The Cantering Rollercoaster

Whyner

Hi All,

A few of you may remember helping me with the trot basics a few weeks back. Well last night, towards the end of my lesson where I thought we were winding down the instructor says "right, now we're going to canter."

I got all nervous and exicted at the same time, just didn't expect it.

Trotted half a lap, got into position and off she cantered. Jeez man, felt like going on a rollercoaster, such a buzz!!! I didn't know anything about cantering so just went with what she told me, i.e stay seated and sit tall.

Anyone got any other tips? I'm going to read up on it today. Can't wait to go again. Would really love to up my lessons to 2 a week. Very addictive.

Nice Wan,
Whyner

togster

Nice one Whyner!!

Now the fun begins!

Cantering is probably one of the easiest gaits to sit.

My tips:

1. Sit deep in the saddle. By this i mean feel your seat bones sink into the saddle.
2. Don't grip with your knee. This will cause your lower leg to become detached from the horses side. When you are cantering try and drop your heel as low as possible this will get your leg longer and will give you more to hang on to!!
3. Sit up! To start with i always get people to lean back slightly. This helps your seat get deeper.
4. Rock your hips You should move your hips with the stride of the horse. i.e back and forth. If you remain rigid you will bounce around alot!!
5. Your hands should also go back and forth with the stride. A horse bobs his hand when cantering so you should also do this. This is good to remember when starting because it helps the rider learn to balance without hanging on to the horses mouth.

There are lots of things to do with aids and stuff but your instructor will help you with that.

glad al is going well for you!!

Whyner

togster wrote: »

Nice one Whyner!!

Now the fun begins!

Cantering is probably one of the easiest gaits to sit.

My tips:

1. Sit deep in the saddle. By this i mean feel your seat bones sink into the saddle.
2. Don't grip with your knee. This will cause your lower leg to become detached from the horses side. When you are cantering try and drop your heel as low as possible this will get your leg longer and will give you more to hang on to!!
3. Sit up! To start with i always get people to lean back slightly. This helps your seat get deeper.
4. Rock your hips You should move your hips with the stride of the horse. i.e back and forth. If you remain rigid you will bounce around alot!!
5. Your hands should also go back and forth with the stride. A horse bobs his hand when cantering so you should also do this. This is good to remember when starting because it helps the rider learn to balance without hanging on to the horses mouth.

There are lots of things to do with aids and stuff but your instructor will help you with that.

glad al is going well for you!!

Cheers Togster. I'll keep those in mind. They all make sense.

Do you teach?

giorgi

Whyner,

Iv been following your progress with learning to ride...and its amazing how enthusiastic you are about it all! iv never come accross someone who wants to learn everything there is possible abour a particular thing, ie trotting or cantering!!

i wish you the best of fun (you dont need luck) and keep us posted re your progress!!!

Whyner

giorgi wrote: »

Whyner,

Iv been following your progress with learning to ride...and its amazing how enthusiastic you are about it all! iv never come accross someone who wants to learn everything there is possible abour a particular thing, ie trotting or cantering!!

i wish you the best of fun (you dont need luck) and keep us posted re your progress!!!

You're a gas man Giorgi...I'll keep you posted alright.

giorgi

Whyner wrote: »

You're a gas man Giorgi...I'll keep you posted alright.

awesome...one thing though....im a woman!!!!:D

Borderfox

The more you do it the easier it becomes and you will find yourself being able to make adjustments on the go and even think of changing direction

togster

Whyner wrote: »

Do you teach?

I try

As giorgi said, it's great to see someone so interested. Did she teach you about the lead leg and all that? As borderfox said, the longer you stay in the saddle, the easier it gets :pac:

Whyner

giorgi wrote: »

awesome...one thing though....im a woman!!!!:D

Oops, sorry about that giorgi. I just took a gamble.

Whyner

Nope, haven't heard the lead leg mentioned yet. In fairness I only cantered 2 half laps of the arena.

She told me to: (on the right rein)

1. Keep my inside leg tight on the girth
2. Move my outside leg behind the girth
3. Open my inside hand
4. Ask for the canter (while squeezing both legs)

Is my right leg (1) the lead leg?

doctor evil

The lead leg refers to the horse. When cantering you should see the tip of the foot fore in your downward peripheral vision. Canter on the correct leg/lead also feels smoother than counter counter (this has the opposite aids to true counter). Technically the lead leg is the diagonally opposite hind leg that the animal strikes off on.

Don't get het up about cantering without stirrups when the time comes, its a lot smoother and less scary than you think.

Whyner

doctor evil wrote: »

The lead leg refers to the horse. When cantering you should see the tip of the foot fore in your downward peripheral vision. Canter on the correct leg/lead also feels smoother than counter counter (this has the opposite aids to true counter). Technically the lead leg is the diagonally opposite hind leg that the animal strikes off on.

Don't get het up about cantering without stirrups when the time comes, its a lot smoother and less scary than you think.

Of course. Didn't put much thought into that one. I'm just been staring at an animated canter and now my eyes are sore. At least I can read the beats now.

Borderfox

I find canter without stirrups much easier to sit.

Jemmy

An instructor i had when i started years ago said think of it as polishing the saddle with your ass! Your ass doesnt actually move but feel the movement and its like your polishing it! haha

convert

Borderfox wrote: »

I find canter without stirrups much easier to sit.

I find that, too. It's much easier to keep your leg in position, and there's total freedom for your body to sink into its natural position. If I could, I'd do all my dressage tests without stirrups - much more comfortable (though I suppose it depends what type of horse you're on, and the level of experience of both horse and rider!)

Whyner

More cantering last night although the first lap didn't go very well. The instructor then advised me to stand up while cantering and to feel the rhythm of the horse below me rather than whacking down on his poor back. That went much better. Stood tall with my inside hand on the neck strap and outside hand on the rein. Was bombing round......

Most of the lesson is still trotting large, circles, figure 8's and going over trotting poles. Only got to do 4 laps of cantering so it looks like it will take a while to learn.

Lesson went well though and when I put Lady back in her stable she went over for a quick "smoke". The instructor told me Lady loves the "smokes" and then explained all to me. So I found out what she was doing was called air sucking and not very good for her. Should stabled horses not have some form of "good" distraction? She did put a cribbing collar on her before we left though and explained weaving to me also. Their stable doors prevent weaving but I now know there's ample more activities which can injur horses whilst they're stabled, box walking, wood chewing etc......pity they're boxed up so much!!!!

togster

Wind sucking is a bad habit alright. I don't know if it causes major harm but horses often learn it while they are boxed for long period of times and often by mimicking other wind suckers.

Stable vices are terrible. It's a refection that the horse is bored/stressed/etc.
Akin to a monkey in a zoo which paces up and down because it is confined too much.
People should make efforts to turn horses out more and allow interaction in the field with other horses.

Anyway back OT OP glad all is going well. Won't be long now....your first jump;)

doctor evil

The wind sucking can be attributed to gastric ulcers, there are management and remedies to reduce this vice. With weaving a horse can learn to do it behind the weaving grill.

I forgot to this in my last post OP, it is the toe of the inside fore that you should flicking into your downward periphery vision.

If you go by the 'polishing the saddle' metaphor make sure you don't do it too hard as it can cause the horses back to hollow and then they are not using them selves properly.

It will come with time, try doing more sitting trot and work without stirrups to develop your seat.

giorgi

Whyner wrote: »

More cantering last night although the first lap didn't go very well. The instructor then advised me to stand up while cantering and to feel the rhythm of the horse below me rather than whacking down on his poor back. That went much better. Stood tall with my inside hand on the neck strap and outside hand on the rein. Was bombing round......

Most of the lesson is still trotting large, circles, figure 8's and going over trotting poles. Only got to do 4 laps of cantering so it looks like it will take a while to learn.

Lesson went well though and when I put Lady back in her stable she went over for a quick "smoke". The instructor told me Lady loves the "smokes" and then explained all to me. So I found out what she was doing was called air sucking and not very good for her. Should stabled horses not have some form of "good" distraction? She did put a cribbing collar on her before we left though and explained weaving to me also. Their stable doors prevent weaving but I now know there's ample more activities which can injur horses whilst they're stabled, box walking, wood chewing etc......pity they're boxed up so much!!!!

ah i know who that horse is!!! i have ridden her many times - she's a real good talented horse - you'll learn loads from her - her windsucking is nasty tho - but its only in the stable so she has a collar thing from that!woo