Yes.
I tried it on my ride today to confirm my memory.
It feels more natural to “kick kick” in the “down” phase of the post, but if i think about it I can do it in the “up” phase.
I can also do it if I am sitting, or if I am “standing” (two point).
This was all in my dressage saddle, with long stirrups.
( I don’t normally use a lot of “kick kick” for lateral work. My instructor generally wants me to do more with the position of my hips and my shoulders)
It can help to switch diagonals in LY as you (the general “you”) get the hang of it and the horse learns the movement. The outside hind leg needs to be in the air at the time that the leg is applied, to move it over, and as you say, this is easier to do in the down phase of the post.
So I experimented with leg while posting yesterday just to remind myself how it works.
If you are using leg it ideally should be at the optimum time in the stride. Walk is easy. Your lower body swings with the gait.
At trot I was always told to post the “opposite” lead when doing a shoulder in or canter departs. Track left, post up on left front/right hind up. Sit for right front/left hind up. Then you use left leg when you are sitting to get shoulder in, so you are signalling when the left hind is in motion and can step under.
It’s impossible to use leg in both the up and down phases of a post because that’s just too rapid.
That said I went to sitting trot on lateral work and canter transitions right at the start because you can use seat in a way that gets lost in posting.
Oh outerbanks just beat me to this post!
It is not impossible. Too rapid for what? It is not too rapid for a “wake up” vibration or a series of “i really really need you to wake” kicks/taps. Is it too rapid to influence one leg at a precise moment? Yes, but it is most certainly not impossible.
Ok yes I was doing this specifically in shoulder in. Rapid leg flutters piss off my mare so not in our vocabulary but yes possible.
HaHaHa! I also pissed off my mare last night to triple check my memory because although the memory was clear, I have not used it in the 8 years I’ve had her. “What on earth are you doing mother?! Unacceptable! Up with this I shalt not put!” accompanied by an inverted scoot.
Definitely not the way I remembered it working on less spicy horses 
Lesson yesterday and i wore paddock boots (instead of kneehighs) with a more pronounced heel. Unfortunately, the top of those dang boots and the bottom of the saddle’s skirt met. Was …interesting. We did a lot of posting trot circles, transition to walk across the mid figure 8s and a few quarterline to wall laterals, but coach didn’t even ask me to do that kick kick kick thing. (AND!!! she only told me to change my post once 
) But here’s the thing…if FEELS like i’m leaning forward. I ask my coach if i’m leaning and she says no, that i’m straight. How?? How can it feel leaning when it looks not? Coach says it feels that way because mare has a large trot? doesn’t make sense to me…
This mare is not a ‘push ride’, nor is she spicy. So flutters (not sure i even know how to do that!) or the tic-tic-tic heel thing aren’t needed to keep her going, nor does it seem to piss her off, what little i’ve accomplished anyway. She will go with a bit of calf pressure, slow to walk with a halfhalt and tiche of rein. (she’s a good horse but not without her weird little quirks lol which at least once per lesson make me laugh out loud)
On your own rides (without coach) try playing with your pelvis angle (tuck butt, stick butt out a la duck), your shoulders (pull excessively back, round slightly), lengthening and shortening your reins to decrease/open your elbow angle, and lastly, lower leg placement (more forward than normal, farther back than normal) to see how those things affect your perception of straightness and is therefore a small position tweak to feel what your coach sees.
If none of those things makes a difference, it’s time for mirrors to reinforce what your coach is seeing.
It may be helpful if you can get someone to video your lesson.
If you feel safe doing it, you can drop your stirrups and post a few steps.
This is a great way to check your position as any imbalance will be immediately apparent.
Hope this helps.
Muscle memory and proprioception in a new discipline are notoriously tricky. A h/j rider starting dressage often feels they are “sitting up straight” when they are still tilted forward and need to be told to “lean right back” past what feels natural to actually just be upright.
Likewise, @eightpondfarm I don’t know what your main previous riding has been. But I could imagine that someone coming from a Western background “sit on your pockets” seat could feel tipped forward in a dressage saddle riding more on the three points of the pelvis. Get some video of you in different positions to see how it looks.
There is also the possibility the saddle is in balancing you in a way that’s not visible to the coach but you can feel.
I have pretty good balance, and i think my coach is wrong. She IS standing on the ground and i’m aboard, so i’m thinking maybe she doesn’t have a good perspective. I will give her my phone to take a vid next week.
She (coach) might just be used to my normally straight back and is conditioned to seeing it like that even if it isn’t?
We get that saddle level before i get on. Over time we’ve added a halfpad and also a riser under the cantle to get it looking flat. Her (mare) body is actually a little uphill but acting even more uphill (i think?) as she rocks back onto her rear everymore? Maybe i’m compensating? Maybe i look erect but feel leaning forward because i am …because she is reaching underneath herself??? … You guys are right…i need a video!
Yeah! I love this because it really is physics. an object creates less force on impact when falling from a shorter distance. So if your posting is very “small” and not “huge” and dramatic, it just means your body weight is traveling a much shorter distance on the “down” stride of the post
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