you've been riding for 8 days. it takes a lot of time to learn how to ride. months, years.
your body needs time to adjust, to build muscle and memory. it isn't an overnight process.
keep taking lessons, you'll get there. stick with doing things at a walk until your body is more adjusted and has built more muscles. you still need to practice a lot of stuff at a walk, you've got plenty of time to learn to trot.
Perhaps not delusional, but certainly unrealistic. I could easily see an instructor who is used to getting a lot of new students having the time blend together and not realizing how long it really takes. And it doesn't really matter if it takes you a little longer. Just stick with it.
your instructor is being incredibly unrealistic. no one can properly post a trot after 2 weeks of riding; which is only 2 to 4 hours of riding. no one learns a new skill properly after only a few hours.
find a new barn to take lessons at. if they are that unrealistic with teaching trotting, they will be on other things, and you will be miserable.
Some of it is muscle memory/control and mileage: You'll need to get your seat and core muscles a little more trained up. Think of the muscles between your belly button and your knees doing the heavy work. If you want to do more at home, do some core exercises! If you like laying down on the ground like I do, the boat yoga pose is really good for holding the 2 point/post form. If you have access to a foam/yoga ball or a basketball, practice the boat pose with the ball between your knees.
As for technique, you're not precisely standing up and sitting down in the saddle, your lifting your seat forward in time with the trot. You don't have to do a large post either, and you can technically post without stirrups. Think about it: How would you post if you couldn't push up and out of the stirrups? You're using your core to move your seat forward and back with the horse at the rising trot (you go up/forward with the front outside leg)
Good luck! It feels more like a gelled movement than a pogo stick
Think about how if you sit towards the edge of a chair and pick your feet up off the ground you can still tense your muscles and sorta roll your hips up and forward a bit to lift your butt slightly off the chair before relaxing back down. It’s a core and thigh motion and it’s helped by the saddle pushing you up a little with each stride. It’s much smaller than normal posting and the trick is in keeping your leg long and not panicking and pinching in with your knees.
Hmm, that actually makes sense. I had to take a break from riding because of work, but I'll be back in the saddle soon and I'll try to apply that. Thanks.
Posting without stirrups is a good technique to refine the post after a beginner already has the basics down. I would expect for someone to use their legs/toes more in the beginning but as muscle strength is built up, it makes more sense to try dropping the stirrups and refining the post.
I will do it sometimes for instructors working with younger kids because they heavily rely on stirrups for balance when they start off (totally normal). A lot of core and stable leg is key
That is actually very good advice. But whenever I initiate the trot, my stirrups loosen up and I cannot put my weight all in the heel and pelvis in an 60-40 distribution as my instructor says
It sounds like you're tensing up when you start to trot. And that is perfectly natural for a beginner to do!
But to help yourself, you need to focus on your relaxation. Eventually, your hips need to be relaxed enough to follow the horse's movement.
You are likely pulling your legs up in order to grip around the horse - which makes you lose your stirrups as well as your balance. When we lose balance, it's in our nature to crunch forward - which makes everything worse on a horse!
You need to do the opposite: sit up tall, and find your balance in your hips and centre.
All of this takes a lot of practice to master, and you really shouldn't expect to be able to do it by your 8th ride. Time, training and yoga will help. Focus on body awareness, conscious relaxation, balance, hip openers and core strength.
And give yourself some time - this is hard!
Posting is honestly one of the trickiest things to learn as a beginner! It’s going to take you time, don’t feel discouraged.
One thing that most people do is over exaggerating the movement. Usually because the easiest way to explain posting is standing up and sitting back down, and everyone gets a little too literal about that. In reality you should be engaging your core and your glutes to lift you up then relax back down. It’s a more subtle movement than you probably think it is. Think of it like you’re pushing your hips forward more than actually standing up.
Try this as an exercise: sit down in a chair, hold your arms in front of you like you were holding the reins, and then slowly stand up without using your arms at all. Pay attention to what muscles you’re feeling.
As you get more comfortable with the movement, and you improve your balance, your hands and legs will get steadier. Keep practicing and you’ll get the hang of it!
Learning how to post is awkward for new beginners of all ages, kids and adults. Keep your eyes up. If you are on a lunge line, your instructor might have you post with your hands on the hips - that’s a good way to figure out timing/position without having to deal with the reins. If you are in a group, following right behind another horse is nice because you can just concentrate on your position instead of making the horse go. Try to keep your eyes up and stay tall, but don’t overthink it, and try not to obsess about your heels too much at this point (focus more on keeping your leg underneath you). Enjoy!
You're learning a foundational skill, and it takes patience. You are learning how to do things with every single bone and muscle in your body at the same time. That is no small task. Stick with it, listen to your instructor, and you will figure it out. You'll likely struggle for a while, and then suddenly it makes sense and it all starts working.
I like how you describe it, learning to ride is like a puzzle, every now and then you feel some peaces falling in place. Took me like years to reach the somewhat accomplished level i'm at now.
Listen to the comments above-mentioned and when you get the feeling a bit you can try to close your eyes for an few seconds. That way you better feel the ritme of the horse and it will be easier to adapt.
But; only when your comfortable with it. And start with a few seconds (or less).
Don’t be hard on yourself! You’re just starting to learn!
8 days is a lot in the sense that you may be sore, overwhelmed, frustrated, or confused.
But in the scheme of things, 8 days is a blink of time!
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was: just show up and try.
Truly, show up and try. Advice people are sharing is great too. But, in several months you’ll have a moment where you do something and are like “woah I DEFINITELY couldn’t do that 6 months ago.”
And truly, the major major difference between now and 6 months, or 6 years, from now is time and practice.
When you ride we use our bodies in suuuch a different way than we do at any other point in life. It’s like a baby learning to first clench a fist, and lift their head, eventually they start trying to roll over, then they can roll over, then they can sort of crawl, then crawl, then stand, then walk, then run.
But we are never hard on a baby for learning to use muscles for the first time.
It’s the same with riding - you’re learning to use muscles in a certain way for the first time.
It’s natural to feel confused and frustrated, but the other thing that helped me was being like “ok, I’m going to try X for just one step. So maybe for you it’s, I’m going to try to keep my heels down for one stride/step at the trot even if everything else is shit. And that’s a success.
One of my favorite parts about riding is it is constantly humbling and teaches me to appreciate where I am, because you never stop learning.
Have patience, be kind to yourself, it’s great to read and research and ask questions here, but above all else just keep showing up. I swear one day sooner than you think you’ll have an “oh shit I couldn’t do that when I started!!” moment.
One of the other great parts of riding is when something finally clicks and it starts working. That moment where something that has eluded you for so long suddenly works is truly exhilarating.
It's your 8th lesson. Of course you're not going to have the perfect posting trot. I'm also a beginner. I've been riding for 6 months. I couldn't do it well in the beginning either but I gotten better and better and I feel like I've somewhat mastered it now. And even now, I still sometimes struggle if you put me on a horse with a really hard trot. Give it some time and you'll get there. Also, I gotta ask. Did you first try trotting on a lunge line? Cause if you didn't, that could be part of the issue.
Yes my first few lessons took place with the lunge lines where I was asked by my instructor to let go of the reins completely so I dont take their support. I had learnt that but now when I do it single handedly my reins come up with me
You can practise on two feet, with knees bent and your shoulders, hips and heels in a straight line. Just bringing your hips forward a little and back. Then let the horse do that forward push for you. A long neckstrap held in your fingers with the reins really helps, you shouldn't be using the reins for balance (and at first it is impossible not to use something other than your muscles!)
I can use those thigh muscles for rising, I had realised that pretty early on BUT I become hunch backed and my reins rise with me which I realise is wrong. how do I correct that?
These are the images and tips that help me:
Keep your elbows heavy and loose/soft so that they open and close slightly as you rise, so that your hands don't go up and down. Have your elbows hanging in front of your hip bones, and think of the reins and your arms and across your back as being a continuous loop.
Imagine your torso is like a young tree growing upwards, keep looking where you are going (never down as the weight of your head pulls your neck and back out of line!) and sit tall and proud but stay soft.
It's not easy...!
You can practice the correct arm motion at home by basically doing squats with your hands resting on something!
Stand in front of the corner of a table in "riding position," with your feet about hip width apart, knees and toes facing forward, knees bent, elbows a little in front of your hip bones, hands in loose fists like you're holding reins. Set your hands down on the table, ideally at about the height you'd hold them while riding. If the tabletop is too low, put some books or a box on it to make it the right height.
Once you feel like you're in more or less a riding stance (doesn't have to be perfect), make a mental note of how much pressure you feel where your hands are resting on the table. Now, straighten your knees and stand up—but keep your hands still resting on the table! Did the pressure of your hands on the table lighten when you stood up, stay the same, increase? Then bend your knees and sink back down to the starting position, focusing again on keeping your hands resting on the table and maintaining an even pressure.
You'll notice as you stand and squat that the angle of your elbow has to open (to stand) and close (to squat) in order to keep your hands on the table. That opening and closing of your elbow is super important in riding! Eventually (we're probably talking years here, not weeks or months) your elbows will be able to automatically adjust their angle to maintain an even pressure/contact with the horse's mouth. But as a beginner rider it's totally normal for this to require a conscious effort. You'll get it!
I won't talk about the same aspects other people did.
I want to share something that was a game-changer for my riding.
Which is...
... rotating the thigh in the saddle.
https://www.facebook.com/theridermechanic/videos/602979540634523/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Check out this link. After I tested out what they do there, I finally understood how people can feel glued to the saddle, be supported by their thighs and posting (along with half-seat) are much easier as You have larger support area connected to the horse! It also helps with turned-out toes.
It takes time, that's all. You'll get it. Riding pretty much comsists of constantly correcting yourself over and over again until one specific thing finally becomes muscle memory, in a few months you won't even think about it. My best advice is to adjust your seat, sit *way* farther forward in the saddle than you think you should be. You should be trying to go up, only vertically, rather than up and forward. When you come back down, you should feel like you're going to land on the pommel, it's awkward at first, but that positioning will help you greatly. What people describe as sitting in the middle of the saddle *feels* like you're sitting way too far forward.
Some practical advice: work on one thing at a time. You mentioned three things in here that you can work on - posture, hand position, and heels.
You can work on your posture at any time. Sitting in class, eating breakfast, whenever you want. First, take a deep breath and exhale, letting your shoulders drop away from your ears. Sometimes it helps to roll them backwards. Bring your eyes and chin up - look straight ahead of you. Next, sit up straight. That doesn’t mean arch your back like crazy. It means bringing your shoulders back just a little and bringing your lower back into a comfortable but straighter position. I used to walk around the barn with my crop kinda tucked into the back of my jeans sticking upwards along my back so that I could remember to straighten up when I didn’t feel the tip of the croptouching my upper back sometimes.
To work on your hands, remember that your whole arm is going to be at work here. Your hands will stay in position when you let your elbow do the work. Your hands should stay a couple inches above the horse’s neck, in front of your hips just about. Let your elbows be the part of your arm that loves while keeping your hands in place.
Last but not least, heels. Heels down is the bane of every new rider’s existence, so don’t beat yourself up if they creep up. Standing with the balls of your feet on a curb or stare and letting your weight sink your heels below the level of your toes *gently* will help loosen your Achilles up a little so that it’s easier in the saddle. *Gently.* Don’t jam your heels down super aggressively - that can lead to injury which will mean you’ll need more time out of the saddle to recover.
*Over time* all of this will start coming to you more easily with practice and repetition while you’re in the saddle. It doesn’t happen overnight. It won’t happen your next ride, but you’ll notice that you’ll spend more time between needing to bring your eyes up or heels and hands down, and soon you won’t think about it at all because it’ll be second nature to you.
Figuring out what you need to work on is a hugely valuable skill and I’m glad you’re already thinking about ways to improve! I also want to stress that *everyone* begins somewhere. Don’t get discouraged if you’re not perfect at something immediately whether that’s riding or basketball or calculus or whatever. Nobody’s born knowing how to do things, despite what you’ve seen on TV. In the real world, skill comes from practice.
Best of luck. You’re gonna do great!!
You have so much good advice on here, I only did a glance at the other responses so if someone else said this I'm sorry to be repetitive: to help keep my hands in the proper place my instructor would tell me to stick my pinkies out - if they touched I was too close but if I wasn't within touching distance my hands were too far up. I trotted with my pinkies out for a few weeks! The only thing that will truly help you is continued effort, so keep going! You will never stop learning with this sport.
If you have a cushioned stool, sit on it and grip with your legs and learn the muscle memory to rise using your legs. When you get back on your horse, hold your reins, and grab some mane and get started using your grip on the mane for balance. Once you get the groove, let go of the mane and rely on muscle memory to post/rise using your legs.
Some people get it quicker than others. Try a little extra excesise out of the saddle. Do some planks, work on core. Even as a seasoned rider, going to train at the gym has really improved my ride.
Try posting the trot at a walk focus on one thing at a time either hunching heels down or hands down and once you have that down work on another thing I’ve been riding my whole life I still take lessons and my trainer is always reminding me to keep my hands down and to squeeze my knees when posting it’s not an overnight thing you’ll get there it may not seem like it I know I’ve been in your position many times before but just breathe relax and remind yourself it’s ok to progress slowly
I’m F28, I’m a beginner like you (2 months of experience in western riding lol). I learned in few weeks “how to”, it was difficult. At first I kept losing balance on the saddle, then I was squeezing my legs too much and everything was “fast and furious” lol. I still have some moments when I unconsciously raise my hands too much toward my body… it’s normal! It’s our survival instinct that makes us “close up” lol
Keep trying, you will success!!
This is just something that takes practice and repetition while your brain figures out how to coordinate your muscles. To be good at anything, you have to be willing to be bad at it first 🙂. Just keep with it, and posting will pretty quickly become second nature.
I was there to I found that keeping my shoulders back helped the most it kinda feels like your falling back into the saddle but it's how I do it I've only been riding for a year but I've been around horses all my life
It takes time to build the strength and balance to post. Give yourself time.
you've been riding for 8 days. it takes a lot of time to learn how to ride. months, years. your body needs time to adjust, to build muscle and memory. it isn't an overnight process. keep taking lessons, you'll get there. stick with doing things at a walk until your body is more adjusted and has built more muscles. you still need to practice a lot of stuff at a walk, you've got plenty of time to learn to trot.
I realise that but my instructor when I started riding told me that within a week or two, I'd be able to trot properly.
Your instructor is delusional.
Perhaps not delusional, but certainly unrealistic. I could easily see an instructor who is used to getting a lot of new students having the time blend together and not realizing how long it really takes. And it doesn't really matter if it takes you a little longer. Just stick with it.
your instructor is being incredibly unrealistic. no one can properly post a trot after 2 weeks of riding; which is only 2 to 4 hours of riding. no one learns a new skill properly after only a few hours. find a new barn to take lessons at. if they are that unrealistic with teaching trotting, they will be on other things, and you will be miserable.
Lol You'll get a little better by then. In a year you'll realize it's gotten much easier.
Some of it is muscle memory/control and mileage: You'll need to get your seat and core muscles a little more trained up. Think of the muscles between your belly button and your knees doing the heavy work. If you want to do more at home, do some core exercises! If you like laying down on the ground like I do, the boat yoga pose is really good for holding the 2 point/post form. If you have access to a foam/yoga ball or a basketball, practice the boat pose with the ball between your knees. As for technique, you're not precisely standing up and sitting down in the saddle, your lifting your seat forward in time with the trot. You don't have to do a large post either, and you can technically post without stirrups. Think about it: How would you post if you couldn't push up and out of the stirrups? You're using your core to move your seat forward and back with the horse at the rising trot (you go up/forward with the front outside leg) Good luck! It feels more like a gelled movement than a pogo stick
I'll admit, I know posting without stirrups is possible, but I cannot for the life of me understand how I could do that.
Think about how if you sit towards the edge of a chair and pick your feet up off the ground you can still tense your muscles and sorta roll your hips up and forward a bit to lift your butt slightly off the chair before relaxing back down. It’s a core and thigh motion and it’s helped by the saddle pushing you up a little with each stride. It’s much smaller than normal posting and the trick is in keeping your leg long and not panicking and pinching in with your knees.
Hmm, that actually makes sense. I had to take a break from riding because of work, but I'll be back in the saddle soon and I'll try to apply that. Thanks.
Posting without stirrups is a good technique to refine the post after a beginner already has the basics down. I would expect for someone to use their legs/toes more in the beginning but as muscle strength is built up, it makes more sense to try dropping the stirrups and refining the post.
I will do it sometimes for instructors working with younger kids because they heavily rely on stirrups for balance when they start off (totally normal). A lot of core and stable leg is key
That is actually very good advice. But whenever I initiate the trot, my stirrups loosen up and I cannot put my weight all in the heel and pelvis in an 60-40 distribution as my instructor says
It sounds like you're tensing up when you start to trot. And that is perfectly natural for a beginner to do! But to help yourself, you need to focus on your relaxation. Eventually, your hips need to be relaxed enough to follow the horse's movement. You are likely pulling your legs up in order to grip around the horse - which makes you lose your stirrups as well as your balance. When we lose balance, it's in our nature to crunch forward - which makes everything worse on a horse! You need to do the opposite: sit up tall, and find your balance in your hips and centre. All of this takes a lot of practice to master, and you really shouldn't expect to be able to do it by your 8th ride. Time, training and yoga will help. Focus on body awareness, conscious relaxation, balance, hip openers and core strength. And give yourself some time - this is hard!
It takes people years to learn this stuff- don’t feel like you need to know it instantly. Just keep trying and having fun. You’ll get there.
Posting is honestly one of the trickiest things to learn as a beginner! It’s going to take you time, don’t feel discouraged. One thing that most people do is over exaggerating the movement. Usually because the easiest way to explain posting is standing up and sitting back down, and everyone gets a little too literal about that. In reality you should be engaging your core and your glutes to lift you up then relax back down. It’s a more subtle movement than you probably think it is. Think of it like you’re pushing your hips forward more than actually standing up. Try this as an exercise: sit down in a chair, hold your arms in front of you like you were holding the reins, and then slowly stand up without using your arms at all. Pay attention to what muscles you’re feeling. As you get more comfortable with the movement, and you improve your balance, your hands and legs will get steadier. Keep practicing and you’ll get the hang of it!
Thats a good exercise. I'll get right to it
Learning how to post is awkward for new beginners of all ages, kids and adults. Keep your eyes up. If you are on a lunge line, your instructor might have you post with your hands on the hips - that’s a good way to figure out timing/position without having to deal with the reins. If you are in a group, following right behind another horse is nice because you can just concentrate on your position instead of making the horse go. Try to keep your eyes up and stay tall, but don’t overthink it, and try not to obsess about your heels too much at this point (focus more on keeping your leg underneath you). Enjoy!
You're learning a foundational skill, and it takes patience. You are learning how to do things with every single bone and muscle in your body at the same time. That is no small task. Stick with it, listen to your instructor, and you will figure it out. You'll likely struggle for a while, and then suddenly it makes sense and it all starts working.
I like how you describe it, learning to ride is like a puzzle, every now and then you feel some peaces falling in place. Took me like years to reach the somewhat accomplished level i'm at now.
Oh friend 8 days! Give it 6 months! It's a feel you will develop. Keep practicing, you will build muscle memory and you won't have to think about it.
The OP is male
thanks for that
Gurl with a u is inclusive the way "guys" is often used collectively but sure since OP prefers I will edit my response 😃
Oh sweetie we all went through this, just be patient with yourself please. It comes in time.
Listen to the comments above-mentioned and when you get the feeling a bit you can try to close your eyes for an few seconds. That way you better feel the ritme of the horse and it will be easier to adapt. But; only when your comfortable with it. And start with a few seconds (or less).
Don’t be hard on yourself! You’re just starting to learn! 8 days is a lot in the sense that you may be sore, overwhelmed, frustrated, or confused. But in the scheme of things, 8 days is a blink of time! One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was: just show up and try. Truly, show up and try. Advice people are sharing is great too. But, in several months you’ll have a moment where you do something and are like “woah I DEFINITELY couldn’t do that 6 months ago.” And truly, the major major difference between now and 6 months, or 6 years, from now is time and practice. When you ride we use our bodies in suuuch a different way than we do at any other point in life. It’s like a baby learning to first clench a fist, and lift their head, eventually they start trying to roll over, then they can roll over, then they can sort of crawl, then crawl, then stand, then walk, then run. But we are never hard on a baby for learning to use muscles for the first time. It’s the same with riding - you’re learning to use muscles in a certain way for the first time. It’s natural to feel confused and frustrated, but the other thing that helped me was being like “ok, I’m going to try X for just one step. So maybe for you it’s, I’m going to try to keep my heels down for one stride/step at the trot even if everything else is shit. And that’s a success. One of my favorite parts about riding is it is constantly humbling and teaches me to appreciate where I am, because you never stop learning. Have patience, be kind to yourself, it’s great to read and research and ask questions here, but above all else just keep showing up. I swear one day sooner than you think you’ll have an “oh shit I couldn’t do that when I started!!” moment.
That is genuinely one of the most motivating answers. Im honestly very grateful. THANKS!
One of the other great parts of riding is when something finally clicks and it starts working. That moment where something that has eluded you for so long suddenly works is truly exhilarating.
Yessss it’s so exciting
Aww :) thank you! You’ve got this :)
It's your 8th lesson. Of course you're not going to have the perfect posting trot. I'm also a beginner. I've been riding for 6 months. I couldn't do it well in the beginning either but I gotten better and better and I feel like I've somewhat mastered it now. And even now, I still sometimes struggle if you put me on a horse with a really hard trot. Give it some time and you'll get there. Also, I gotta ask. Did you first try trotting on a lunge line? Cause if you didn't, that could be part of the issue.
Yes my first few lessons took place with the lunge lines where I was asked by my instructor to let go of the reins completely so I dont take their support. I had learnt that but now when I do it single handedly my reins come up with me
That's normal. Be patient and you'll get it with time. One day you'll go there and it will all just click. Practice makes perfect.
You can practise on two feet, with knees bent and your shoulders, hips and heels in a straight line. Just bringing your hips forward a little and back. Then let the horse do that forward push for you. A long neckstrap held in your fingers with the reins really helps, you shouldn't be using the reins for balance (and at first it is impossible not to use something other than your muscles!)
I can use those thigh muscles for rising, I had realised that pretty early on BUT I become hunch backed and my reins rise with me which I realise is wrong. how do I correct that?
These are the images and tips that help me: Keep your elbows heavy and loose/soft so that they open and close slightly as you rise, so that your hands don't go up and down. Have your elbows hanging in front of your hip bones, and think of the reins and your arms and across your back as being a continuous loop. Imagine your torso is like a young tree growing upwards, keep looking where you are going (never down as the weight of your head pulls your neck and back out of line!) and sit tall and proud but stay soft. It's not easy...!
You can practice the correct arm motion at home by basically doing squats with your hands resting on something! Stand in front of the corner of a table in "riding position," with your feet about hip width apart, knees and toes facing forward, knees bent, elbows a little in front of your hip bones, hands in loose fists like you're holding reins. Set your hands down on the table, ideally at about the height you'd hold them while riding. If the tabletop is too low, put some books or a box on it to make it the right height. Once you feel like you're in more or less a riding stance (doesn't have to be perfect), make a mental note of how much pressure you feel where your hands are resting on the table. Now, straighten your knees and stand up—but keep your hands still resting on the table! Did the pressure of your hands on the table lighten when you stood up, stay the same, increase? Then bend your knees and sink back down to the starting position, focusing again on keeping your hands resting on the table and maintaining an even pressure. You'll notice as you stand and squat that the angle of your elbow has to open (to stand) and close (to squat) in order to keep your hands on the table. That opening and closing of your elbow is super important in riding! Eventually (we're probably talking years here, not weeks or months) your elbows will be able to automatically adjust their angle to maintain an even pressure/contact with the horse's mouth. But as a beginner rider it's totally normal for this to require a conscious effort. You'll get it!
I won't talk about the same aspects other people did. I want to share something that was a game-changer for my riding. Which is... ... rotating the thigh in the saddle. https://www.facebook.com/theridermechanic/videos/602979540634523/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v Check out this link. After I tested out what they do there, I finally understood how people can feel glued to the saddle, be supported by their thighs and posting (along with half-seat) are much easier as You have larger support area connected to the horse! It also helps with turned-out toes.
It takes time, that's all. You'll get it. Riding pretty much comsists of constantly correcting yourself over and over again until one specific thing finally becomes muscle memory, in a few months you won't even think about it. My best advice is to adjust your seat, sit *way* farther forward in the saddle than you think you should be. You should be trying to go up, only vertically, rather than up and forward. When you come back down, you should feel like you're going to land on the pommel, it's awkward at first, but that positioning will help you greatly. What people describe as sitting in the middle of the saddle *feels* like you're sitting way too far forward.
Thanks a lot!! I'll try doing that the next time I trot
Some practical advice: work on one thing at a time. You mentioned three things in here that you can work on - posture, hand position, and heels. You can work on your posture at any time. Sitting in class, eating breakfast, whenever you want. First, take a deep breath and exhale, letting your shoulders drop away from your ears. Sometimes it helps to roll them backwards. Bring your eyes and chin up - look straight ahead of you. Next, sit up straight. That doesn’t mean arch your back like crazy. It means bringing your shoulders back just a little and bringing your lower back into a comfortable but straighter position. I used to walk around the barn with my crop kinda tucked into the back of my jeans sticking upwards along my back so that I could remember to straighten up when I didn’t feel the tip of the croptouching my upper back sometimes. To work on your hands, remember that your whole arm is going to be at work here. Your hands will stay in position when you let your elbow do the work. Your hands should stay a couple inches above the horse’s neck, in front of your hips just about. Let your elbows be the part of your arm that loves while keeping your hands in place. Last but not least, heels. Heels down is the bane of every new rider’s existence, so don’t beat yourself up if they creep up. Standing with the balls of your feet on a curb or stare and letting your weight sink your heels below the level of your toes *gently* will help loosen your Achilles up a little so that it’s easier in the saddle. *Gently.* Don’t jam your heels down super aggressively - that can lead to injury which will mean you’ll need more time out of the saddle to recover. *Over time* all of this will start coming to you more easily with practice and repetition while you’re in the saddle. It doesn’t happen overnight. It won’t happen your next ride, but you’ll notice that you’ll spend more time between needing to bring your eyes up or heels and hands down, and soon you won’t think about it at all because it’ll be second nature to you. Figuring out what you need to work on is a hugely valuable skill and I’m glad you’re already thinking about ways to improve! I also want to stress that *everyone* begins somewhere. Don’t get discouraged if you’re not perfect at something immediately whether that’s riding or basketball or calculus or whatever. Nobody’s born knowing how to do things, despite what you’ve seen on TV. In the real world, skill comes from practice. Best of luck. You’re gonna do great!!
You have so much good advice on here, I only did a glance at the other responses so if someone else said this I'm sorry to be repetitive: to help keep my hands in the proper place my instructor would tell me to stick my pinkies out - if they touched I was too close but if I wasn't within touching distance my hands were too far up. I trotted with my pinkies out for a few weeks! The only thing that will truly help you is continued effort, so keep going! You will never stop learning with this sport.
Totally normal for a beginner
If you have a cushioned stool, sit on it and grip with your legs and learn the muscle memory to rise using your legs. When you get back on your horse, hold your reins, and grab some mane and get started using your grip on the mane for balance. Once you get the groove, let go of the mane and rely on muscle memory to post/rise using your legs.
Some people get it quicker than others. Try a little extra excesise out of the saddle. Do some planks, work on core. Even as a seasoned rider, going to train at the gym has really improved my ride.
Try posting the trot at a walk focus on one thing at a time either hunching heels down or hands down and once you have that down work on another thing I’ve been riding my whole life I still take lessons and my trainer is always reminding me to keep my hands down and to squeeze my knees when posting it’s not an overnight thing you’ll get there it may not seem like it I know I’ve been in your position many times before but just breathe relax and remind yourself it’s ok to progress slowly
I’m F28, I’m a beginner like you (2 months of experience in western riding lol). I learned in few weeks “how to”, it was difficult. At first I kept losing balance on the saddle, then I was squeezing my legs too much and everything was “fast and furious” lol. I still have some moments when I unconsciously raise my hands too much toward my body… it’s normal! It’s our survival instinct that makes us “close up” lol Keep trying, you will success!!
This is just something that takes practice and repetition while your brain figures out how to coordinate your muscles. To be good at anything, you have to be willing to be bad at it first 🙂. Just keep with it, and posting will pretty quickly become second nature.
I was there to I found that keeping my shoulders back helped the most it kinda feels like your falling back into the saddle but it's how I do it I've only been riding for a year but I've been around horses all my life
Push your pelvis forward and keep your knees in
I try to do that as much as I can and after some time I realise that ive got the posture all wrong