Redish Equine Journal

The posting trot is one of the first things riders learn. My students always ask, “How do I stop bouncing?”

Teaching the posting trot can be difficult especially to young children. Here is how I teach the posting trot after my students have found their balance at the walk:

Step 1. Let your student feel the trot and understand the speed and bounce of it.
Whether you’re lunging or jogging with your beginner, let them trot for about half an arena lap or a full lunge circle. Then let them walk, ask how the trot felt, and then trot another arena lap or lunge circle.

Step 2. Stand up in the saddle.
The first thing I ask my students to do is stand up in the saddle while the horse is walking. Most of them plop back down and struggle to hold themselves up, so they resort to pushing up with their hands. Repeat this exercise with your student until they can stand up in the saddle and hold it without using their hands at the walk.

Step 3. Control on the sit back down.
Once they learn how to stand up in the saddle at the walk, ask them to sit down from the standing position — most students will plop down. So, work on getting your students to control the come down from standing up in the saddle. Once they aren’t plopping down onto the saddle, you can move to the next step!

4. Now go up-down-up-down at the walk.
Have your student stand up and sit down repeatedly at the walk until they’re comfortable at it.

5. Practice step 2 at the trot — stand up in the saddle and hold it while trotting.
While the instructor is jogging with the horse or lunging the horse, have your rider stand up in the saddle and hold it. Once they’re able to comfortably hold it, move to the next step!

6. Practice step 3 at the trot — control the sit back down at the trot.
I tell my students, most of them young beginners, “No bouncing on the horse’s back! It can hurt them! Control your bounces!” And after saying this, and after doing the first 5 steps, for many of my students, it just clicks! They immediately start to understand the rhythm of the horse with a few bounces in-between.

7. Go up-down-up-down at the trot.
Now your student should understand the horse’s trotting movement and have the ability to stand up and sit down in the saddle, they should be posting! Some students take longer than others to have the movement click, but this method has always worked for my students!