How to Help Riders Who Struggle to “Feel” Their Posting Diagonals

I have a couple of young students who are having a very difficult time learning their diagonals. They have good basic positions and can change diagonals easily when asked, but they don’t seem to be able to see or feel what diagonal they are on. They can tell what diagonal another rider is on when watching. But even when I count out the rhythm of the correct leg (up, down, up), they often can’t tell whether they are moving with it, or opposite. I’ve tried every way I can think of to help them. Any specific ideas of how to help young children who just can’t seem to “get” diagonals?

Sara, I encounter this in clinics quite often, and I do have a technique that has been successful with most riders. I will address this, as well as steer you to a free topic on EquestrianCoach.com that I did specifically for this issue.

First, of course, the rider has to be able to visually identify the right from wrong diagonal.  Some riders do require more time to get this, but it’s worth spending the time to focus on this.  If they visually can’t see the inside shoulder/leg coming back on the rising part, then have them look at the outsider shoulder/leg going forward as they rise.  Have them change diagonals 100 times a day for a couple weeks with your (or someone’s) help identifying right from wrong, and I think they should easily be able to at least visually tell.

Once that is mastered, now comes the important part: “Feeling.”  Riders that know visually the correct diagonal, yet still have trouble feeling the diagonal, usually comes from always looking at the diagonal first, rather than feeling first.

So my fix for this is having them sit the trot, begin posting and look ahead.  Take a few seconds to feel, make a decision, then look to see if it’s correct or not.  If not, sit a stride and feel the correct.  Sit another stride and feel the incorrect one.

They will instinctively want to look first, or cheat the exercise, so watch their eyes. Repeat this over and over.  Feel first, then verify.  I really doubt it will take more than two weeks to almost master this if they practice this daily.  And they can practice on their own. I did have one girl who had a terrible time feeling them, and she was in her 30’s.  As you will see in my topic, I put her on a lunge line and had her shut her eyes and do this exercise.  Taking that sensory away seemed to do the trick!