# Origin of posting?



## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

I heard - and I have NO idea where - that it was back in the day when carriage was the main way of travel. They would take long trips by carriage - typically at a trot - but almost always someone was on horse. They found that posting kept the horse fresher and they could go longer than sitting a trot. Since this rider was in the "post" position, it became known as posting. 

But again - I don't remember where I came across this so can not guarantee the accuracy.


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## xdrybonesxvalleyx (Jan 17, 2010)

I don't know any information--but I'm guessing it came from travelling long distances, and easing both the rider and horse--it is far more comfortable to post than to sit!


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

xdrybonesxvalleyx said:


> it is far more comfortable to post than to sit!


LOL - well that can be debatable depending on the horse & rider. I have to post to my husband's horse, but my haflinger is extremely comfortable to sit at the trot because he is so smooth.


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

Cat said:


> I heard - and I have NO idea where - that it was back in the day when carriage was the main way of travel. They would take long trips by carriage - typically at a trot - but almost always someone was on horse. They found that posting kept the horse fresher and they could go longer than sitting a trot. Since this rider was in the "post" position, it became known as posting.


That's the story I heard too, but also don't know where/when.


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## apachiedragon (Apr 19, 2008)

I had seen that somewhere, also that it was started by the pony express riders but then the thread got taken over by posting versus rising trot, and the difference, and then some convoluted stuff about the Greeks, and I got so lost, that it didn't help me at all. Figured surely some people here at the forum would know, lol. It's really bugging me, though, that I didn't know. I promised her I'd try to find out by her lesson this week. If anyone else knows for sure PLEASE let me know!


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## horsequeen373 (Oct 4, 2009)

I have wonerded that as well. Have yet to find out though. I've also wanted to know why you base diaganols off the outside leg. I mean it feels uncomforable to be on the wrong diaganol but I assume that's because I'm so use to being on the right diaganol. So why do we base if off the outside leg?


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## Musicandhorses (Aug 13, 2013)

*Origin of the word posting*

Hi, I realize this is an old thread but I came across this question while trying to find out what a Postilion was. The answer that was given to your question was correct. The term posting most probably came from the word Postilion, the rider who controlled the pace of the carriage horses (the "post-boy" in England). Most likely he would have had to post most of the journey. Trotting was the pace the carriages would usually use as the horses would tire too quickly at the canter.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

FWIW:








​ 

Postillion: -A man who rides the left or lead horse of a pair, especially the lead pair drawing a vehicle, in order to better control the lead pair of horses. The postillion may aid a coachman with six-horse teams as shown in the illustration. In the case of a post-chaise he guides the team in place of a coachman by riding the leader. 

From _Travel in England_ by Thomas Burke, London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., p. 104: He [Prince Puckler-Muskau, who toured England in 1826] found our postillions smart and accomplished, and noted that they were all men of small stature and light weight (like a jockey). Postillions (or post-boys, as they were called, though many of them were grey-haired) had a livery of their own. This was a short single-color jacket, a shiny white hat, white cord breeches, top-boots, white stock [neckcloth], and yellow waistcoat with pearl buttons. 

At all the posting-houses, horses in pairs were kept ready in harness day and night, and the post-boys themselves had to be fully dressed during the day if they were the 'next turn-out.' Most houses kept ten or a dozen post-boys, who went out in rotation. 

Stanley Harris, in his _Old Coaching Days_, quotes a set of printed rules that hung in the yard of a famous posting-house. One of them was 'That the first and second turn post-boy shall be always booted and spurred, with their horses ready harnessed, from eight o'clock in the morning until seven o'clock at night.' 

Georgian Index - Carriages


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## Musicandhorses (Aug 13, 2013)

Thank you. This is marvelous.


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