Tall Rider

Something you might try for posting is a minimal post. My daughter (and a lot of others I see) post with a big movement. My daughter also does it very fore & aft, since she insists on riding in a saddle that is way too big for her. Thankfully, she has improved a great deal since this photo was taken:



But an effective post is about getting weight off the horse's loins. There is no requirement to fan your crotch. When I post, my goal is to get my butt out of the saddle but leave my jeans touching the saddle. I use long stirrups, so coming 6 inches out isn't an option for me anyways.

I'm posting here. My daughter is sitting the trot is western fashion...and wearing a vest and long sleeves in 90+ degree weather. Girls!:



I think of my legs as coils. They uncoil and then they return. I'm not putting more weight into the stirrups and standing up in them, but rolling my hips forward and putting more weight on my thighs, which are a little more vertical than in the sitting position because they are uncoiling.

The horse's back provides much of the thrust to roll and then I control the rate of descent.

When I ride a western saddle, I normally use more of a chair seat. Then I think of my legs as springs that uncoil forward and down, and then back - like shock absorbers.

I've never ridden dressage, so your instructor may have other ideas about what is good. I judge how well I'm doing by my horse - if her ears are forward and she has a loose stride, I'm doing SOMETHING right. If her ears are pinned or there is tension in her body, I'm screwing up.

If none of that helps...sorry. It is hard to describe in words what one does - like trying to describe how one throws a baseball. One of my lessons over the last 4 years of riding is to relax and understand that what works well for one horse & rider may not work for me, and vice versa. Best wishes from a fellow male - we're a bit rare, but present!

I disagree with this. I agree that posting subtly is the way to go. However, I don't think your jeans should still be touching your saddle at the height of your post, unless you wear really loose jeans or something.

Lol! I agree. To me it's the same as almost no posting, frankly.

I agree that huge posting (like some people do basically throwing self out of the saddle) is not a good way to go, but posting still should be posting, not just moving your bum 1/4 inch up.

OK. Feel free to do it differently.

Of course, it is very hard to get off the saddle with one's skin and leave the material still touching. My $15.88 Wranglers from Wal-Mart hug too tight for that - but that is how I think of it.

A lot depends on the saddle fit. A saddle that forces a chair seat (such as when my then 12 year old daughter insisted on posting in a 16" Circle Y) also forces a large gap. I also find that the Circle Y makes it harder for me to post discretely. The width of the tree and where it hits my thighs makes for a larger rise. My DownUnder saddle (and my Bates) is shaped differently and makes posting gently easier for me.

However, when I was learning, I saw YouTube videos where everyone looked like Jack-in-the-Boxes, with hips moving dramatically forward and up. Someone can do that if they want, but I found the motion easier to understand and do if my center of gravity remains unchanged (forward/aft) and my body and legs uncoil and compress as the motion.

Once the weight is off the saddle, the horse doesn't know the difference between 1/4" gaps and 6" gaps. He can't see the size of the gap.

If the videos were specifically made for people trying to learn the posting trot, the rider may have exaggerated the movement so people could see it more clearly. They may not have as well, but yeah.

I think the horse can generally tell the difference between a larger and smaller post, because it would probably effect their balance (perhaps in a small way, but I think it would). Also, if you've ever tried to get a horse to lengthen their stride, you've probably exaggerated your post while doing so, etc.

Welcome, Tall Rider!

I am going to sound like a complete dork right now (as I assume "everyone who's anyone" knows the names of "ALL" the riders in the big annual events, but here goes...) there was, as I recall, a very tall, maybe 6'4" quite thin male rider in this year's Rolex Eventing Championship? I have only gotten back to horses in the past number of months after also being away many years, so for all I know, this man I am referring to could be a huge, known Olympic Equestrian whom anyone that has ever even uttered the word "horse" considers a household name (the TRUE equestrians are now all rolling their eyes at me, uttering, "Um, YAH, that's Joe BLOW! EVERYONE -- except YOU--- knows who HE is! Ha-ha)...

However, I simply remember this very well-spoken, polite young man who talked a bit with the interviewer at the Rolex about how as an equestrian, it is quite challenging being of his height especially given the fact that he is shaped such that the majority of his height is positioned atop the waist, thus, shorter (though by NO means SHORT!) legs and a VERRRRY long torso...

He talked about how this could potentially make balance above the saddle difficult, and reinforced that whilst core strength is SO mandatory for ALL riding (even puny 5'1" me!), if you have a long, tall torso "blowing around" atop your horse, keeping it aligned and "together", without disrupting the horse's center of gravity/balance, was all the more challenging.

Anyhow he is apparently a rather excellent rider, from what the Rolex commentaters said, as well as that which I saw of his ride...In fact, the commentaters ALL stated that given his lengthy torso, they envisioned potential "complications" for him in all three aspects of the ride; stadium jumping, due to the need to balance so carefully over jumps with his large weight distribution WAY above the saddle, as well as after tight turns and over taller fences; XC, as the balance required for some of the banks and obstacles seemed that a taller frame could make it tougher, AND the dressage (which I BELIEVE he did really well at, IF my memory isn't kaput at 03:30a!) due to the need NOT to lean in on turns, and to remain graceful and no in any manner awkward in the saddle...I REALLY do believe as I think of it further, that he mastered all three quite well...

In FACT, it MAY (MAY, remember, 3 am!) have even been BSMS who posted a video after the Rolex wherein one could on You Tube "follow him on his ride" through the XC course via mounted helmet cam! (Sorry BSMS if it was someone else!) May be something you would like to look into if some nice (and more informed than I) person on the thread would like to direct you to the rider's name??

The second issue I wanted to touch upon quickly was simply that I am just taking my 9th lesson this week after 15 years out of the saddle...and on my FIFTH lesson (ie. Where you are right now), if someone would have asked me if I would EVER be able to trot in ANY fashion, SITTING OR POSTING, without feeling like a rag doll on paralytic drugs, I would have told them "Sure, check in with me in about, hmmm, 12 YEARS??...however, in a matter of THREE additional lessons, my posting AND sitting trot are FINALLY coming along! I can do three laps around the arena EACH posting and then sitting--minimum--before coming "unfurled" (is that a word?), and one time, I posted EIGHT times around our big arena (once they resuscitated me with CPR due to total heart/lung collapse from exhaustion as it was 97 degrees that day, they told me)!!! (Hehe--Only kidding about the CPR )

Thus my lengthy and overwritten point is, that ONCE it BEGINS to happen (the muscle/brain connection, muscle memory and the movement of the horse under you sinking in) is seems to ALL COME TOGETHER quickly! And while I realize it will take me many more YEARS of practice to get to the point where I am satisfied with my riding on even the most BASIC of levels, I do recognize that at LEAST, soon, the more BASIC aspects of the sitting and posting trot will become MORE second nature than ALIEN NATURE! (as I, too, tend to want to do anything and everything I do PERFECTLY!) Ha...I guess I picked the WRONG PASSION/SPORT, eh?

So sorry for the FOREVER long post...you sound lovely and like you are doing just great so far, as well as being comitted to keeping up the work...it does come, little by little, so let's all hang in there together!

Very best of luck to you!!!
B2H

Once again, all the great posts are thoroughly appreciated ;) thanks to you as well bsms and BacktoBackHorses. Yes on Saturday I'm back on the lunge line for more stability and core development. Yes if you can find the name of that rider that would be great :)

If it's okay to mention and I'm sure others might know it I'm learning to ride at HCT equine college in Herefordshire UK. I find them a nice bunch and of course your instructors will always be slightly different in how they teach you as you don't always get the same one each week. I did find this clip on youtube if it's okay to post on here about the rising trot etc....

I'm pretty sure you mean William Fox-Pitt, he's an English eventer and an A.MAY.ZING rider. Proof that you can be tall and look superbly elegant on horseback.

Tall,
Wow!! You found THE one of THE most helpful of VIDEOS I USED TO HELP ME WHEN I HADN'T even gotten BACK into LESSONS YET! It's quite helpful, isn't it, how the trainer explains the spine moving front to back, etc...not to mention, you can, (as the student is on a simulator), REALLY SEE what the student's trainer is talking about!

@ Dancing;

Right on the money; William Fox-Pitt! And he really IS AWESOME, isn't he? Thank you so much for that name!! (check him out Tall! I don't think you'll be disappointed! :0)

B2H
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Excellent video, Tall Rider! I've bookmarked it for future reference.