# Cantering my Horse.



## kaykat31 (Feb 15, 2009)

This is me & my horse,Georgie.He was orginally a Western horse & did barrel racing & team penning & was really good at it, I guess.He won lots of awards for it.Then, about 2 years ago I got him & I ride English, I started training him english walk/trot & I just started cantering him about a week ago & some jumping.Feel free to critique, I love to learn.


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## morganshow11 (Dec 19, 2008)

Looks like you are rocking with your bum. Try to rock with your back and not your bum.

With every stride your horse takes, it looks like your knees keep pionting outward.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Cute horse!
If it's possible, try and get your horse working through his back in a frame; right now he's completely tensed up and you can see the huge musscle bulge he has from keeping his head high in the air. You might want to speak to a riding instructor about this as it does affect your horse's soundness and movement. 

The one thing that jumped out at me was that you're poppint out of the saddle and landing on his back; try to really sink into your knees and heels and keep your butt glued to the saddle. To do this you need to be limber in your lumbar (lower) back and really follow your horse's motion through the canter; think of being on a swing and you have to really push your seat into it to keep it going. 
Keep your shoulders back and chest out, but don't hollow your back either. Think of there being a brightly painted star on your chest that you want to show off - roll your shoulders back, and keep your chin up!!

Good for you for wearing proper riding attire!! Makes me very happy to see!

Hope that helped!


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

morganshow11 said:


> Looks like you are rocking with your bum. Try to rock with your back and not your bum.
> 
> With every stride your horse takes, it looks like your knees keep pionting outward.


Actually, rocking your bum is a good thing; the next step is to loosen up that back so she can rock her lower back with the horse to keep her bum planted in the saddle.


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

JustDressageIt said:


> Actually, rocking your bum is a good thing; the next step is to loosen up that back so she can rock her lower back with the horse to keep her bum planted in the saddle.


 
Yes she is rocking on her crotch and not her seatbones.


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## TBsPlease (Mar 19, 2009)

To smoothen your canter seat, position your upper body as if you're sitting in a chair and trying to lean back against a wall. This should help to elevate your chest and correctly distribute your weight through your seat and pubic bones. It's a little bit like "leaning tall," if that makes any sense whatsoever. Good luck!


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Spyder said:


> Yes she is rocking on her crotch and not her seatbones.


I agree, thank you - that's what I meant by "bum"


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## IheartPheobe (Feb 15, 2009)

Bring your leg back a bit, otherwise I think you two look perfect! =D
He's so calm and looks very smooth, he totally seems to trust you. =]


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## Skippy! (Dec 18, 2006)

JustDressageIt said:


> Cute horse!
> If it's possible, try and get your horse working through his back in a frame; right now he's completely tensed up and you can see the huge musscle bulge he has from keeping his head high in the air. You might want to speak to a riding instructor about this as it does affect your horse's soundness and movement.


BAH! JDI, imma whack you for taking my response 

I completely agree with JDI, get with your Riding Instructor (or find a good Riding Instructor) and get help putting him into a frame. You will have a MUCH better ride. See how strung out he is in the video? His head is waaaaay up in the air, and the nose is tipped -away- from the inside.

When i canter my horses, i keep a good inside bend on them, nose tipped to the inside slightly, and get them to engage their back end which in turn gives me a good over all frame/head carriage. Really get him to ride into that headstall (i literally have an image of the horse's head pushing into the brow band when i think about the hind end impulsion. I know that sounds funny ^^) He'll really ride into his stride and give you a good earnest canter.

Right now since his head is all up and strung out, all that energy he is producing from his hind end is flowing straight through his body and off the bridge of his nose and out into the air. His stride is short and unfocused, he has the potential to really be a beautiful ride if he got working in a frame =) 

Having his head high and nose tipped to the outside will also result in more opportunities of him breaking from the canter to the trot  keeping the bend and collection will keep him more focused on what he is doing at the moment. Whenever i see a horse canter with his head high like that, it always looks like he is thinking "... i wonder what i'm going to eat for dinner tonight....... did i leave my waterer on?!....... Man, i can't believe my neighbor bit me last night!" and they slowly forget what they are doing, and then break to the trot 

Skippy! actually tripped and stumbled a lot if i ever let him ride strung out like that. He wasnt paying any attention to the ground and would drag his feet. He fell over on me twice =/ 100% my fault.

I think you two have the potential of being very good riding partners!


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## IheartPheobe (Feb 15, 2009)

IheartPheobe said:


> Bring your leg back a bit, otherwise I think you two look perfect! =D
> He's so calm and looks very smooth, he totally seems to trust you. =]


 I seem to have been having and off day.
Watching this again- he seems really tense. . =\
Try and calm him down. Maybe short reins tense him up.. maybe his bit is too hard.. girth too tight.. maybe he isn't comfortable cantering.. maybe he doesn't like where you were riding him.. Lots of possibilities.


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## IheartPheobe (Feb 15, 2009)

K, so, lower leg back a lot, from the knee down it's sticking out. 
=] 
Sit back a little more, and don't rock so much, except with your shoulders. .. Just let him do the moving.


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