Cantering question

[Jennp]

I'm 30 years old and have recently started riding. I've ridden before but never took lessons. My friend has three mares we trail ride with, and the one I ride is a great horse. I'm very comfortable at the walk, pretty good at the trot (sitting, not posting) and I feel fine over obstacles, rough trail, etc.

My fear is cantering. There are some open places where we ride that we can get a quick lope in, and sometimes I feel fine. However, I often feel like I'm bouncing all over the place, that I can't watch where I'm going and that I not going to be able to get stopped. The horse is great, it's all me. What can I do to get my confidence up? When I get scared, I panic, and pull the horse up and I am nervous for a while. I'm terrified I will fall off.

I ride western, and I always wear a helmet. I want to conquer this and stop dreading it.

Any suggestions on how to relax?

[Trixie]

If you check out some of the messages I've posted here, you'll see that I've had the same problem as you - a fear of canter. To be honest its been more of an abject terror. However, I've persevered and on days when I've felt very anxious I haven't cantered. This has led to me asking to ride a horse known to go faster if you try to pull her back to trot. Only way to stop her was to circle her in ever-decreasing circles. Once I knew I could circle her I felt more comfy, but I was still worried.

On Tuesday of this week, I worked on walk to halt transitions, then halt to trot to halt, then I cantered her. OK, I had a total panic attack and almost collapsed off her when I got her back to walk, but the thing was I'D DONE IT!!!!!

Today I muttered "ooooooooohmmmmmm" over and over again on my way to the stables to keep myself calm. It was a new instructor I'd never had before and I DIDN'T tell her how scared I was. I used all my calming techniques on me and the horse and pretended to be business-like and cool. When it came to canter, I did it, whole arena, 20 metre circles and 10 metre circles. In our rectangular arena this horse tends to rush down the long sides and riders pull at her to slow her up. Today, as she got ready to pick up speed on the long side I asked her to speed up. As she got ready to slow for the bend, I asked her to slow down, so basically I was asking her to do what she was going to do anyway. For some reason, this made her accept my requests and eventually I was able to speed her up on the first half of the long side AND SLOW HER DOWN LONG BEFORE THE BEND!!!!! This is not something I've ever seen her do before.

Suddenly I felt in control, the fear was gone and I changed the rein and did it all over again. Also did walk to canter transitions on her on straight sides so I had to make sure I got her on the correct lead for the next bend. I DID IT!! Caught sight of myself in the big mirrors while I was feeling as if my legs were swinging about a foot backwards and forwards and saw to my astonishment that they were only moving about an inch. The truth was that what I felt bore no relation to what was actually happening. I looked secure, calm and confident. That's given me much more confidence and I'm not so scared any more. This is the horse that two weeks ago I said I would NEVER ride - now I can't get enough!

Sorry to waffle on, but I thought it might help you to know that you can overcome this fear. You probably feel more insecure and unbalanced than you actually are. Is there an indoor arena you could practice in? At least indoors, they can't run very far away with you and are more likely to be calm.

[Wobblydeb]

Here goes ..... ;)

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I was what is known as a "happy hacker" over here (= happy trail rider) for years. In all that time I never did learn to canter properly, so I was always worried by it, and would bounce around (unless I stood up in my stirrups), and fall off far too easily! I think the fear stems from not feeling in control, and out of balance....

So.... as Trixie suggests, are you able to do some practice? It doesn't necessarily have to be indoors, but is something you can do on a trail ride, as long as your horse is willing to listen to you. (Unfortunately a lot of horses will simply follow the one in front, which isn't much help in learning to control speed/direction if you aren't the person at the front!) If you practice lots of downward transitions from trot to walk, walk to halt and canter to trot or walk, it will give you confidence that you can slow down if you are feeling wobbly. Plus, turning a circle or other pattern as you are riding along, again will get the horse to listen, and help you feel in control.

As for not bouncing, I think (I'm no expert, I cannot do this myself yet!!!) there are two keys to this. One is having enough space in your back to flex it so that your back absorbs the movement. To do this you need to pull your bum underneath you more, making your back straighter before starting. Then when you canter you absorb the movement by allowing the middle of your back to flex forwards and backwards. I forgot this last week, and had such a sore lower back as a result!!!

The second bit seems to be being ready for the start of it! The best analogy I have heard (and thank you if it was someone on this board!!! :) ) is to think of it like surfing a wave. Be ready for the lift as the horse's back end rises up underneath you, then ride it down :)

I'll go and take my inexperienced, but enthusiastic self off now..... :p

[Jennp]

Thanks Trixie, I think you're right that I probably don't look as unbalanced as I feel. I wonder if I could video tape myself riding? I bet that would help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I'm also going to try your ohm techique. :)

Wobblydeb, I know you hit the nail on the head with flex in the lower back. I'm very tense when I canter, which keeps me from moving with the horse.

[denise42]

This is perfect timing, as I am riding today after work.
I have the very same problem, I freak at the canter to the right. This is my horses weaker side and she is unbalanced this way. The horse has learned to take the wrong lead also , so that I feel more off balance , and stop her. So we are now in this cycle. The last 3 lessons I had only gotten the wrong lead once, and I reacted the very same way. But when I ride by my self I am more tense and she knows this and takes advantage of it. So that I really do not want to practice this with out some one there to tell me if I am on the correct lead or not. (It really is a great excuse for not having to canter ) As I am far to chicken to look down and see what her sholders are doing. Going the other direction I am much more confident . I too wish I would just get over this all ready . But other than downing gallons of calming tea before I ride ( and a beer or two after ) I am just a bundle of anxiety the whole day anticipating THE CANTER . What a baby :rolleyes:

[Trixie]

I've found that when a horse goes off on the wrong lead you hear four beats on a bend instead of three. This extra beat also gives you an extra bump. On a U-shaped bend you're more likely to get the correct lead if you ask for canter at the start since the horse can see the bend all the way round. If you ask at the end of the bend, the horse can see that the next bit is straight and may take off on the lead they're happier with, rather than the one they need for the next bend which is a long way off.

If you're not working in an arena, but in the open, try walking and trotting in a 20 metre circe so its all bend. Do this for a wee while so your horse gets the idea that you're working in a circle and nothing but a circle. Then as for canter. If on the first asking, the horse goes off on the wrong lead, come back to trot, then walk then back to trot and ask again. This time take your outer leg further back than you did before and use it a little bit more strongly. In the past I've been known to have my outside foot practically on a horse's back because he was being a pain about leads although I don't recommend this as you get very unbalanced. Still, he got the message. After that he was fine. This was in the days before I was a scaredy cat!:D

If you still can't get the correct lead on this particular side, I would concentrate on working in walk and trot in that direction slightly more than the other to build up your horse's strength, since he may be a bit weak on that side.

Let us know how you get on tonight:)

[Laetitia]

It's quite useful to practice canter work going up a hill - if you've got any handy. I have a bit of a confidence problem about not being in control - potty really as I know nag isn't going to bomb off ( too lazy bless her ) but the fear remains. Taking her uphill with companion staying behind so we don't race, I make myself relax and no. it's not that fast is it, and there we are top of hill and nag has had enough. The grin goes right across the face. Worth a try. L

[BackintheSaddle]

I was thinking of you last night because the TB I jump was feeling VERY energetic in canter. To get his attention back on his work we did some trot circles, then cantered on a circle, then a figure eight with a lead change in the middle. He was MUCH better, and I had breaks! Is there any room that you could canter in a nice circle? Otherwise, I though going up hill was a great suggestion as it is good for the form, and will be harder work for your horse so he will be more willing to come back to trot.

Good luck

[denise42]

Circle at the canter worked well.
I got the correct lead every time. I ride in an indoor and made sure I ask for the canter right at the bend ,deep in the corner. Now I just have to relax and ride through the rough stuff , she gets strung out and fast on the right lead, as its her weaker side. I get so tense I squeze with my legs and/or pull on the rein , she takes this to mean , trot. So we did a lot of stoping and starting.
Next ride tomorrow, I'll try again and keep telling my self to relax, don't pull on her face and SMILE THIS IS SUPOSE TO BE FUN !!!! :eek:

[Jennp]

Hello all, thank you for your advice. I went out again for a good long trail ride and we had a good spot of open dirt road so we loped for about a quarter mile. I leaned forward a little and relaxed finally, it was like flying!! I got a little scared toward before I asked her to drop back to walk, but I think it was more because it was going so well, I didn't want to end on a bad note!

My friend also did a really cool thing for me this week, she has a GPS that also tracks miles per hour. So she took the horse I ride for a lope and told me she tops out in the canter at about 16 MPH (about 26 Kilometers per hour) which isn't really that fast. She knew I was feeling like it was sooo much faster than that, so that helped me put it in perspective.

Well, anyway, thanks again, I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

[denise42]

"she tops out in the canter at about 16 MPH "

WOW, and here I am thinking my horse is doing worp speed...lol
I'll keep that in mind when I ride tonight.

[jumpinizmything]

try cantering in a confined space so that you the horse has to stop, this will make you feel alot more comfortable and more able to relax, instead of tense up xx