An interesting Canter problem.

[Elvengirl]

I have been riding a mare that is owned by the stable I ride at for about a month now. I ride her twice a week to assist the head trainer as she has quite a few on her plate at the mo. Anyways, she's a wonderful girl and so talented and we get along just fine. I have one problem though...she has the hugest movement I have ever experienced. Walk and trot is going fine, I can sit her trot comfortably and she works nice on contact and is a real keener. When we canter though, it takes soooo much strength for me to stay with her and keep her round. I find I can only canter maybe twice or three times around before I have to walk! I also get these awful burning pains in my abdomen in the vicinity just above my belly button after I ride her. Am I not strong enough to ride her? She seems happy and all but it is so hard to ride her canter as she has a ton of spring in her step and I feel like I'm riding a leaping Lippizanner! Any advice? Maybe some strengthening excersizes I can do? She is particularily springy when in season and the head trainer suggested I ride in two-point until she gets her "springs" calmed down but that makes me even more tired! Has anyone else ever experienced this? I love her, she's wonderful, but I feel like a sack of potatoes!

[Elvengirl]

p.s I ride several other horses and have never had any problems sitting the canter, and am usually used as an example to other students on how to truly sit the trot and canter.

[nirikina]

If your instructor uses you as a good example, it may be that your seat is so light and following that this horse is able to lift it's back and work properly, hence why the movement is so big. Sounds wonderful to me! It would be a shame to do anything to squash it. Sorry, can't give you any advice except just to practice.

[galadriel]

Whoo! Sounds fun.

I think you're finding that in addition to a strong back, in riding you also need a strong abdomen. There are all sorts of exercises that you can do to build trunk strength. Situps are a pretty classic abdomen building exercise.

Farrier work takes massive amounts of trunk strength, but I don't recommend it if you don't know what you ought to be doing. My farrier's been teaching me to keep the horses maintained :) between trimmings, with a rasp--I do precisely what he's suggested and don't vary it at all. I expect that over time I'll get enough basic experience to feel comfortable experimenting a bit.

Anyway, that's a great way to build trunk strength and useful, too.

[Elvengirl]

thanks nirikina and galadriel. I'm going to try and start working on abdomen strength and see if that helps. I don't currently have a physical excersize program at all (does lifting cheeseburger to mouth count?) because I did barn work for my stable all summer and found that it kept me really fit. I was thinking that was what the problem was but I wasn't sure, it just felt so strange to feel so weak. I don't know how the head trainer rides her around jumping courses, I think I would drop dead from exhaustion! Hopefully the more practice I get riding that canter, the more used to it I'll get, I just hope this mare will me patient with me and my sack-like movements at the moment, although sometimes I could swear she thinks it's great fun to see how much she can sproing and make her rider work!

[galadriel]

Originally posted by Elvengirl
it just felt so strange to feel so weak.

I can sympathize! (Back problems, so I can't be very aggresive with strengthening.)

A lot of barn work can be great for abdomen & back, too.

And yes, probably more practice with this mare will help you feel more comfortable, and will definitely work that muscle for you. She really does sound like fun.

[Lenvale]

Message deleted

[Elvengirl]

Lenvale I completely agree. Her collected canter is much easier for me movement wise BUT it still takes a ton of upper body strength for me to manage to keep her energy in the smaller frame so it's almost as bad anyways I just feel less flopsy but equally or even more tired. I'm glad to hear that you are having improvement as you move along with your gelding, hopefully I will start having that too as I get used to her way of going. It probably doesn't help that the other horses I ride are at the other extreme of having such smooth gaits you could have a cup of tea whilst in the canter and not spill! I should find that canter simulator machine I've heard people talk about and set it to bouncy and sit on it everyday!