I have had lovely rides with Annie this week and my lesson was no exception. While warming up trainer helped me with remembering that my position is key to getting her to relax and respond. I also need to learn how to sit the canter again because peeps the struggle is so real. I am not nearly as strong as I used to be and I have been practicing the hover game too much lately. This also ends up with me leaning soooo much to the inside.
I don’t want to teach her to respond to the wrong things and I need to ride her the way I want her to like being ridden. This means that I need to know when to half halt and let go, how to stay balanced, and not let go. I sometimes get caught kind of barely pulling and barely releasing which ends up just being a lot of nagging. ย This definitely came into play over fences too.We worked on the fences in the first picture and Annie was awesome! I however need to step up my game. I felt like I was alright for most of the mini course we worked up to but for some reason heading into the white vertical on the diagonal I kept turning way too early both before and after the fence. Almost dive bombing it! NT got my number though and ended up setting focal points for me. What do you know when I listened to him the before, jump, and after rode better. Imagine that! I need to get better at not giving up. When I want to hold to the base I need to do that instead of ย just kinda saying nah thats okay baby horse… You decide.
Today is the waiting game to see if the weather throws a wrench in our show plans this weekend! If all goes well I will get to try out my new Winston Equestrian Paris show shirt that I won from the contest that Luxe Eq and Winston Equestrianย hosted.
Anyone have any magic tricks for sitting the canter? ๐
I have always been terrible at sitting the canter. One thing that really helped me when I was riding more broke horses was warming up at the canter with only one stirrup. It’s pretty hard to hover that way. I don’t typically ride my horse I have now with only one stirrup, especially since I ride in a western saddle.
Another thing that helps, especially since I tend to be really stiff in my hips, is remembering to open up my shoulders and sit up, while letting my hips actually move.
I hope you get to show and the fastest way to relearn sitting the canter is riding without irons or a saddle ๐
I will drop my irons but no saddle is not happening just yet… Annie isn’t quite that trustworthy.
Safety first ๐ I have to relax my thigh and knee over and over. Maybe play with your stirrup length? Try up or down a hole?
Drop them stirrups!
Neither of my horses like when I sit the canter, so … I don’t. Hah! #LuckyDuck
No stirrups or longer stirrups and really relax your hips. Short bursts at first till you work up the stamina ๐
I have the same problem with leaning to the inside and kind of cheating when sitting the canter. I guess one thing that is sort of helping me, is really paying attention to how I’m sitting, and being really conscious about not cheating and doing it right. If I feel like I really can’t do it right, I go back to my half seat or two point and reset. I went for a long time without realizing I was leaning and kind of cheating, so breaking the habit has been hard.
Yeah no stirrups or bareback is the best way. Sometimes if I think about really holding my core that helps. Or on Stampede I do collected canter to get my butt in the saddle.
I struggle with this as well, going from hunters to eventing. It was helpful for me at one point to drop my stirrups in order to figure what it feels like to be centered, but mostly I just have to tell myself to sit down. My trainer likes to tell me to sit on my back pockets as a visual cue.
ugh good luck with the canter – that’s been one of the hardest things for me to figure out! i try to inscribe little “J”s with my seat (but without digging!)… just gotta keep practicing tho…
i hope the show works out this weekend!
I’m terrible at sitting the canter. It’s probably the #1 reason I’m in hunterland, because I can get away with it. ๐
I have the hardest time sitting the canter for longer than a few strides because Pilgrim is so uphill. Drop my stirrups and I’m golden. But like Annie, P is also not too trustworthy so this doesn’t happen too often. Practice makes perfect!
I’m a bad ‘leaner’ while sitting the canter, so my trainer always tells me to lean back more and more until you start to feel uncomfortable…and then it’s probably right. Simply because your muscles aren’t used to the position. Isn’t a cure all, but maybe something to think about while you are sitting ๐
I have the opposite problem, I’m supposed to be in a half-seat but I have never learned how to do that. So… I try and it looks weird.