<< . Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone could
give me some tips on posting in a Western saddle. I have a general
idea of what posting is and I have managed to actually do it for a
few strides at a time, and then I lose it and go bump, bump,
bump.... until I go back to sitting at the trot. I know that one rides in a
Western saddle with longer
stirrups than in an English saddle, so should I be shortening my
stirrups?? >>
I can't tell you exactly HOW to post--one of those things where I know what
to do but not how to describe it--but I can tell you that before buying my
Ortho-Flex I posted for many, many years in a western saddle. My OF is the
"traditional" model without a horn and sort of like a western saddle too. I
did ride in my western saddle with shorter stirrups than a typical western
style rider might. Also, my western saddle was an old, cowboy "using" saddle
with a high cantle (no "cheyenne roll"), rounded, cut-back skirts, a narrower
tree than typical modern westerns, and a deep but balanced seat. The seat on
my western is deepest almost in the middle--not way back toward the cantle as
in many modern western saddles, esp. the "equitition" kind. Smooth hard
leather--not suede. I never had any trouble posting for mile upon mile in
this saddle--I cannot say that for some modern western saddles I have ridden
in. In fact, western saddles with suede seats which are really deep way at
the back, and raised in front toward the pomel are nearly impossible to post
in. Or so I've found.
Trish & "pretty David"