>Okay, so if standing in two-point while trotting puts all our body weight
on the stirrup bars, and so transfers most of the pressure to two points on
the horse's back just under the bars...does that mean that we should be
posting for most of the ride?
>I'm confused. Just trying to figure out what's best...
Who said that? I missed that one. Anyway, that's not correct. Weight
supported by the stirrups is not applied to two points on the horse. The
stirrups attach to the tree and the tree spreads the weight. If the saddle
is properly designed and fitted, the weight will be spread uniformly over
the entire contact area between saddle and horse.
IMO "standing" is less stressful to the horse than posting because the
rider's knees absorb the up-and-down motion of the horse's back, rather
than the horse having to accelerate the rider up out of the saddle every
other stride. It is this uneven stress (while posting) that necessitates
changing diagonals periodically.
--Joe Long <jlong@mti.net> Business: http://www.mti.net Personal: http://www.rnbw.com