28 Jun Why do you post the trot and why is it called a posting trot?

The posting trot is designed mostly for the comfort of the horse and to ease their back. Instead of the rider bouncing on the horse’s back, posting the trot is more gentle on the horse’s back. Riders change their diagonal because there are two long muscles in the horse’s spine, and when the rider sits, one muscle contracts while the other muscle lengthens. The muscle that the rider is sitting on contracts. When the rider changes their posting diagonal, the muscle that was contracting is now lengthening and the muscle that was lengthening is now contracting. Also, when the rider changes their diagonal, it gives the muscle that was contracting a chance to rest a little, while still working.

 The posting trot received it’s name for a couple reasons. One of the main reasons is that a very clever person discovered that posting was easier for the rider and more gentle on the horses back over long distances. The name for the postal service is The United States Delivery Service. If the postmen and horses were going fast, they could travel 100 miles in a day. However, they decided to trot because they didn’t want to lose energy. Every ten miles, the postmen changed horses because they din’t want to over work them. Postmen were the people that discovered the posting trot and they were the ones that posted the most. In movies and tv shows, the postmen would gallop, but in the real delivery service, they would post the trot.