Tips For Calling For Canter.

Green Hornet

Hi,

I'm pretty much a newbie - learning about 6 months. Trotting on correct diagonal, cantering and jumping 70cm. Not sure what level that is? Novice I guess?

Anyway, during my latest lesson I had a more "advanced" horse and he was great for trotting and even casual cantering. Found all that great. No need for anything more than a quick squeeze.

The problem arose when I was trying to get him to canter exactly when I wanted so that I had 6 strides between the canter marker and the jump. As a result I jumped poorly because I didn't have enough canter speed.

Really struggled to get a good canter and I suspect that the reason may be that he was more used to experienced riders and their "signals". I'd imagine that most of the school horses are more "forgiving"? He possibly didn't know what I wanted.

What are the obvious signals without a whip to give him a tap? I dont mean just sitting and squeezing because that didn't work that well. I mean is there anything I should do with my legs or hands as well as that?

Any tips appreciated!

workaholic2

if ur a novice then you will find asking for canter on a corner is the best time to try. When learning its easier to try and go from rising trot to canter, so when ur asking the horse to canter, sit instead of rising, bring your outside leg back a small bit behind the girth, and gently squeeze, pushing forward with your seat This should not only tell him you want to canter, but should help him keep his balance and to start off on the correct leading leg.

Green Hornet

workaholic2 wrote: »

if ur a novice then you will find asking for canter on a corner is the best time to try. When learning its easier to try and go from rising trot to canter, so when ur asking the horse to canter, sit instead of rising, bring your outside leg back a small bit behind the girth, and gently squeeze, pushing forward with your seat This should not only tell him you want to canter, but should help him keep his balance and to start off on the correct leading leg.

Great! Thanks, I'll try that. I was never told to do that before, just to sit during the trot and use my feet. I suppose the school horses just know what to do automatically whereas a "better" horse is more used to rider inputs.

Ave Sodalis

Don't forget to actually sit back and straight. This allows the horse to lift more and also, I find, is more comfortable to you.

Gokmen

Ask the owner of the horse also, every horse is different and so are the signals they are used to. Some are used to very peculiar signals.
Don't forget sound signals either..

And then there is the whip of course, which we dont want to use.
After weeks if you still dont succeed, give your signal, if there is no response, use it immediately afterwards. There may be an issue with the horse not accepting you as the master.
But better talk to the owner first about the signals

cheers

Gokmen

granturismo

Green Hornet wrote: »

Hi,learning about 6 months. Trotting on correct diagonal, cantering and jumping 70cm. ... 6 strides between the canter marker and the jump.

Maybe I'm just jealous your jumping 70cm after 6 months, but it seems odd to me that an instructor puts you up on a new horse and expects you to get it to canter to a fence in 6 canter strides when this new horse requires different/stronger aides from what you've been used to and/or the horse is trying to test you.

Plenty of advice above but your instructor should know what works with each horse.

shanagarry

Was the canter marker in a corner, or on the straight? You will find it a bit harder to get canter on the straight when you are learning.

But good tips above:
- have a good active trot, but not too fast, you want him to pop into canter, not run into it
- a few strides before you're reaching your canter marker, sit down deeply into the saddle, but keep your head up, and keep sitting straight
- as you reach the marker, open up your inside hand a little, squeeze, not kick, with your inside leg on the girth, and move your outside leg back behind the girth and give a definite squeeze/tap with that, but don't flap your legs
- keep your contact to stop the horsing running on in trot, but at the same time don't hold him too tight and allow him to move on in the canter
- try not to think too much about the jump, he will pop that from trot if necessary. Concentrate on getting the canter and the jump will come

Don't worry, you will get there with time. As you get more advanced you will be taught how to half halt to rebalance the horse and that will make getting a smooth transition easier.

Green Hornet

granturismo wrote: »

Maybe I'm just jealous your jumping 70cm after 6 months, but it seems odd to me that an instructor puts you up on a new horse and expects you to get it to canter to a fence in 6 canter strides when this new horse requires different/stronger aides from what you've been used to and/or the horse is trying to test you.

Plenty of advice above but your instructor should know what works with each horse.

I think the reason that I was on a "better" horse was so that I'd experience other horses rather than the routine school horses. In a way I think maybe I was doing well and she just wanted to see how I'd get on so I'd say you are right. It also brought me a bit back to earth and made me realise that I was not as good as I thought I was .

Normally, I have a whip and give the horse a tap just to edge him into canter if he doesn't go with a squeeze when I sit. I felt a bit naked without the whip and I know that I'd not have had a problem if I'd had it but I'm conscious of trying to avoid using it as much as possible. Can't wait to have another go next week .

Green Hornet

shanagarry wrote: »

Was the canter marker in a corner, or on the straight? You will find it a bit harder to get canter on the straight when you are learning.

But good tips above:
- have a good active trot, but not too fast, you want him to pop into canter, not run into it
- a few strides before you're reaching your canter marker, sit down deeply into the saddle, but keep your head up, and keep sitting straight
- as you reach the marker, open up your inside hand a little, squeeze, not kick, with your inside leg on the girth, and move your outside leg back behind the girth and give a definite squeeze/tap with that, but don't flap your legs
- keep your contact to stop the horsing running on in trot, but at the same time don't hold him too tight and allow him to move on in the canter
- try not to think too much about the jump, he will pop that from trot if necessary. Concentrate on getting the canter and the jump will come

The marker was just off a corner and normally I'd canter just coming out of the corner as you suggest.

The more I think about it too the more I think I might have been holding him a bit tight and prevented him going into canter as he was definitely a more flighty horse.

Funnily enough I dont normally worry about the jump much at all. I know that this week however, I jumped kind of poorly because I didn't have enough of a forward canter.

I'm looking forward to trying the outside leg behind the girth and using my inside leg to squeeze. I was never told that before at all until you and the other posters told me!

Esroh

Green Hornet wrote: »

The marker was just off a corner and normally I'd canter just coming out of the corner as you suggest.

The more I think about it too the more I think I might have been holding him a bit tight and prevented him going into canter as he was definitely a more flighty horse.

Funnily enough I dont normally worry about the jump much at all. I know that this week however, I jumped kind of poorly because I didn't have enough of a forward canter.

I'm looking forward to trying the outside leg behind the girth and using my inside leg to squeeze. I was never told that before at all until you and the other posters told me![/quote]
I cannot believe you have never been told this and it would beg the question as to how qualified your instructor is. Anyone who has done any courses towards being a qualified Instructor/Coach(which are required for insurance cover) would have had this drilled into them.
Well done OP on asking what might have been going wrong but again what was your Instructor doing during the lesson if they could not help you.

abby1

bring your outside leg behind the girith and inside 1 on the girith and squeeze while sitting for 2 beats. use your voice aswell THIS IS FROM TROT:)

Ave Sodalis

abby1 wrote: »

use your voice aswell

For me, growling works. By growling, I don't mean going grrr but deepening your voice and sharpening your tone.

Although most people are self conscious about doing this, don't be. I also find "growling" works sometimes when you don't have a whip going up to a jump and you feel the horse about to refuse it.

Green Hornet

Thanks for all the replies guys. I've tried to incorporate your tips and everything is working well. .

Another tip that the instructor gave me was to sit earlier and turn my head in the direction that I want to go?

On another issue........the horse I was riding took off like he was stung or something tonight (from a trot) and would NOT stop. Ended up cantering 3 times round the arena and doing a few jumps as well during the episode. He refused to even come back to trot no matter how much I pulled on the reins and put my heels down.

The instructor said that I did nothing wrong and actually told me that I did everything right by not panicking and just going with it in that situation. She didn't know what had gotten into the horse and said they would be taking him out until they knew what was wrong with him.

How do you stop a horse if he takes off like that and wont stop until he's burned out a bit of energy? Is there anything besides pulling on the reins and putting my feet down? Have to say that there was absolutly nothing that I could do anyway and he'd still be going except that he eventually stopped himself.

Ave Sodalis

You did well. I would add to sit back and just stop riding, let yourself think about walking and let your body respond the way it would whilst in walk. If you can, turn the horse in circles. Don't pull continually on the reins but pull, release, pull, release. If you have a whip, drop it.

The chances are, the horse was spooked or got too much hardfeed. How often is this horse ridden in the week do you know? Often, with a school horse, if it is not ridden as much as usual in a week, they are more excitable.

Well done for keeping your balance though and putting your heels down.

Green Hornet

sup_dude wrote: »

You did well. I would add to sit back and just stop riding, let yourself think about walking and let your body respond the way it would whilst in walk. If you can, turn the horse in circles. Don't pull continually on the reins but pull, release, pull, release. If you have a whip, drop it.

The chances are, the horse was spooked or got too much hardfeed. How often is this horse ridden in the week do you know? Often, with a school horse, if it is not ridden as much as usual in a week, they are more excitable.

Well done for keeping your balance though and putting your heels down.

Thanks. Kinda happy with myself in one way but disappointed that I couldn't stop him either.:o.

Not sure how often he's used in the school but it was my first time on him. I actually did throw down the whip (the instructor told me to do that as well) and tried to pull/release as he went around and just released him as he came to fences.

I could have been in trouble though if there had been high fences in the arena. The fences that were there were only 70cm or lower but they had just been lowered from an advanced class (1.1m) that had been on before us beginners.:eek::eek:

No doubt about it though, the horse was in control, not me.

Ave Sodalis

Don't worry about it. Horses are way stronger than us but you do improve your control quickly. It happens to the best of us.

shanagarry

Well done for staying on board, especially over the jumps! Most novice riders would have been on the floor. Goodness knows what got in to him, but just another of the important lessons around horses - accept that they may do anything at any time!

The previous advice to pull on and off is spot on. If you keep pulling continuously the horse will just set its mouth against you and you are never going to win a battle of strength with a horse. So sharp pulls with your outside hand, release, pull again, release. If you find you are struggling for balance a bit, take your inside hand across just to the other side of the neck and set against the neck. It's a bit difficult to describe, but you basically brace that hand against the horse. It will give you a bit of leverage and then you will be able to use your outside hand more effectively. Finally, try and turn the horse in circles and they will have to slow down, but do it gradually in case it unbalances the horse.

On the canter question, you should always look in the direction you are going as it subtley shifts your balance, which the horse will notice. It's particulary important when jumping. It won't help get the horse into canter though, it will just increase the likelihood that he will strike off on the correct lead.

Green Hornet

shanagarry wrote: »

On the canter question, you should always look in the direction you are going as it subtley shifts your balance, which the horse will notice. It's particulary important when jumping. It won't help get the horse into canter though, it will just increase the likelihood that he will strike off on the correct lead.

Thats exactly what she told me, to turn my head in the direction I want to go and this gets him off on the right lead.

This forum is great for newbies like me!! Loads of tips that I miss in lessons.

shanagarry

Green Hornet wrote: »

Thats exactly what she told me, to turn my head in the direction I want to go and this gets him off on the right lead.

Well, not quite as magic as that , but it helps. It's a combination of inside bend and outside leg that are the main indicators to the horse for canter lead.

Green Hornet

sup_dude wrote: »

Don't worry about it. Horses are way stronger than us but you do improve your control quickly. It happens to the best of us.

It's funny ya know, they are always getting onto me for not closing my fingers around the reins even when just walking. Even (rightly) told me that a horse can bolt in a split second and if I didn't have the reins held correctly I would have no control in that situation etc. Boy am I glad that I did have my fingers closed when it happened and always will in future too. Another example of one of the many little things that us newbies are told time and time again but dont take on board. I guess it's not just about the big things, the small things are just as important.

convert

There's lots of times when I (still) don't ride with my fingers fully closed around the reins. As a result I've learned how to catch up and shorten my reins very quickly. It's something that you learn to do as the situation arises. You'll probably find that will happen quite a lot - each new situation that arises will teach you more and more about your riding and how to react in a "crisis". Experience really is the best teacher.

Ave Sodalis

Green Hornet wrote: »

It's funny ya know, they are always getting onto me for not closing my fingers around the reins even when just walking.

I don't either . I dunno about anyone else but I feel more vunerable with my fingers tight as the horse may stumble or pull it head, resulting in you being pulled forward. If a horse does bolt, I just learned to close them properly quickly or balace myself if I have to pick them up. I guess it's just a habit I picked up. I don't know how bad it is but it never resulted in a fall, or bad lack of control yet.:cool:

shanagarry

Well the correct thing is to close your fingers but not grab tight to the reins. There needs to be a bit of give all the time. It's rather like how you hold a steering wheel really - you need to have a hold of it, but not so tight that it jerks you if something happens. It's mainly the hold you have between your ring and little fingers that will prevent the reins slipping. I never ride without gloves either.

Sup_dude, heels down and head up to keep your balance for a pull or stumble, rather than hanging on tight to the reins or the horse will get a pull in the mouth.

Ave Sodalis

shanagarry wrote: »

Sup_dude, heels down and head up to keep your balance for a pull or stumble, rather than hanging on tight to the reins or the horse will get a pull in the mouth.

I do that. I can keep my balance without reins. I didn't mean tight on the horses mouth, I meant grip on the reins like. If that makes sense?

Green Hornet

If you are on the correct diagonal when in trot and ready to canter indoors does that help the horse get off on the right lead as well?

BTW, please let me know if I'm dragging this thread too long at this stage and I'll stop asking annoying questions and bugging people

Green Hornet

Green Hornet wrote: »

If you are on the correct diagonal when in trot and ready to canter indoors does that help the horse get off on the right lead as well?

You call for canter from a sitting trot so it won't have direct effect.
However, being on the correct diagonal will mean that both you and the horse will probably be a little more settled and balanced which should help.