canter, everything!

[donnalync]

I am having huge difficulty cantering...I am at a different school and haven't cantered for several months. Before that, I only cantered 5 or 6 times, but fine. No trouble sitting it, etc...just trying to get used to it. The other day, at this new place on a horse I have been trotting alot on, I cantered. Totally fell apart. Don't know why. Legs flapping, lost my stirrups, and worse, bouncing all over!!! I felt like I never rode a horse before. I can't remember what I did at the other school that kept me cantering so nicely. Can someone go over details, like leg position, weight in stirrups, heel position, and seat position during transition and during canter.........sorry this is asking alot but I just need to ponder this before my next lesson. I was really embarassed as I have been trotting so nicely and making progress...

[Goldie'sGirl]

Some horses have a very bouncy canter, that throws you everywhere, others are really easy to sit to, maybe this horse was just one of the hard ones.
I know that when I canter, I tense up because I'm nervous, this is due to a bad fall when cantering, when I'm cantering, my position just goes to pot, my heels shoot up, my uper body (well my whole body really) tenses up, maybe you were nervous about cantering for the first time at a new RS, and so you tensed up :confused:
I'm not very good, nor experienced with riding, so maybe someone else will correct me ;)
~GG~

[stormchaser]

A lunge lesson might help lots. Had a lunge lesson the other day (cos this other horse is hard to control in canter), but I mostly cantered without stirrups--it helps with your position lots...if you are brave enough to do it! Did you ride a differen't horse? Some horses have very smooth canters, others don't.

[Galooop]

Nerves!!
We all have those awful days where your thinking "holy have I EVER ridden" It happens to the best of us.
It'd be great if maybe you could get in a practice ride (does your barn do this?) before your next lesson just to have a good soild hour of you and the horse...and then just do the famous trial and error. Sometimes you just need to get the feel, get the rhythem...then the rest will fall into place.

Remember to keep your heels deep. Anchor all your weight down into them, this will not only keep you in the saddle, prevent you from loosing your striups, but also steady your lower leg. Think of tucking your bum under you, but not so much so you are driving the horse foreward. Keep your hands a bit above the horses neck and allow your arms to flow with the gait, but not too jerky! Theres a fine line between keeping tight and steady, and tensing up. You just have to figure it out for yourself.

The canter is a beautful flowing gait of the horse - BUT ONLY TO WATCH! Us riders know how much we have to work our butts off to look pretty up there. If it all falls apart, just flow with it...even if you look loose and sloppy, it will at least be comfty!
Good Luck:D

[elenapopov]

It can be very hard to have a break, then canter on a different horse. (I've been there, took me 2 months to become confident enough to canter the horses I am riding now). A lot depends on the horse. I have ridden horses on which I just could relax and enjoy the view and the horse would move my bum and my thighs all by himself, and then I have ridden horses on which I had to do a lot of balley-dancing to absorb the movement. Lunging in canter is great on the right horse. Everytime I was lunged in canter I would fell off; my current RI wouldn't lunge anyone in canter, unless it is an experienced rider, not even if you pay him in gold, he says that canter in a circle is more unbalancing than canter on a straight line (I don't know if this is true, maybe it also depends on the horse). Although I have seen other RIs who lunge in canter and everything's fine and people say that it really helps to have someone else in control of your horse and concentrate on what is going on under you.
So, with this new horse, try to feel what is happening under you and move correspondingly. Weight in the heel will help you not loose the stirrups, but if you do loose them, don't worry, you don't need them in canter, because balance is not about stirrups.
The trick which worked in my case, was to go on a hack with someone experienced and canter stirrup-to-stirrup on a straight line and he kept talking to me and asking me questions and I had to answer -> talking makes you breath, breathing makes you relax. (But on a straight line you have to be sure you can control the speed of your horse)
And if you are not sure wether the horse has picked the proper lead, ask your "eyes on the ground" to tell you, don't look by yourself until you are more comfortable. Looking down can be scary and unbalancing.
I wish you the best of luck with this wonderful gait.