What Is Posting on a Horse? How to Do It and Helpful Hints

Posting on the Correct Diagonal

Posting on the correct diagonal means that you are rising up as your horse's outside (leg closest to the arena fence on the circle) front leg is stepping forward. Posting on the correct diagonal, in my opinion, is best taught after your student has learned the basics of how to post and follow the horse's motion.

That is hard enough for some in the beginning that adding the factor of figuring out when to stand just leads to not only frustration but also weakens their position. Since they start looking down to see if their diagonal is right or wrong.

I let my students get established and confident in their posting, the basic up, down, up, down and following their horse's rhythm first. Then learning how to post on the correct diagonal and how to change diagonals if you are on the wrong one is the next big step that they need to learn.

Stay tuned for a future article going in-depth on help with learning diagonals. Get the basic posting motion down first and that will come next!

Break It Down: Small Steps Lead to Success

By breaking it down into small steps and making sure your student understands why and how we do things, you will lead them to be more confident and successful in their riding.

When you are teaching new riders, there is no such thing as taking it too slow. A good foundation and a basic understanding of why we do things help to build confidence in riders of all ages.

Always remember there is no rush—it is way easier to take your time and learn correctly and slowly than to regain back lost confidence because you rushed to do something you or your student was ready for.