Post the Trot With Better Rhythm and Balance
Master rising-trot timing, find the correct diagonal, fix heavy landings and swinging legs, and build balance with three focused off-horse drills.
Posting trot—called rising trot in the UK—is the movement in which you rise for one trot beat and sit for the next. Let the horse’s motion lift your pelvis forward and upward, then control a quiet return to the saddle. Do not try to stand high, push from the stirrups or bounce vertically.
Trot has two-beat footfalls: the horse moves diagonal pairs of legs together. Posting matches your rise-and-sit cycle to those alternating pairs. A biomechanics review describes the rider sitting on one diagonal step and rising on the other; models of rising trot use the rider’s legs as an active spring system (Clayton and Hobbs, 2023).
Choose your rein and what the outside shoulder does; the checker tells you whether to stay or change.
Posting-Trot Diagonal Checker
Set your direction, then match the outside shoulder to your rise or sit.
On the left rein, the right foreleg is outside. If its shoulder moves forward as you rise, you are on the conventional correct diagonal.
How to change or check without losing position
If the outside shoulder moves forward while you sit, remain seated for one extra beat and then resume posting. Glance briefly at the shoulder rather than folding your torso down.
Source: Persson-Sjödin et al. (2018), a study of 26 horses ridden by one rider; the correct diagonal was defined as sitting while the outside forelimb and inside hindlimb were in stance.
How to Post the Trot
Learn on a steady horse with a qualified instructor, ideally on a large circle or straight line. An instructor can control the tempo and correct your timing before a position fault becomes a habit.
- Start from a balanced riding position. Keep your head up, ribs over your pelvis and the ball of each foot supported by the stirrup. Let your hips, knees and ankles remain elastic rather than locked. For a fuller position check, see this horse riding stance guide.
- Ask for trot without throwing your upper body forward. Maintain appropriate rein contact and allow your elbows to open and close so your hands do not jerk with your torso.
- Feel the lift. As the horse’s back sends you forward and upward, allow your hips to move in a small arc toward the pommel. Think “forward-up,” not “stand.”
- Return softly for the next beat. Let the hip and knee joints flex as you control the descent. Touch the saddle rather than dropping heavily into it.
- Repeat “up, down” with the hoofbeats. Each phase lasts one trot beat. If the rhythm speeds up, make the movement smaller instead of pushing harder through your feet.
Use your lower leg as a checkpoint: it should remain close to its original place. If it swings forward every time you rise, you may be pushing your pelvis backward and standing from the stirrups. If it slides behind you, you may be tipping your shoulders too far forward.
The 2026 USEF hunter/jumping-seat equitation rules describe the body as inclined forward in posting trot while requiring the iron on the ball of the foot and the ankle flexed (USEF Equitation Division rules). That means a slight inclination, not a collapse over the horse’s neck.
Rise With the Outside Shoulder for the Correct Diagonal
On a circle or turn, the conventional correct diagonal is:
Rise as the outside foreleg moves forward; sit as the outside foreleg and inside hind leg bear weight.
“Outside” means the side toward the arena wall. On the left rein, the horse’s right foreleg is outside. On the right rein, the left foreleg is outside.
To check your diagonal:
- Glance briefly at the outside shoulder without folding your whole torso.
- If that shoulder moves forward as you rise, stay in rhythm.
- If it moves forward as you sit, remain seated for one extra beat and then resume posting.
Use the glance to learn the pattern, then try to feel it. Looking down for several strides rounds your upper body and can move your hands.
The diagonal convention is not arbitrary. In a study of 26 horses ridden by one rider, researchers defined the correct diagonal as sitting while the outside forelimb and inside hindlimb were in stance. On a circle, posting on this diagonal counteracted some circle-induced movement asymmetry (Persson-Sjödin et al., 2018).
Rising trot creates alternating loads. Change diagonal regularly on long straight stretches rather than consistently favoring one side.
Fix Four Common Posting-Trot Faults
Make a High Rise Smaller
What it looks like: Your hips travel well above the saddle, your knees straighten and your hands move.
Correction: Make the rise half as large. Allow your pelvis to travel toward the pommel, not toward the sky. You need only enough clearance to follow the beat.
Control a Heavy Landing Before You Sit
What it looks like: The saddle receives a thump on every seated beat.
Correction: Start allowing your hip and knee joints to close before gravity drops you. Maintain even, elastic support through both legs and return to the saddle quietly.
Stabilize a Swinging Lower Leg
What it looks like: Your foot moves forward and back with every post.
Correction: Stop forcing the rise. Keep your calf softly near the horse and let the hip joint open and close around a quieter lower leg. Ask your instructor to check stirrup length and saddle fit rather than assuming weakness is the only cause.
Equipment deserves attention here. In a small experiment involving 10 horse-rider pairs, shortening one stirrup by 5 cm altered measures of the horses’ spinal movement and fetlock extension, which the researchers used as a proxy for limb loading (MacKechnie-Guire et al., 2020). The imposed difference was much larger than a subtle everyday mismatch, but the result supports checking stirrup length and rider position rather than treating every uneven post as a fitness problem.
Stop Using the Reins for Balance
What it looks like: Your hands rise with your body, or the contact alternately tightens and slackens.
Correction: Keep a small bend in your elbows and stabilize your trunk. Never use the horse’s mouth as a handhold. Practise the arm position at walk, then test it in trot on a suitably controlled horse under instruction.
Use This Five-Minute Off-Horse Practice
These drills develop leg endurance, trunk control and left-right awareness for posting. They support mounted coaching but cannot reproduce the horse’s movement.
Supported Posting Pattern: 2 Sets of 20 Seconds
Setup: Stand facing a counter with your fingertips resting on it. Place your feet about hip-width apart, soften your knees and hinge slightly at the hips.
Action: On a steady “up-down” count, let your hips move a few centimetres forward and up, then return to the small hinge. Keep the movement compact and avoid pushing your knees straight.
Checkpoint: Your feet stay evenly loaded, your knees track over the middle toes and your shoulders do not rock ahead of your feet.
Slow Split Squats: 5 per Side
Setup: Take a short staggered stance beside a wall for balance.
Action: Lower for three seconds and rise smoothly. Keep both feet planted and your pelvis facing forward.
Checkpoint: Compare sides. Wobbling, twisting or a much quicker descent on one side identifies a difference to work on; it does not by itself diagnose the cause of a mounted fault. Reduce the depth until both sides are controlled.
Dead Bug With Arm Reaches: 6 per Side
Setup: Lie on your back with your hips and knees bent to 90 degrees and your arms pointing upward.
Action: Exhale, keep your ribs settled and lower one arm overhead without arching your back. Alternate arms.
Checkpoint: Your pelvis stays still while your arm moves. This practises separating arm movement from trunk and pelvic control, which can help you work toward quieter hands while posting.
For a broader strength progression, use these off-horse workouts for equestrian riders. Stop an exercise if it causes pain, and have persistent mounted asymmetry assessed rather than repeatedly drilling through it.