Well, today I took my lesson and I cantered for the first time .... my horses canter was HUGE, and I felt numb .... like, It felt weird .... and i was like fying out of the saddle ... any suggestions of what I can do? Because i CANT get this feeling every time I canter .... or I wont beable to concentrate on jumps in th future .... do you think it might just be a one time thing?
Hey,
So I felt the exact same way when I first cantered. Sometimes when we would turn a corner I would feel like the horse was going to tip over but I got used to it and now it is easy to canter. I felt really nervous when I started cantering but trust me you will get used to it and it won't be a problem. When you canter, first of all relax, it won't help if you are tense and stressed, and try to sit deep in your saddle and absorb the horses movement underneath you. Point your toes up in the stirrups so you won't fall out and sometimes it helps if you are losing your stirrups to push your weight a little into the inside stirrup. Sit back and try not to lean forward or backward to much. When I first started riding I would always change horses to see which one works with me the best and I don't know if you change horses but try not to be to nervous because every horse is different, like today when I went riding I got a horse that was VERY slow. Haha=] Also I had to canter without stirrups before I could jump and if you ever have to do it I just want to let you know it is SO easy!! It is way harder to sit the trot without stirrups. I hope I was a help and good luck!! Remember to relax everything will be okay.;)
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com PS For the future, just to help you out, when you jump remember to point your toes up, keep the 2 point position as much as you can and try not to slam into the horses back when you land. Have fun!
HEELS DOWN, look up, shoulders back, RELAX!, and just go with the horses motion
you will get with practice, DON'T GRIP WITH YOUR KNEES, try to not grip with your thigh or calf but never grip with your knees, it is a bad habit and hard to break, good thing i don't have it, this person in my lesson does and over a jump, he grips, it is very hard to break. chocolates canter is sooooooooooo bumpy, unlike colleens, colleens is ultra smooth like floating, chocolates is like a trot except you hit your butt faster, on my first canter, i was riding breeze, her canter felt like bunnyhops, i would see her head close to the ground then up, high to the sky, then down, then up, its so weird and then i lost a stirrup and i kinda landed on my feet, i think riding without stirrups is easier than riding with only one.
It may have been because your not use to a horse cantering, My first lesson on cantering i felt the same, My instructor told me to try to go with the horse while she cantered instead of tensing up and getting out of whack with it all. Think of it as a rocking horse and try to anticipate the moves approaching. Hope this helps!!=)
yeah thats pretty much normal . dont beat yourself up about it though, it was your first canter. while youre getting used to the canter, its better to get into your two point and do not lean on your knees. if you do and the horse breaks you might fall forward . keep your weight in your heels, nowhere else. when you feel your ready you can sit to the canter. sitting to the canter is like a swinging motion. the canter is nothing like a trot so its much easier to sit to. when you do sit to the canter though, follow your horse with your arms too. as the horses head rocks forward, move your arms with it.
I think the only thing is practice .... Try sitting deeper in the saddle and wrapping your legs around the horse. Also to get the canter a little smaller you can get a more collected canter by pulling his nose in and having him push more with his/her rear. Just keep practicing. I hope I was any kind of help! !!
It was probably cause it was the first time you cantered. Just remember heels down and follow the rocking of the horse. It will take time to get used to the feel of it. Whatever you dont lock your legs and hold on with your knees you will not be able to ask the horse to keep the canter otherwise. Keep your legs around the horse's belly with a little pressure to keep you together.
Soak up the rocking feeling very well. Exaggerate the motion by sliding very far back and very far forward. It helped me the first time I cantered. Also put all you weight into your booty, it will help you stay in the saddle more.
Follow the motion of the horse. Either go into a half seat or sit deep in the saddle and make sort of a scooping motion going with the flow of the horse. My instructor once told me to rock in sort of an icecream scoop motion. The best way to improve will be to practice. I would wait a while before you start cantering jumps.
well, I'll tell you what I did. If it is more comfortable for you, try doing a two point while cantering. It takes the pressure off you and the horse. (ask your trainer on how to do this if you don't know how.) It's not a permanent solution but it will definitely help you out at first. Then when your ready while sitting the canter follow the horse's beat with your hips and a little bit of your upper body. Don't pull on the horse's mouth!
