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> I feel that the technique of posting was developed for the comfort of
> the rider, not the horse.
Posting was indeed "developed" for the comfort of the rider, not the
horse. It is a way for the rider to do the least amount of work while
riding at the trot.
> As the rider's body is accelerated upward
> every second stride of the horse, and falls back on the in-between
> strides, the horse must be providing the energy for that acceleration.
Even though posting was "developed" to minimize the workload of the rider,
it also minimizes the work load of the horse....if the timing is right.
Believe it or not, though the horse is indeed providing the energy for
accelerating the rider's body upward, it is the movement of the trot that
is providing the energy and does not increase the work required by the
horse at all. The energy is provided in the form of inertia (i.e. gravity
is doing the work, of thrusting you up out of the saddle, not the
horse--to put it crudely).
> Whereas, a rider who maintains his body up out of the saddle at a
> trot, absorbing the up-and-down motion of the horse by flexing his
> knees, does not place that burden on the horse. Does this make sense?
The rider who maintains his body up out of the saddle at the trot and
absorbs the up-and-down motion of the horse by flexing his knees must do a
great deal of work to fight the effects of inertia. The extent to which
he is capable of absorbing all of the motion of the horse in his legs
(which requires a great deal of work on the part of the rider) he will
indeed keep his horse from having to lift the weight of his rider out of
the saddle. However, if the rider is not successful at doing this, by
resisting the effects of inertia which throws him up out of the saddle
(even if his butt is not actually in the saddle) the horse is doing extra
work.
> What are some other opinions on this?
>
> (Of course, posting is clearly superior to just sitting on the saddle
> bouncing on the horse's back!)
The advantage of posting, in addition to reducing the workload of the
rider (which nobody denies) is that it also reduces the work load of the
horse. What causes the horse to have to do extra work when the rider is
just sitting on the saddle bouncing on the horse's back is not the fact
that the horse has to carry the rider's weight in the saddle rather than
in the stirrups, but rather because of the direction of motion of the
rider's weight is different than the direction of motion of the horse.
When a rider posts, the direction of motion of the horse and rider are the
same, while expending the least amount of work for the rider and the
horse.
You can also do this by standing in the stirrups or sitting in the saddle
if you timing is impeccable (i.e it is possible to keep your butt touching
the saddle the whole time and, ,in essence, move it up and down in perfect
time with the horse--this means absorbing all of the motion of the horse
in your lower back--the exact opposite of standing the whole time, where
your legs are absorbing all of the mootion of the horse).
Me, I say post, let gravity do all the work and let the motion of the
horse be absorbed by thin air.
kat
Orange County, Calif.
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