Posting

["Flemmer, Linda" <flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu>]

Title: Posting

Maggie,

Lounge her at a SLOW trot (no reins & no stirrups is best) & tell her to feel each stride.  Ask her to tell you when one particular front foot hits the ground.  Then do it the same with her eyes closed.  She'll learn to feel the gait without needing to look.  This will help when she gets to learning about posting diagonals.

Now tell her that when the horse "bounces" her up, hold it for one beat.  (ie hold yourself "up")  Then sit & let the next "beat" help move her "up" in the saddle & hold a beat again.  THAT is ALL there is to posting for beginners.  Posting to a diagonal is being "up" when that front leg is forward.

DO NOT fall into the trap of "standing up" for a beat.  Use the horse's momentum to help move her up into her "holding" position.  If she rides in an english saddle, tell her that she should be "bounced" up, hold it for a minute, then "wipe down the front of the saddle" with her riding pants.  That will keep her concentrating on not falling back down onto the horse's back.

If she can learn this without stirrups, she will be MILES ahead when she picks up her stirrups.  Doing it no stirrups will keep her from developing some of the horrible habits I see in beginners, like overbalancing, standing rather than posting each beat, dropping back into the saddle, etc.  Some of the best english riders that I've seen have probably learned to post bareback & then carried it over to their saddles.

I hope that this helps.  (I taught a LOT of beginners to help pay my way through college.)

Linda Flemmer

-----Original Message-----
From: Maggie Mieske [mailto:mmieske@netonecom.net]
Subject: RC: Re: Re: Re: Re: Uh-Oh! The LD thing again

I guess I have given her too much credit for being 16 and MY daughter.  I
honestly didn't realize she didn't know how to post!  She sits a nice easy
lope (seems to have good balance) and she definitely wants to learn.  We
have discussed putting her in an english saddle and doing a few sessions of
longeing to help her.  I guess I just don't know how to TELL her how to do
it.  WATCH ME doesn't work with her.