# Pushing the inside hip forward in canter?



## ElaineLighten (Jan 1, 2012)

An instructor asked me to push my inside hip forward as I was cantering during a lesson a couple of weeks ago. I forgot to ask her the purpose of doing it though!
Can anyone enlighten me?


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## Sahara (Jul 23, 2010)

It is a seat aid used to encourage the horse to canter. The rider should keep the outside seat bone in contact with the saddle at all times while using a very light, "sweeping" motion with the inside seat bone. It should not be a rocking motion or pushing/shoving motion. The rider needs to follow the movement of the horse.


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## freia (Nov 3, 2011)

It's also to get the correct lead. You want your horse to lead with its inside front leg to stay balanced. To get the horse to take the correct lead, you want it to have its inside shoulder slightly forward at the time you ask it for the canter. Moving your inside seat bone forward, having the inside leg at the girth, supporting with the outside rein, etc all help the horse choose the correct lead.


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## ponypile (Nov 7, 2007)

Perhaps you were riding a little crocked, and she was telling you how to correct it?


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Am I the only one whose hip bones don't move independently on each side? If the left side of my hip moves forward, I either twist in the saddle or the right side moves forward too.


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## Muppetgirl (Sep 16, 2012)

bsms said:


> Am I the only one whose hip bones don't move independently on each side? If the left side of my hip moves forward, I either twist in the saddle or the right side moves forward too.


I find if a horse is really working nice OR if he cants his hip right over to the inside like a WP horse, then it sets your hips automatically to move with the inside forward........


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## Sahara (Jul 23, 2010)

bsms said:


> Am I the only one whose hip bones don't move independently on each side? If the left side of my hip moves forward, I either twist in the saddle or the right side moves forward too.



You are kidding, right? How do you walk?


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

In honesty, the back injury I got 4+ years ago (thanks, Mia!) may limit the movement in my lower back so much that I can't do what other people do. I guess I visualize it as a movement of 4-6", and it can't be that...but my lower back is only now starting to unlock while riding. Maybe in a few years, I'll be flexible enough for it to have meaning...:-x


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Sahara said:


> You are kidding, right? How do you walk?


I'm a guy. When I walk, my hips stay still. :shock:


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## Sahara (Jul 23, 2010)

Obviously, if you look at human anatomy, it would be impossible to completely isolate one side of the seat bone from the other, as they are attached by a piece of cartilage. If you sit in a chair, however, and keep one butt cheek stable, while allowing the other to move in a tiny forward and up motion, you will have an idea of what the correct movement would be like on a horse. I don't know how a back injury would affect the ability to make that movement. I would imagine, however, that most females would be much more flexible than most males in the pelvic region, generally speaking.


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## Sahara (Jul 23, 2010)

bsms said:


> I'm a guy. When I walk, my hips stay still. :shock:


Technically, your pelvis stays still. If your hip joints aren't moving, neither are you.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

The confusion comes in when people talk about pushing a hip bone forward. This is not the correct movement as you will end up like BSMS described - crooked!
You want to feel instead that you are 'lifting' the inside seat bone/hip. Which basically places more weight on your outside seat bone, it's actually more to do with your core than your actual hip.
Try it on a wooden seat or bench. Sit tall straddling the seat like you are sitting in the saddle. Feel each of your seat bones, weight one, then the other. Once you work out where they are and how they move according to how you engage your core, try 'lifting' one seat. Its a barely imperceptible movement, but it does make a world of difference in the canter strike off. 
My own horse will not canter unless you lift the inside hip. Then he will strike off immediately with no leg aid needed.


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## Muppetgirl (Sep 16, 2012)

Sahara said:


> Technically, your pelvis stays still. If your hip joints aren't moving, neither are you.


It's called levitation.....I always new BSMS was special.....:shock: :rofl:


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Your pelvis is three pieces, but they are held together very solidly and can only move as one block. So, you can only rock the inside seatbone by also rocking the outside; they are locked together. however, you can dip the outside of your pelvis lower than the inside, thus have less pressure on the inside seatbone becuse it comes up. YOu can twist your whole pevis left or right, and combine that with raising/lowering one side, you can get what feels like moving one side independently of the other. But, it is NOT independent.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

http://youtu.be/4xa35epw6hY?t=13m45s


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## freia (Nov 3, 2011)

bsms said:


> I'm a guy. When I walk, my hips stay still. :shock:



:rofl::rofl:

That's an exact quote from my husband!

Is that you, Dan? :lol:

And my husband has never been injured on a horse like you, BSMS, but his hips still don't move when he walks. It's anatomically impossible, I know, but I've watched him, and somehow it works.

But I do think a lot of men are at a disadvantage on a horse, because their pelvis really is designed, built, and moves differently than a woman's. Maybe it's not a disadvantage. Maybe it's just different. There's no doubt my husband has to move differently at a canter than I do.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

how boring.


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