School of the Spicy Mare has limited light seats open for the spring term!”
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while posting and moving from quarterline to rail, my coach wanted me to tic-tic-tic my mare with my heel. I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t figure out how to post AND tic metronomically with my lower leg/heel. I tried posting her walk to see if maybe i could do it then…nope. no-can-do.
I suppose it’s nice to have something physical to challenge me, but this one’s a puzzle.
More weight in the stirrup without ramming the heel down and less grip with the entire leg will fix that.
So, you are telling me that it is possible to post the trot and lightly, regularly kick kick kick with a heel…while posting? up kick kick and kick down kick kick. People can do this?
ok, i’ll try harder. will need to shorten my stirrups to try what you say, but i will give it a try next lesson
Yes, it is possible, and it’s not about trying harder. It’s about trying softer - “kick with a loose leg.” If you are tight anywhere but your abs it won’t be possible.
That said, any repetitive kicking, tapping, or poking should be of extremely short duration so as not to end up in a vicious cycle of nagging that ends up with the horse either reacting badly, or shutting off its hearing aids entirely.
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i never ever actually kick! i use pressure. my legs are strong from ankle all the way up into my groin. But coach wants me to do a series of light kicks instead of regulated pressure. It is quite foreign to me. It’s a whole different world. But, that’s what i’m in dressage for actually, to learn new things with horses. Kicking while posting…who knew!
Yeah, kicking with a loose leg eventually translates to a million different ways to use your leg - from a vibration of the inside leg to wake them up in walk before a canter transition to “fluffing” the leg which is a bigger wake up call. Eventually kicking pretty much goes away forever once you and the horse reach an agreement and YOU stick like glue to that agreement and expect the horse to forever and always hold up their end of the bargain.
And the uses of those (eventually) refined leg aids vary from horse to horse. What is merely a little wiggle on my current horse (before the canter depart) has been as much as a series of rapid fire poke poke pokes on other horses. Current horse I would also never fluff my leg because she is far too hot for that. No need to fire up the afterburners when the afterburners have a pilot light that never goes out
i can vibrate my ankle, my calf i can fluff my inner thigh and calf… i can tap tap tap my heel. Can physically do those things but not while posting. Now…if coach would let me sit the trot i could. Kinda like walking and chewing gum i guess. Maybe i need to first wean my mind from the whole leg pressure thing first. I suppose it’s smart of my coach to undo it while i’m posting, because during posting there is zero leg pressure going on. hmmmm… will chew on all of this. Got til thursday to mind-adjust.
It’s about posting strength. If your lower leg is too involved in the posting action you can’t use it as an aid. Lots of practice in 2 point will build your posting especially in a jump saddle.
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ME TOO!! I had an adult borrow one of my horses while his regular rider was on maternity leave. He was used to being ridden by riders with great position. This lady had had a year off, but was said to be an accomplished rider. She maybe was, butI was appalled at how heavily she slammed into the saddle. She also refused to learn to sit trot in small doses, training her body, rather than them suffering thu sitting torture. The poor horse started having such severe back troubles by the barrage of banging on him I had to ask her for him back. Worst thing of all, the trainer also had the notion you had to sit through it, no matter how it looked. My poor horse has his Mom back!!
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