I haven’t shown in years. I’m in a new area and am looking for a trainer so I decided to check out a show today. I stopped by to watch a low hunter and equitation class. Pretty much everyone was posting the canter, the stirrups were long.
Is posting the canter a trending thing nowadays?
It takes skill plus a balanced gait to sit a canter and it takes strength to do a proper two point. Caveat: I’ve had low level jumper lessons and dressage lessons. And rode Western as a kid. I can currently sit and two point trot and canter on my horse and post trot. But I’ve never been up close to a focused hunter program.
I have seen a lot of young intermediatish women who had mediocre hunter lessons before arriving at my friend’s dressage barn and at first they can neither sit nor two point canter. They just slam in and out of the saddle at canter.
Is this posting at the canter and is it taught deliberately? It looks awful to me from both my jumping and my dressage frames of reference.
Yes that’s sort of along the lines of what I’m talking about…it didn’t necessarily look like a two point but more of an up and down. It looked to be the style.
It has become that way, much like other trends that come and go (IMO).
Here is a great instructional video on posting the canter. In hunt seat riding I think it is used to establish rhythm and impulsion as well as develop the canter you want for jumping. It can smooth out a canter after a line or develop impulsion in your opening circle. Proper posting is light and effortless and does not smack the horse in the mouth or back or interfere negatively. It actually requires core strength to transition between the full seat and the two point softly and easily, and should not be confused with bouncing.
Thank you for the video. When the instructor did it, she was essentially staying off the horses back the whole time. That looked fine to me.
I first heard about this a few years back. I didn’t know it was a thing at the time, but I do see it and was just internally bemoaning it this week. I hate it, and it seems a lot of others agree:
Edited: bemoaning not bemoaned.
I’ve found on this forum before that people refer to something as posting the canter but often mistake a light seat with posting, which is its own, distinct motion and is purposeful.
JMHO but sounds like the same thing here.
I disagree. It is legit posting the canter. I have been in and out of this sport for nearly 40
years…, and I see “posting canter” now that I have returned to the sport that I NEVER saw it before. It isn’t classical. I understand why it’s easier to rate a canter by posting it, but it doesn’t actually fix the issue. Get the horse in front of your leg and ride your canter. I have posted my horse’s canter maybe twice. I was exhausted and desperate. If you can’t get the right canter when using classical methods, then maybe go back to your basics.
It wouldn’t be COTH if someone didn’t complain about posting the canter at least twice a year.
We really should have bingo cards for all the "back in my day, all riding was [x example of Sheer Perfection]"isms.
Perhaps I’ll make some when I get bored enough and have some spare time.
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