newbie here, canter probs

noodle

noodle

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May 29, 2007
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Hello everyone, I am have real problems with cantering and tonite took my first fall, I feel so comfortable trotting ect but the few times I have tried to canter i nrly loose my stirups so find myself pushing toes to floor and feel like i am just bouncing up and down in the saddle, I am trying not to grip with my legs as i know this can push the horse on, but then find my legs are just flapping, can anyone give me some support please.
I ended up tonite hanging off the outside of the horse, and unable to pull myself back up,{didnt know what to pull myself up with}but i did know not to use the martingale!
Noodle x
 
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Try to relax whilst cantering and follow the movement of the horse with your hips ( might not make sense, sorry :eek: ) Also put your weight into your stirrups. Have you tried doing troting with no stirrups as this can help your balnce loads! Good luck, just ask if you need me to explain any of that better! Also welcome to New rider!

Vez xx :)
 
Well the riding I am doing is at at a riding school, I want to learn so much, now I know I am going wrong somewhere, I am really comfortable with rising trot but sitting trot again feels like I am just bouncing about on the saddle.
I think I am not rotating my hips? I am ok with the rising hip movement though
Noodle x
Felt so bad cos I was riding my fav horse {17 hands} and fell of her!, hope she didnt think it was something she did xxxxxx
 
it has taken me 5 months to get canter right...all thanks to my RI suggesting i try and think about a spacehopper to get the movement. it may not be correct but it works! i can now canter and my horse responds. where once i could not keep her going we can canter until she runs out of steam! my lovely bay mare is now a big bay spacehopper!! :D :D :D
 
Try cantering on the lunge, that way you can really work on your position and balance etc. without the worry of having to control the horse. Also hold the front of the saddle or a neck strap to help you aswell.
 
noodle, I am hard on myself about my riding and I too have problems (in the school) with canter. Its appalling as is my sitting trot. However, take me out on a hack with the lovely Pibstar (see my other thread) and get me to have fun trying to race with the RI in trot and do lots of little canters out in the woods and its much better! However, I have never lost my stirrups for that all I would say to you is I keep my heels as far down as I can and also in canter it also helps if you try to lean back, distributing more weight onto the back of your bottom instead of your 'fork'. you will still 'bounce' out of the saddle (I do) but at least you will be following the movement more and you won't fall off. Thats the stage I have gotten to. :D
 
How long have you been riding? How many canter lessons have you had?

I have found there are good and bad days with this canter thing. I am still in the learning stage also. I have been through the bouncy, out of control canters. I am now at the loosing stirrups stage!

Things that have helped me are - using the neckstrap/strap in pommel, trying to sit deep in the saddle and relax and go with the horse to absorb the movement and not bounce. This does make steering difficult though, but good if you are just going up and down that arena side.

I then have progressed to slowly bringing my hands forward - did this weird pointing thing with my fingers over the mane. Seemed scary but it worked!\

Best thing though was going on the lunge - firstly without holding on - you have to relax, sink the weight in your heels, use those abs and wrap your legs around the horse to feel balanced. Then tried without stirrups which was fantastic for really getting the feeling of legs around the horse.

But I know it is going to take me a long time to do a perfected canter around the arena with relaxed hands and legs in correct positions. But I think the lunge has progressed from either holding for secuirty or bouncing around the saddle like a piece of popcorn or leaning on the reins. Now my problem is I am so focused on wrapping my legs around the horse I am loosing my stirrups!
 
I'm another one just getting the hang of this canter thing. What's helping me just now is 'lean back' - RI assures me people don't fall off backwards (though I'm not altogether convinced :eek: ) because I am then more relaxed - not scrunched up into the foetal position! - and can sit 'deeper' and focus more on my position. I'm not having any trouble with losing my stirrups - that seems to have got better by itself as my position and confidence have improved. In fact Ginger threw a minor hissy fit in canter the other day, which I managed to deal with ok :)D ), but apparently the first thing I did was to take my foot of the stirrup on one side myself!

You don't say how long you have been riding. I do think this is important as people often seem to start cantering before they are ready. I had been riding weekly for 8 months when I cantered for the first time and I can honestly say I've had no problems with sitting it (though it's obviously far from perfect yet!) or feeling like I'm going to fall off (my problems with cantering are around calming an energetic horse that wants to canter when I don't, but that's another story!). There have been several examples on here of people falling off in canter after a very few lessons, and to me that just says they weren't ready for it.
 
Push your heels down when you canter and apparent you cant fall off, that's what I've been told. Also sit up straight, don't allow yourself to lean forward.

I couldn't canter when I was in the school, the bends were a nightmare. But give me an open field which goes up hill and mastering the canter is a peice of cake. I found it much easier to learn canter in an open field going up hill, you will find the rythem of the horse much easier.
 
I am a very old fashioned RI who believes you shouldn't canter until you can sit well in trot ...most horses will require a reasonable seat in sitting trot before they break to canter. Can you try one hour lessons, a group half hour barely gives to time to get comfortable and remember what you learned last week let alone learn something new?
 
Thank you everyone for all your help, I guess I have kinds done things different to may people, I havnt got a horse and dont think I will owning one'full time'. Most of the other adults that ride at the school have their own horses put want to perfect things.
I will def give the sit back thing a go xxxxxxx
Emma x
 
Cantering

I'm starting to learn to canter also. I have a wonderful trainer who is very
patient with me. He also told me to move with the horse with my hips and
relax. I followed his instruction and maybe I'll get the hang of it. But, when
Luke from a canter into a trott I really lose my balance. Anyone have this
same problem.
Libann
 
Well I am getting nervous as its nearly time for my next lesson, I just wish I could do more than 1 lesson a week.
I dont know if we will attempt canter today.
Its a shame i fell of because my RI said I was ready to move up a class last week, tht was b4 i fell off.

noodle
 
noodle said:
Well I am getting nervous as its nearly time for my next lesson, I just wish I could do more than 1 lesson a week.
I dont know if we will attempt canter today.
Its a shame i fell of because my RI said I was ready to move up a class last week, tht was b4 i fell off.

noodle
Click to expand...


How did you get on?
 
The ride was OK, on a very diferent horse today, much lighter in substance all round, so It felt very different to ride,I didnt feel as safe as I have done, and found it hard to keep an even rising trot.
Sadly the lesson was spoilt by a horse refusing to move and then ended up galloping round the menarge and the riding taking a very bad fall.
Noodle
 
It will come. And it also dpends on things you don;t have control of like the horse you are given to ride, frame of mind, type of lesson, number int he group, how the horse feels. There are so man variables.
Like a lot of the people above me have said it feels a million times easier out on a hak. THe horses are more forward and you can concentrate on you.
I don't know how long you have been riding but it does take time to build up seat and balance its not an overnight thing.
The dreaded stirrupless work and lunge and both worth gold.
Sorry your last lesson was not a help but the good ones will come round :)
Good luck
 
eml said:
I am a very old fashioned RI who believes you shouldn't canter until you can sit well in trot ...most horses will require a reasonable seat in sitting trot before they break to canter. Can you try one hour lessons, a group half hour barely gives to time to get comfortable and remember what you learned last week let alone learn something new?
Click to expand...

eml I was taught like that!!

I had to be able to walk, trot and canter without reins, but on a lunge!! I wasn't allowed reins until I was proficient on lunge!!:D
 
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