Alternately two or three feet may be touching the ground simultaneously. Riders can either sit in the saddle and be bumped as the horse springs from one diagonal to the other, or they can rise to the trot, post, by rising out of the saddle slightly and allowing more of their weight to bear on the stirrups when one or the other of the diagonal pairs of legs leaves the ground.
Posting reduces the impact of the trot on both horse and rider.
As the horse moves faster, its gait changes into the canter, or ordinary gallop, in which the rider does not rise or bump. Cantering can be on the near lead or the off, depending on which is the last foot to leave the ground. The rider's body is more forward than at the trot, the weight taken by the stirrups. The horse's movements are the same as in the canter. To some authorities, the gallop is a four-beat gait, especially in an extended run.