# Cantering breakthrough!



## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

I'd finally gotten to the point where I could canter without hanging on for dear life, but I was struggling with the problem of my butt coming off the saddle. It was worse in my Western saddle than my English one. 

Then I accidentally hit on something during a lesson and it works! Thought I'd share...

I was always told that my butt should polish the saddle, that there was a scooping motion to the canter. So I'd try and do that, but almost every stride, my butt would come up off the saddle and slap back down (I do have a pretty big butt, so it was a loud sound, very embarrassing, and not very comfy for my horse.)

Then one day I accidentally tilted my pelvis back a fraction of an inch just before scooping it forward, and PRESTO! No more butt slapping! No more coming out of the saddle at all. Not even a little bit. I'm stuck to that thing like glue.

My horse is totally confused now. Now she canters much slower (probably no longer trying to run away from my butt) -sometimes dropping to a trot and she canters more upright - her hind end is under her more - which I think is a good thing. It sure feels nicer.

I'm waaaay more relaxed. Everything is so much better. I just have to teach my horse new signals for slowing and speeding up since my seat is doing different things now than it did before. She's smart, though, she'll figure it out really quick.

I've only had two lessons so far doing this, but they both went well. I can do it for longer and longer periods without forgetting. It feels very natural and just better all around.

So, if you're a beginner like me, and you've had problems with popping off the saddle during the canter, try using the pelvic scoop method. First tilt it _back_ a little and then forward. I hate to say this, but it's kind of like twerking in the saddle.


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## Fraido (Nov 26, 2014)

I can't even twerk out of the saddle, lool.


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

It's only a quarter of an inch swing. If I can do it, anyone can!  ha ha


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## Fraido (Nov 26, 2014)

I'll see at my next lesson.😜


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## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

I’m glad to hear you solved your problem, ecasey. Muscular tension can cause stiffness in the body which leads to bouncing while cantering. On the other hand, you don’t want to be polishing the saddle either.

Since you state that you feel as though you are stuck to the saddle like glue, I think you figured out what you need to do.

I normally just emphasize relaxing and moving with the horse, but your description gave me something else to think about and describe for my students.

Some people liken cantering to swinging in a swing. I don’t like that analogy, because when swinging, the person’s upper body tilts backward as the swing goes forward and the upper body tilts forward as the swing goes backward. It would look extremely bad for a rider to be doing this, and I don’t think the upper body could move fast enough this way to follow the horse’s motion in a canter.

The scooping idea works better if you think of the pelvis as the scoop rather than the whole upper body.

I often describe the feel of the canter as that of a boat rising on an ocean swell, flowing down through the trough, and rising on the next swell. Of course, you don’t want to think of the rider’s body as a mast, or you would get back to the same problem as when using the swing analogy. But for anyone who has sat in a rowboat facing oncoming swells, this idea should click. The person in the boat keeps his upper body basically erect while his pelvis rocks with the seat of the boat. This is basically what happens when a rider lets his body follow the motion of his horse’s body while remaining balanced.

When the rider relaxes and goes with the flow of the motion, the canter can be a very smooth motion. The first time one little girl cantered, she happily called out, "I'm flying. I'm flying." Of course, she was flying as the horse glided through the air during the period of suspension.


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## dlady (Apr 13, 2013)

I'm going to try this when it stop raining and dry up enough for me to ride my horse.


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## LoveofOTTB (Dec 7, 2014)

I had issues cantering as well, only I was leaning too far back and my butt wasn't sticking to the saddle ever stride. I would get it for a few strides than lose it lol So after a good canter lesson with my trainer, and a lot of practice my butt sticks to the seat as well and I don't lean too far back! lol She told me think of it as a a scooping motion as well, and it helped a bunch. Everyone before her told me to clean the seat with my butt, like a brush, and that really never worked for me! But the scooping method did as well!


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## Fraido (Nov 26, 2014)

TXhorseman said:


> I’m glad to hear you solved your problem, ecasey. Muscular tension can cause stiffness in the body which leads to bouncing while cantering. On the other hand, you don’t want to be polishing the saddle either.
> 
> Since you state that you feel as though you are stuck to the saddle like glue, I think you figured out what you need to do.
> 
> ...



You always explain things in such a professional, and awesome way. Sometimes I have to read what you've posted a couple times over to fully understand!


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

So not going to actually say this as it's not PG, but for the ladies- a coworker/instructor said you should compare it to a very similar motion in a similar position.. Presto 

It wasn't even a conscious thought on my part but I just had to relax into it and scoop, I think I was concerned about doing it too much. Still not perfect but it clicks now and never used to.


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

It's good that you figured this out. I had a problem sitting the canter for a while but I figured out eventually. I realized that I had to lean back a little more and, as you found out too, tilt my pelvis back a little bit. I haven't had a problem since then.

Kudos!


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Tex, 
I used to go out in my sea kayak, and on a windy day, the boat would buck and wallow in the waves, and you sit low in the boat, with your seatbones right ON the boat, and it's just like riding a horse.


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## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

tinyliny said:


> Tex,
> I used to go out in my sea kayak, and on a windy day, the boat would buck and wallow in the waves, and you sit low in the boat, with your seatbones right ON the boat, and it's just like riding a horse.


Thank you for the additional analogy, tinyliny. 

I think the traditional kneeling position while canoeing would be even closer to the riding position. Don't think of the sitting on the seat of a canoe position that has become common over the past fifty years, however.

I worked one summer on the U.S.-Canadian border near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. I would paddle my canoe across a large lake and often had to fight a headwind on the way back home. I soon learned that the kneeling position was much more efficient. It provided a much lower center of gravity and much greater flexibility for re-balancing when facing oncoming waves.


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## EncinitasM (Oct 5, 2014)

> So not going to actually say this as it's not PG, but for the ladies- a coworker/instructor said you should compare it to a very similar motion in a similar position.. Presto


I think you may have hit upon why riding isn't very popular with males these days....


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## mslady254 (May 21, 2013)

ecasey said:


> I was always told that my butt should polish the saddle, that there was a scooping motion to the canter. So I'd try and do that, but almost every stride, my butt would come up off the saddle and slap back down (I do have a pretty big butt, so it was a loud sound, very embarrassing, and not very comfy for my horse.)
> 
> *Sorry,,,this ^^^ made me laugh!! probably because I have the same problem...lol *
> 
> ...


*LOL....does this mean Miley Cyrus is a natural at the canter??? !*

Fay


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## Gossalyn (Sep 12, 2013)

i just wanted everyone to know i went to my lesson thinking this morning thinking "scoop scoop scoop" and i think it helped. Last lesson, when my horse got faster I started "painting the saddle" a little too much and I knew that wasn't right but this time i kept my core engaged and stayed w/ her in a smaller, less exaggerated motion. My horse was also super light and easy to collect today. (of course it may just be all those trainer rides while i was gone for the break but i'll take it!)


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

Scoop, scoop, scoop!!

or

Twerk! Twerk! Twerk!


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## Chicalia (Nov 5, 2013)

I have a book that explains it as doing backwards circles with one's pelvis, I believe.


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

Yes, backwards circles or reverse circles is a good description of what I'm doing now. And it works! Yes!


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

I like "painting the saddle" XD


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