How to get canter right

[silly mare]

Hello everyone. I'm not Silly Mare - she's my mum - I'm Ryan aged 10. I started learning to ride earlier this year, and the past few weeks I've begun to canter. I can't get the rythm right. Louise (my instructor) says I do what everyone does, which is grip with my legs, which makes my bum come out of the saddle.

Has anyone got any tips to help me improve my canter. It is really difficult to get the rythm right.

Thank you
Ryan

[Wally]

Blag a few lunge lessons out of your Mum, this way you can concentrate on cantering and get the rythm and technique right without worrying about anything else.

[silly mare]

Great idea Wally, but unfortunately my horse can't be cantered on because he is still on the long road of recovery from tendon injuries last year! (Ryan obviously went to bed long ago, so I'm now replying on his behalf!) Perhaps it is worth asking their instructor for an individual lunge lesson - both my boys currently have a half-hour lesson together, and neither of them can get canter right yet.

This is only the third lesson they have cantered, and there is an improvement but only slight. Trouble is, because they are concentrating so much on trying to feel the rythm, they have problems sustaining the canter, and it is difficult for them to get the feel over such short bursts!

Any other ideas??:(

[Showjumper]

At my stables, me and the other long-suffering helpers have to sprint round the arena making sure the ponies keep cantering, and lead the smaller and more awkward ones. I'm sure your stables has a bunch of eager beaver helpers as well...suck up and they'll be happy to tire themselves out to teach others how to ride! :D

[Moonlightrider]

I don't know about how to stop gripping with your legs... but I keep being yelled at to slouch. Curving your back makes you sit down. It just sounds really weird when someone drives up and the instructor is yelling, "Don't sit up straight! Slouch in that saddle! There you go *sighs* you sat up straight again."

[silly mare]

Thanks Showjumper, but as my sons are 9 and 10 years old, the last thing they would contemplate are GIRLS leading them round on ponies! Boys are scarce at the stables, and because of their age they would hate to be led, even in canter!! It is beneath them, totally!!

Excellent tip Moonlightrider, because one of them in particular rides with a very upright position, so perhaps if he relaxed his back he would find it easier. I will pass that on to him!

[Showjumper]

lunge lessons?! That way they'd just have to concentrate on getting used to the motion of the horse in canter while the instructor would be controlling the horse.

[silly mare]

Thanks SJ - this has been suggested by Wally, and I'm going to speak to their instructor about this.

[emmam100]

They always tell you to relax, and this is hard I know, as you just seem to get thrown off the horse's back with each stride. I find that if you try to move to a 2 time beat (even though canter has a 3 time rhythm) and let your hands give when the horse's head moves forward, this should help you move with the horse as well.

Keep your legs long, and think tall. If you try to lean back, this normally means you are sitting up straight, as you always think you're leaning further back than you actually are. You'll be in better balance if you sit up straight. But basically, practice practice practice!! The more you do it, the easier it will become, and the more relaxed tou will be. Your instructor may even suggest you do some work without stirrups on the lunge - this really helps your balance.

Good luck, and keep up the good work!
:)

[qwerty]

I have just managed to stay in the saddle at canter!:D What I do is totally relax and rock my hips with the rolling of the saddle. Try a lesson with no stirrups...it worked for me!

[silly mare]

Thanks everyone - I've printed out your replies for my boys to read, and will talk to their instructor. They are going for a pony day next week, 10am-4pm at the stables, to learn everything from grooming to mucking out, with a lesson at some point, so they'll be able to put some of this into practice.

[BoN^kErS]

i think the best is to relax when cantering try keeping your legs pointed forward but also to keep grip on the saddle and also lean back with back straight it always helps if the back is straight, ans my trainer keeps telling me that. just practice more and you'll get the hang of it.
important thing is to feel the rocking of the hips, do more work without the stirrups and after a while you'll get the feel of it and will remeber how it feels...i've been doing that all the time.

BoN^kErS

[floppy]

hmm ok...the logical thing to try would be lunge lessons without stirrups and the boys told to let their legs dangle freely! if this doesnt work maybe an idea woudl be to try it bareback!
you know those thingies...are they called rollers??? they are light a big girth with 2 handles on them...try one of those on the horse with no saddle..just a pad....that way if the poys try to grip with their knees it'll be difficult.
or a neck strap instead so the boys have the reins, the mane and the neck strap to hold onto.
their young so riding bareback will be fun :)

[JumperGirl]

WHen I started cantering, i was out of the saddle, leaning forward, and couldnt maintain it. I find that cantering without stirrups is easier, because you cant use the stirrups to hold yourself out of the saddle. I started to get the rythym when my instructor told me back, down, up. thats what it feels like, and I would say back, down, up in my head. If you arte having trouble maintaining, keep your outside leg on, and if they start to slow down, squeeze harder.

Hope it helps.

[JumperGirl]

Floppy-

would you be talking about a vaulting girth??

[floppy]

yup thats the name!

[BoN^kErS]

well...my riding school does not do lunge lessons....but anyway i'm getting used to the cantering but i missed today's lesson just cos of a flu virus...sheesh but well how do you balance while cantering without stirrups?

BoN^kErS

[floppy]

same way you balance doing sitting trot without stirups..stil tall..dangle legs and go with the flow :)

[BoN^kErS]

thx floppy! i'll keep that in mind.

[HopeLock]

when i first started cantering i was terrible and i couldn't keep my horse going. In desperation my instructor told me to get off while she put a bareback pad on. She put me on a lunge for about 5 minutes each direction and had me put the saddle back on and it was so muck easier!!!!!! Another tip is that when most people start to canter they tend to shrink there position by scrunching up their legs and closing their shoulders. The key to a good canter is to keep everything loooooooonnnggggggg. Just RELAX!!!!!!!!!

[BoN^kErS]

i tried relaxin once and i almost fell off my saddle and was hanging on one leg but managed to get back on and holt the horse...*phew* was so scared that day...

BoN^kErS