How to Canter

[Robyn]

I just learning to canter and I'm not sure of the aids involved, are you supposed to ease in with your inside rein and at the same time give a nudge with your outside leg behind the girth. I wasn't sure if I right or not, but please help!

[Jo]

Well, I'm a novice and have cantered by accident (!) several times but my instructor agrees with the advice you've been given. She also says that to begin with you should sit slightly out of the saddle, with shoulders level with your hands. That way, your feet can't be jerked out of the stirrups and send you tumbling. Of course, when you can do it properly you'll be able to sit in the saddle and become part of the horse - but I don't know how long that takes! I'm quite light and the horse's motion send me bouncing in my saddle like a powerball! One thing I have found is that bigger horses give you a smoother ride!

[Medalia]

Jo!! you NEVER come out of the saddle when executing a gait change!! You MUST stay seated at all times!

Well, anyway...you are supposed to put the leg back behind the girth (Some horses are trained w/ the inside leg, some are w/ outside leg [ask your trainer/owner of the horse what they were trained to do]).

With the reins, keep them in "check" by making sure you have rather good contact and control...once ready, put the leg back and use the SAME hand as leg being put back, and squeeze it (by which I mean like squeeing water out of a sponge).

Hope that helped you out a little!!\
<\__~~

[KarlR]

Just to play devils advocate, you can come out of the saddle slightly *after* the gait change, but not before or during.

In school work, you should remain seated ("deeply"), but on hacks it is more conventional to rise slightly.

Again, I notice a difference between schoolwork and hacks as regards canter - in hacks you just kick the horse on and shout yah-hee (okay...that was a joke) and they will IMX canter - in school that will get you a fast trot and some criticism!<g> In school work, you usually start on a curve in a working trot (with lots of controlled impulsion), sit deeply, raise hands slightly, and press on the girth gently with the inside leg, and behind the girth firmly with the outside leg. Once in canter squeeze regularly at the point in the cycle where you feel pressed into the seat.

[Jo]

Thanks for the adivce - I'll try to stay seated but I find sitting deep impossible! When the horse canters I'm bouncing around! But I'm determined to do it properly so I'm going to use your advice next time round.

[Heather]

The reason you are bouncing around in canter, is because you are not using your back properly to absorb the up and down movement. I can gaurantee that it is not your fault, because you will not have been taught how to do it. It never ceases to amaze me how riders ever do learn to ride in this country- the teaching is so often completely inadequate. Has you instructor ever explained to you precisely how to sit to the trot and canter, or have you been told, like everyone else, to 'sit deeper' or 'relax your lower back.

I am writing some new pages on just these sort of topics for New Rider, which Mike will be adding to the site as I can find the time to get them written! hopefully, i should have a couple more written covering 'Absorption of the horse's movement' by next weekend! look out for them, as this will throw a new light on how to sit to the horse's movement for you.

All the best, Heather. Ps. Check out my website to see more of what I teach address:
http://www.piaffe.org/heather_moffett.

[KarlR]

Heather,

I think that will be of benefit to all of us. I don't have difficulty at canter, but my sitting trot has always been awful on all but the smoothest of trotters. It's good to know that it's not just me! Hopefully, you will extend the absorption section to sitting trot?

BTW, (and quite off-subject)I only just realised that Heather=Heather Moffett. Amazon dispatched your book to me yesterday and I'm sat here now in anticipation of its arrival. There are two reviews on the Amazon site (both excellent). You might want to add an author review?

Regards...Karl

[This message has been edited by KarlR (edited 20 April 1999).]

[Claudia]

jo,

I don't think she means sit deeply in your saddle just to stay seated, but you can take wieght out of your saddle so your horse knows you want to pick up a faster moving pace then a trot. Sitting deeplyt in the saddle, for most horses, is a que to stop.

Just a thought

[Jo]

Hi,

I think I must be a very lucky rider to have an excellent instructor. When she told me to rise slightly out of the saddle in canter she did so to help me cope with a trekking situation, not schooling. I love riding and as well as my lessons I trek whenever I can. However, in my part of the world it is certainly hit or miss! Some centres are Ok while others are pretty awful. No matter what you tell the leaders, there is sometimes a tendency for them to think, "well, she's here so she must be confident, so what if she has had only five lessons?" Well, that's how it seems to me. I had a very nasty fall on a trek (my horse decided to go into a flat-out gallop which I could not hope to live with!)and my instructor simply gave me the "rise out of your saddle" advice as a stop-gap to keep me on the horse. Well, what can you do with a serial rider who is also just 7 weeks old in terms of experience? I think I should be more sensible and say: "Hey, no more trekking until you've learnt to canter properly!" but I'm hooked. I can't help riding whenever the opportunity arises! If I was told "This horse has never been riden, fancy a go?" I might be dull enough to say yes! (hope not, though!) Since the advice, my instructor has been working with me and now I can do a reasonable sitting trot. Roll on the sitting canter!

Hey, and I didn't know Heather was THAT Heather! Wow! I'm getting the book for sure!

Say, Heather, you're not based in Wales, are you? Becuase most of what you say sounds like my instructor...

[bettina]

I've been riding for a while, and I've learned how to sit the canter well. To canter, sit back, keep the contact, turn the horse's head a little bit to the inside, and ask for the canter with a nudge from your outside leg. If you give clear enough gaits your horse should be canter right up. Remember to keep your heels down when asking for the canter, it'll help!

Anyway, to sit the canter you need to learn to sit with your seat bones under you. You'll notice it helps with the sitting trot too. If you don't know what I mean, try sitting in a chair and putting your bent legs up. Your seat will automatically roll under you. That's what your seatbones should be doing in the canter, and the sitting trot. You'll find it much easier to sit. Make sure not to grip, just let yourself go with the motion of the horse. The canter is just another gait, just like the trot but a bit faster, so all you need to do is relax.

[Heather]

Hate to have to disagree with you, Bettina, but so many riders when told 'just to relax', flop like a sack of potatoes in the saddle. You do not relax when you walk, neither must you when you ride. The rider must have the same poise in the saddle, as applies to good posture on foot. The upper body must remain erect in canter, but not stiff, so that the movement is absorbed through the lower back. Agree with your description of the rolling motion of the seatbones, but this must be accompanied by upper body poise, otherwise the ridr is likely to 'row' with the shoulders-I like the analogy used by Sally Swift of a bungee rope attached to your head, giving the impression of being stretched tall, but elastically so, not rigid.

Heather

[Jo]

Thanks for all the advice! I went on a trek today and we did a lot of cantering. I managed to stay seated most of the time and seem to be discovering the correct poise. One question: how do I make the canter a little faster? My instructor has seen me cantering and told me I was asking the horse to go beyond canter by my very forward body position. Well, I'm sitting up in canter and when I wanted a little extra I leant forward but nothing happened. I don't want to gallop out of control but a little more speed would have been good. Is it a case of the horse knowing what was expected of him and ignoring me or am I giving the wrong signals?

[Heather]

Sounds like you were doing it correctly. Most likely the horse is a wise old bird, and knew exactly what you were asking, but was just saving his legs! It is normal when wanting to gallop, to have the stirrups shorter, and ease the weight forward.

By the way, I am based in glorious South Devon!

Heather

[Jo]

Hi! I made a startling discovery today! I have bruised inner thighs, caused through cantering quite a lot during a 2 1/2 hour hack. What does this mean? I am staying seated a lot more and don't get bumpy so much any more but I must have done something wrong to be bruised!

[~alison~*]

That's been happening to me too Jo, and I don't know why either, but I haven't been doing anything wrong...

[mariana]

I'm just a beginner at riding (about 5 months riding, and stopped for 3 months because of a change of town), so I wouldn't take my advices head on if I were you :-)

About cantering faster, this seems to work for me, but that may be because the horses at my school are retired race horses: I just get off the saddle a little bit and lean forward, into what we call "sporting position" (I'm just translating, you guys probably call it something else). It's like the jockey position, but you don't got off the saddle so much because the stirrups aren't so high. This signal usually gets the horse going, sometimes even more than I want! Also, I've discovered that if I give all the right signals, but am actually scared and don't really want to go faster, the horse simply doesn't go! I don't know why, if anyone can explain, I'd be grateful.
As for the thigh bruises, I got those too, at first. I think it's because our legs aren't used to the position. They went away after a while.

[Jo]

Hi

The odd thing is, I've been riding for 11 weeks and during that time I've been on three long hacks with lots of cantering - but now I am feeling more confident the bruises have started, not before! Is it because I'm staying in my saddle more? Before, to canter I HAD to raise myself out of the saddle or I would have bounced off! I'm quite light and have found it difficult to sit deep - but it's coming! And so are the bruises! Ah well, they're worth it!