# how to teach a person to Post trot



## mimie98 (Nov 9, 2011)

ok...so i am teaching my friend how to ride and we are working on a trot and she has the sitting trot down and we are now going to work on the post trot, but i have no idea how to teach someone how to post, please help!! any tips will be much appreciated!!
Mimie98


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## BellaMFT (Nov 15, 2011)

mimie98 said:


> ok...so i am teaching my friend how to ride and we are working on a trot and she has the sitting trot down and we are now going to work on the post trot, but i have no idea how to teach someone how to post, please help!! any tips will be much appreciated!!
> Mimie98


You could try having her count out loud as she posts. Like have her say 1,2, 1,2,....have her say 1 when she goes up and 2 when she sits. She eventually get in time with the horses movement.


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## mimie98 (Nov 9, 2011)

BellaMFT said:


> You could try having her count out loud as she posts. Like have her say 1,2, 1,2,....have her say 1 when she goes up and 2 when she sits. She eventually get in time with the horses movement.


_*Thanks...that is really good advice, and i Recommend it for everybody learning to post...unfortunately i have already tried that...hasn't worked so far=( but im one to talk..took me a while to learn to post! i learned how to sit trot really fast but it took me forever to learn how to post and my trainer was getting worried, then, one day it just clicked and i could post! not exaggerating=) *_but thanks for the advice...very good=)


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

I ask the rider to identify when a particular hind hoof touches the ground by saying "now". Once she can feel this pretty consistantly have her barely raise her seat in time with each "now" then relaxes. Once she gets the sense of this ask the horse to trot. Then it becomes something she just needs to work on. Let her sort it out as she'll learn more by her mistakes as long as she's not using the reins for balance.


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## mimie98 (Nov 9, 2011)

Saddlebag said:


> I ask the rider to identify when a particular hind hoof touches the ground by saying "now". Once she can feel this pretty consistantly have her barely raise her seat in time with each "now" then relaxes. Once she gets the sense of this ask the horse to trot. Then it becomes something she just needs to work on. Let her sort it out as she'll learn more by her mistakes as long as she's not using the reins for balance.



thats is a good idea! thanks!!!! i just didnt know what to do cause i am only 13 and i didnt want to teach her bad habits. i cant teach her much more but i wanted to at least get her to the post which i am pretty good at=)


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## Northern (Mar 26, 2010)

Posting is really about allowing the horse to push you out of the saddle, & your effort is to put yourself back into it. If you explain that to her, it should help.


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## Tnavas (Nov 29, 2011)

Start in halt and have a loose neck strap on the horse

Get her to hold the neck strap and keeping her feet in the correct place, lean slightly forward from the hips and then have her lift her body up and forwards from her knees. The movement is a sweep forward of the hips over the front of the saddle. She can use the neck strap by pulling on it - another way is to tell her to swing her hips towards her hands. Get her to balance in this position. If she has everything in the right place she will be able to stay up. If feet are too far ahead she will have trouble getting her bottom off the saddle, and will sit down with a thump.

Watch that her lower leg stays correct!

Then do the same exercise in walk, a little harder but good for getting the movement without the bouncing around.

When she sits down remind her to bend from her knees and to sit down into the centre of her saddle. Novice riders often forget to bend the knee and the foot will shoot forward making it hard to get back up again.
Once she is able to come off the saddle in walk, balance well for several steps and able to sit without thumping and able to keep the leg in the correct position head on into trot.

I initially don't have my riders count or nor do I call out "Up Down" to them. We start off with "Up" - they then organise themselves to get up off the saddle, once they are up there I'll say "down" - again once sorted and back in the saddle, legs correct they can go up again. Gradually as they get the idea of how to get off the saddle and to sit down they then can try to go with the rhythm. 

All the time make sure they are using the neckstrap to hold their hands up off the horses neck. I don't encourage leaning on the neck as it encourages the rider to tip too far forward and to round their back and collapse into the saddle.

All this is best down with the horse on the lunge so that you can keep it moving forward. One of the problems for novice riders learning to rise to the trot is that the slower they rise up and down the slower the horse moves and trying to keep the horse going AND rise to the trot is too complex. Once they have got the hang of the rising the whole exercise can be done in trot with the rider maintaining their balance in the Up position. I would do this as a game for my riders - getting them to go up, stay there and then on command down and back up - also great for teaching how to recognise the correct diagonal. A later lesson!


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## WarnersSporthorses (Dec 31, 2011)

Teach her the two-point position (jumping position). Practice this first at the walk, see how many laps around the arena she can do without sitting down (goal should be 2-3 laps each way). Then trot in two-point position. Encourage her to grab some mane, at least with one hand, in case she loses her balance backwards. Be sure she is inclined forward, not trying to stand straight up. Next have her go from two-point to a forward sitting position. Then see if she can get back up into two-point. Trick is to stay forward. Eventually she'll be go up and down with each stride. Then you can help her with her diagonals.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

What helps is lunging and then they can look down as you say up, down, up, down, up down. It takes the steering aspect out of the equation and they can concentrate more on the rising and sitting. 

I hope she gets it down though! It's a bit confusing at first  Least she's a pro at sitting trot haha


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