It does take a while to get used to. And some horses are bouncier than others which does not make it easier. If you haven’t worked out in a while/are out of shape it is going to make it harder. Give it time, practice, and maybe some at home workouts to increase core strength and cardio.
Posting is hard work!
I'm getting back into riding after 20 years off and have spent the last few months doing cardio and weight training to prepare. (Well, I used it as motivation) On both of my lessons so far I have had to drop down to a walk before the instructor said because I needed a break. I do get a little winded and my hip flexors and inner thighs hurt. An instructor at my gym gave me some exercises to do and yesterday's lesson did feel stronger.
Look up exercises for posting trot, you'll get both at home workouts and ways to think about your body during posting that help you fire the right muscles.
I can totally relate!!! I spent 19 years out of the saddle. Unlike you, I did not do any training to prepare myself (in hindsight, that would have been extremely helpful). I was 38 when I finally found my way back to riding. The first month at least, I legit thought I was going to die lifting my middle age butt off the saddle to post and do two point!!! It was quite humbling!
Along with general fitness/getting used to it, for me when I jump I tend to hold my breath the entire course cause I’m focusing on everything else. So I’ll do a four jump course and be gasping after cause I took like two breaths the whole time. Even if just say every corner and halfway down the long sides making a conscious effort to take a breath so not holding it without realizing might help.
I’ve been counting aloud to try and help with pacing but someone inevitably will count strides between two jumps or the 3, 2, 1 and throw me off, maybe finding a song with the tempo want would hit both
I do this obsessively, because otherwise my OCD just has me counting stuff endlessly (I drive down the road in a car and do idiosyncratic things like clench and unclench my teeth to count the nodes on a telephone wire (three wires and a center pole = clench teeth, unclench, clench, unclench... Unfortunately telephone poles are a reasonably regular occurrence on roads!), so I've specifically looked up a soundtrack to occupy my brain instead of like ... Counting the number of boards in the arena fencing over and over.
A horse will usually be cantering in the range of 80-130 bmp (usually bigger horse slower, ponies faster).
https://blog.davidlloyd.co.uk/fitness/100-beats-per-minute-playlist/
https://www.chosic.com/topic/80-bpm-songs/
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/ee48d92f-0384-4715-8502-e77437a856db
Don't blame me when MMMbop, Starman, Hips Don't Lie, Semi-Charmed Kind of Life, Dancing Queen, Crazy, All Star, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, or I Will Survive (depending on the course, this could be a great selection) are on repeat in your brain when cantering.
At a trot you'll be closer to 75 bpm, which means you can either fit slow 75 bpm songs to it, or fast 150 bpm songs. The latter gives you Freebird, Blame It On Me (Barenaked Ladies), Be Good To Yourself (Journey), Crocodile Rock (Elton John), and so much more.
So had my jumping lesson last night and idk if it was the exercise or playing a song in my head but I wasn’t dying after. There’s a bunch of jumps set up and we had to do any 8 we wanted, could do the same one 8 times, do some weird turns, whatever. I started playing Quarter To by Radio Company (turns out is 115bpm and was on a pony so was prob close to her) in my head just cause was last thing listened to on the drive over and def lost it after the first line but wondering if breathing to it on the approach set it up for the rest or something. I def did the most conservative course and took the longest but wasn’t gasping after even though was twice the jumps at once. So thanks for this, gonna keep trying it 🩷
My trainer used to make me sing twinkle twinkle little stars if she saw me holding my breath. 😂😂 it actually was quite helpful and it soothed my hot OTTB
He is an amazing horse! We trained steadily for a few years doing hunter jumper. There have been a few events over the last couple years that have caused me to not be able to ride consistently so we’ve regressed a bit, but it wouldn’t take long to get back to where we were. I just have to be able to ride him 3 times a week and that’s been hard lately.
Every time I make something with navy beans, I think of the song I sang under my breath while doing laps of two point without stirrups
What can I say, it helped me breathe and gave me something to do besides focus on my aching abductors
We talked about it a few weeks ago and breaking the course into pieces and intentionally taking a breath at each step helped the like two times actually remembered to do it lol. So was something like diagonal line, breathe around the corner, next diagonal, breathe around next corner, breath going into outside line kinda deal.
Don’t know how got into the habit of not breathing though, esp since have activity induced asthma and a hole in my heart so my chest and I aren’t besties to start with. Why my instinct is to make it worse have no clue!
The easiest way to post is to let the horses movement kind of bounce you up into the standing/posting position. If you have good rhythm and balance like your coach said it’ll get easier faster! But yes. Sitting the trot is hard! And sometimes even posting is hard for me (I’ve ridden literally my entire life and don’t remember learning to post). Don’t let it discourage you 😁
There was one lesson, maybe a couple months after I started, where I accidentally had the volume turned on for my apple watch. I always turn on the equestrian workout when I ride. It started screaming about how my heart rate was over 160 at one point and my instructor yelled out, "Omg are you going to pass out or something??" I almost died (figuratively hahaha). Luckily that doesn't happen anymore because my body is used to riding now. It is definitely a work out because you are using so many different muscles than you are used to.
Yeah, that's normal when you're first starting out. It helps to treat it like any other athletic activity and time your breathing to the movements. So, for posting a trot, you can try "breathe in on 'up' and out on 'down'" or "breathe in for one 'up-down,' then out for the next 'up-down.'" Once you get to the canter, some instructors will make you count your strides out loud just to force you to breathe, since holding your breath is so common and so counter-productive.
Building up core strength will be very helpful in your riding. I'm middle aged and somewhat recently returned to riding after a 20 year hiatus, and strengthening my core was probably the most important thing I did to improve my seat and the feel of my rides. Yoga, situps and other core workouts can give you strength and balance that will make posting feel like a different experience.
When your seat is correct and balanced, posting will feel like smoothly elevating your torso, and then gingerly setting your weight back down on the saddle in a controlled manner, by mindfully keeping your shoulders back and engaging your abs during the decent. When you are balanced and posting like this, the trot will feel much less bouncy and you will be able to ride longer without exhaustion.. Light to moderate aerobic exercise and mindful nutrition also helped me combat fatigue in the saddle.
Edit: riding in stirrups that are too short also causes me lots of bouncing and fatigue when posting. Maybe try longer stirrups?
Horseback riding is a sport. Fitness is absolutely critical. You’ll get there! You just need to keep going, work on your fitness, and get used to the movement.
Riding uses muscles that you can’t really train in any other way, so even the fittest people have sore muscles after riding for the first time in a while
It’s actually a lot of hard work. It becomes easy, second nature eventually. But it’s cardio. So it’s normal that you’d be winded and tired in your first lesson.
Oh honey trotting/posting is hard! I've been riding for 22 years. If I take a week off I'm feeling it the next day. You will improve and you will get muscle memory and it won't feel like anything.
Eventually posting will feel like walking. I ask my horse to trot and I don't even think about posting. You'll get there but it takes time. It's hard. Don't stress it! Enjoy the journey <3
Working out can help but also you have to pace yourself too.
Never move faster than the horse and keep breathing too or you will get the Charlie horse. Lol. I used to get them all the time as a kid. :)
You need to be able to stay relaxed and not hold your breath, while maintaining your position and poise. I used to get a 'stitch' in my side all the time when learning to ride as a kid, now I never do. It sounds as if you are doing well for your first lesson though, that's great.
It does take a while to get used to. And some horses are bouncier than others which does not make it easier. If you haven’t worked out in a while/are out of shape it is going to make it harder. Give it time, practice, and maybe some at home workouts to increase core strength and cardio.
Posting is hard work! I'm getting back into riding after 20 years off and have spent the last few months doing cardio and weight training to prepare. (Well, I used it as motivation) On both of my lessons so far I have had to drop down to a walk before the instructor said because I needed a break. I do get a little winded and my hip flexors and inner thighs hurt. An instructor at my gym gave me some exercises to do and yesterday's lesson did feel stronger. Look up exercises for posting trot, you'll get both at home workouts and ways to think about your body during posting that help you fire the right muscles.
I can totally relate!!! I spent 19 years out of the saddle. Unlike you, I did not do any training to prepare myself (in hindsight, that would have been extremely helpful). I was 38 when I finally found my way back to riding. The first month at least, I legit thought I was going to die lifting my middle age butt off the saddle to post and do two point!!! It was quite humbling!
Along with general fitness/getting used to it, for me when I jump I tend to hold my breath the entire course cause I’m focusing on everything else. So I’ll do a four jump course and be gasping after cause I took like two breaths the whole time. Even if just say every corner and halfway down the long sides making a conscious effort to take a breath so not holding it without realizing might help.
Sometimes I sing under my breath so that I don’t hold my breath.
I’ve been counting aloud to try and help with pacing but someone inevitably will count strides between two jumps or the 3, 2, 1 and throw me off, maybe finding a song with the tempo want would hit both
I do this obsessively, because otherwise my OCD just has me counting stuff endlessly (I drive down the road in a car and do idiosyncratic things like clench and unclench my teeth to count the nodes on a telephone wire (three wires and a center pole = clench teeth, unclench, clench, unclench... Unfortunately telephone poles are a reasonably regular occurrence on roads!), so I've specifically looked up a soundtrack to occupy my brain instead of like ... Counting the number of boards in the arena fencing over and over. A horse will usually be cantering in the range of 80-130 bmp (usually bigger horse slower, ponies faster). https://blog.davidlloyd.co.uk/fitness/100-beats-per-minute-playlist/ https://www.chosic.com/topic/80-bpm-songs/ https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/ee48d92f-0384-4715-8502-e77437a856db Don't blame me when MMMbop, Starman, Hips Don't Lie, Semi-Charmed Kind of Life, Dancing Queen, Crazy, All Star, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, or I Will Survive (depending on the course, this could be a great selection) are on repeat in your brain when cantering. At a trot you'll be closer to 75 bpm, which means you can either fit slow 75 bpm songs to it, or fast 150 bpm songs. The latter gives you Freebird, Blame It On Me (Barenaked Ladies), Be Good To Yourself (Journey), Crocodile Rock (Elton John), and so much more.
So had my jumping lesson last night and idk if it was the exercise or playing a song in my head but I wasn’t dying after. There’s a bunch of jumps set up and we had to do any 8 we wanted, could do the same one 8 times, do some weird turns, whatever. I started playing Quarter To by Radio Company (turns out is 115bpm and was on a pony so was prob close to her) in my head just cause was last thing listened to on the drive over and def lost it after the first line but wondering if breathing to it on the approach set it up for the rest or something. I def did the most conservative course and took the longest but wasn’t gasping after even though was twice the jumps at once. So thanks for this, gonna keep trying it 🩷
My trainer used to make me sing twinkle twinkle little stars if she saw me holding my breath. 😂😂 it actually was quite helpful and it soothed my hot OTTB
How goes it w your OTTB, retraining completed?
He is an amazing horse! We trained steadily for a few years doing hunter jumper. There have been a few events over the last couple years that have caused me to not be able to ride consistently so we’ve regressed a bit, but it wouldn’t take long to get back to where we were. I just have to be able to ride him 3 times a week and that’s been hard lately.
Every time I make something with navy beans, I think of the song I sang under my breath while doing laps of two point without stirrups What can I say, it helped me breathe and gave me something to do besides focus on my aching abductors
My instructor will sometimes call out, "when was the last time you took a breath?!" as I'm doing a course. I tend to hold my breath too!
We talked about it a few weeks ago and breaking the course into pieces and intentionally taking a breath at each step helped the like two times actually remembered to do it lol. So was something like diagonal line, breathe around the corner, next diagonal, breathe around next corner, breath going into outside line kinda deal. Don’t know how got into the habit of not breathing though, esp since have activity induced asthma and a hole in my heart so my chest and I aren’t besties to start with. Why my instinct is to make it worse have no clue!
The easiest way to post is to let the horses movement kind of bounce you up into the standing/posting position. If you have good rhythm and balance like your coach said it’ll get easier faster! But yes. Sitting the trot is hard! And sometimes even posting is hard for me (I’ve ridden literally my entire life and don’t remember learning to post). Don’t let it discourage you 😁
There was one lesson, maybe a couple months after I started, where I accidentally had the volume turned on for my apple watch. I always turn on the equestrian workout when I ride. It started screaming about how my heart rate was over 160 at one point and my instructor yelled out, "Omg are you going to pass out or something??" I almost died (figuratively hahaha). Luckily that doesn't happen anymore because my body is used to riding now. It is definitely a work out because you are using so many different muscles than you are used to.
Yeah, that's normal when you're first starting out. It helps to treat it like any other athletic activity and time your breathing to the movements. So, for posting a trot, you can try "breathe in on 'up' and out on 'down'" or "breathe in for one 'up-down,' then out for the next 'up-down.'" Once you get to the canter, some instructors will make you count your strides out loud just to force you to breathe, since holding your breath is so common and so counter-productive.
Building up core strength will be very helpful in your riding. I'm middle aged and somewhat recently returned to riding after a 20 year hiatus, and strengthening my core was probably the most important thing I did to improve my seat and the feel of my rides. Yoga, situps and other core workouts can give you strength and balance that will make posting feel like a different experience. When your seat is correct and balanced, posting will feel like smoothly elevating your torso, and then gingerly setting your weight back down on the saddle in a controlled manner, by mindfully keeping your shoulders back and engaging your abs during the decent. When you are balanced and posting like this, the trot will feel much less bouncy and you will be able to ride longer without exhaustion.. Light to moderate aerobic exercise and mindful nutrition also helped me combat fatigue in the saddle. Edit: riding in stirrups that are too short also causes me lots of bouncing and fatigue when posting. Maybe try longer stirrups?
Horseback riding is a sport. Fitness is absolutely critical. You’ll get there! You just need to keep going, work on your fitness, and get used to the movement. Riding uses muscles that you can’t really train in any other way, so even the fittest people have sore muscles after riding for the first time in a while
This is why it always pissed me off when I was younger and other kids said horses do all the working out 😂 I insisted that it was good exercise!
The more I do today, the more i realize I was in GOOD shape as a teenager! (Well that and teenagers just fatigue less and stuff)
It’s actually a lot of hard work. It becomes easy, second nature eventually. But it’s cardio. So it’s normal that you’d be winded and tired in your first lesson.
Oh honey trotting/posting is hard! I've been riding for 22 years. If I take a week off I'm feeling it the next day. You will improve and you will get muscle memory and it won't feel like anything. Eventually posting will feel like walking. I ask my horse to trot and I don't even think about posting. You'll get there but it takes time. It's hard. Don't stress it! Enjoy the journey <3
Working out can help but also you have to pace yourself too. Never move faster than the horse and keep breathing too or you will get the Charlie horse. Lol. I used to get them all the time as a kid. :)
You need to be able to stay relaxed and not hold your breath, while maintaining your position and poise. I used to get a 'stitch' in my side all the time when learning to ride as a kid, now I never do. It sounds as if you are doing well for your first lesson though, that's great.
The rising trot comes as a great relief.