College Riding Assessment but can't canter. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!

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HFrancis

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Okay so I have been riding for about a year and a half now as I started volunteering at a riding centre for free lessons. I am going for a apprenticeship between my riding centre (Willowbrook Riding Centre) and Sparsholt College. So next friday I have a riding assessment to see if I can do the riding side as well as the horse care side.

I am comfortable around horses, I regularly muck out (rubber matted stalls, though I do shavings, I don't do them as much) , make feds, fill water buckets, turn out, catch horses, lead horses in both walk and trot, brush, rug, tack up and take tack off (with martingales too). I have never fitted any tack or rugs myself but I have assisted. I have oiled hooves and picked out feet once or twice. I have only watch horses being shoed and clipped. I have loaded horses a few times and I done a tail bandage once or twice. So I feel I can fine with this side of the course, its the riding side that troubles me.

Since learning to ride, I can say that I more more than comfortable walking. I can trot both rising and sitting (sometimes I struggle a little with sitting but rarely. I have used trotting poles twice so am only a little familiar with them. I cannot canter which is my biggest worry. I cantered a few steps in an arena but holding the staddle with the instructor getting him into it by holding a whip. I have also cantered twice while holding the saddle on a closed trail by following a leading horse this was only for half a minute or so at a time so I am starting to learn it. I also still struggle to remember my diagonals, changing the whip to the other rein and i am not confident with the serpentine. I have never tried riding without stirrups apart from stretching my legs in a walk at the end of a lesson which doesn't really counts. I also have never seen or ridden the horse I will be riding. I am also quite heavy and only riding 16hh+ regularly although I think the first horse I rode for a month or two was 15.2hh. Will this affect my chances.

Is there anything I can to in the short amount of time that I have to improve my riding, I realise I probably won't improve much but I would really like to do the riding as well as horse care, which I will still definitely do. Is there any chance I may pass the assessment and what can I do to help my chances in a week?
 
What's the title of your apprenticeship? Are you required to ride? If so, you may struggle. But, having said that, it depends. If you not required to ride and it's just a bonus, that could go in your favour as they can teach you their way.

I doubt there's much you could do at this stage. Also, in trying to do so, you are putting pressure on yourself and you may forget what you already know.

I would how willingness to learn, ask questions but not too many and be honest.

Good luck :)
 
I'm not sure about whether that particular place will let you do the riding, but a few friends went to college and they had people there who couldn't canter but were taught :) I would say though that I think you're being ripped off :( a year and a half of working in exchange for lessons, and canter and no stirrups have not come into it yet, I believe that anyone after a year and a half (taking into account varied levels of natural skill) should be doing both of these fairly competently now. I would scrape together money for proper lessons at a place that will actually teach you and bring you on.

Eta - good luck! Be confident and calm and I'm sure you'll be fine if the riding side isn't too big of a part of it.
 
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I would also say dont panic

I would say something at the start of the assessment, take the pressure off yourself and do what you can do really well

If that doesnt work then chances are a botched attempt at canter wouldnt have worked either
 
I would book a private riding lesson or two ASAP elsewhere and explain the situation and say you need to work on your canter. I imagine that with the amount of time you've been riding you will pick it up quick.

I have to agree with the above that I'm surprised they haven't gotten you cantering yet. I've been watching my next door neighbours kids having lessons, they have been having lessons for maybe two months and last week had their first canter. But never mind, we all have to do the best with what we have. Good luck and let us know how you get on :)
 
Honestly...there are worse people than you at these places
I'm friends with an instructor at sparsholt and her stories are legendary!!!!!
So don't worry, you are there to learn, I'm pretty sure you only have a riding assessment to put you in a suitable group....
 
I'd also be concerned that after 18 months you've not been taught to canter and not working without stirrups on a regular basis. Just as a comparison for you I've been riding just over two years and am comfortable in all paces including fast canters in two point and jumping. I've been having private lessons each week so I get RIs full attention and made to work quite hard. I'd advise private lessons too if you can fit one in before the test all the better. Otherwise just go on with it as planned and relax and enjoy it. Don't think your weight should be in issue x
 
A bad instructor can definitely hold you back, I agree with others saying that investing in a couple of private lessons with someone recommended will definitely help you loads!

It might be worth explaining to the course tutor first perhaps? They should be there to offer you advice on what you need to do in order to gain a place.

Good luck.
 
Agree with what others have said.

Think you need to, if you can, book some private lessons with a decent instructor; sounds like you need some confidence! (and to be taught correctly). Perhaps you also need to just go for a gentle hack somewhere on a good sensible horse with a good instructor, and do some cantering over open country just to get you going forward and get you in the right position? Sometimes all the school-lessons in the world won't give you confidence at cantering in open country.

Also......... sorry, am not trying to beat you up here (and by gosh hasn't this subject been done to death on here), BUT if you're conscious of it, and if you feel it could impact on what horses you may be able to ride, then try to lose some weight! Most colleges do have a weight limit so that just might be a motivator.
 
I watched someone start a riding assessment by trying to mount on the wrong side, - so don't worry. If you knew everything and could do everything college wouldn't be able to teach you anything.
I agree with others saying find another instructor for a private lesson or two. If the horses have to be chased to canter you are not in the optimum learning environment - which is not to say that the school you have been at is all bad, maybe just not what you need now.;)
Good luck.
 
Try not to worry about it! Be honest when you get there and tell them you aren't confident to canter. Let them assess you on your walk and trot. Worst case scenario, you will just do the care side which isn't so bad. Even if you start off not riding, get some more lessons (I agree that you need a better instructor than the one currently teaching you!) and then ask if you can join in the riding part at a later stage once you have learnt to canter. Good luck :)
 
If the apprenticeship is between the college and your current riding establishment and they have suggested that you go for the course then thye should have a good idea of your current level and the level required for college.

Go to the assessment and show what you can do. If they accept you, great. If they don't, take reassurance in the fact that they don't want to put you under the pressure to be having to ride at a standard you have not yet achieved and take the feedback you get forward into your normal lessons.

Speak with your instructor, there may be a reason why you have yet to be cantering etc (horsepower etc) but agree that you should, under normal circumstances, have progressed further than that in 18 months.
 
be totally open, you are going for an apprenticeship anyway, not a job, so you are going to learn much more in time anyway.
i also agree with what others have said, that in the amount of time you have been learning I'm surprised they have not yet correctly taught you to canter yet (this is not a criticism of you at all, not your fault and you can really easily learn to in no time) i presume your free lessons have always been in a group as well?
when i learned to ride i had private lessons weekly for about 3 months before i progressed to group lessons. i first cantered having lessons on a lunge so i could simply sit there and learn to sit to the different rhythm of canter without having to concentrate on steering at all. it would have been about 12 years ago now, but still remember it! i was scared of canter but within 2 lessons i preferred cantering to trot!
good luck :D
 
Agree with the others that I would have expected you to progress more quickly, but a lot of it depends on how often you ride.

How much time do you get to spend around horses? If you haven't had all that much experience, think carefully about doing an apprenticeship - working with horses can be a pretty grotty job, so make sure you're really sure what it will be like before you go ahead.
 
I had been riding 4 years before I cantered!!! and never rode without stirrups at riding schools. I could only afford a lesson every 2 weeks and that was a group lesson so I guess it depends how often you have lessons, but the riding schools round here just make you trot round for an hour, I wasted a lot of money! only learnt to ride properly once I got out of riding schools!
 
Seriously stunned to reason of people that have been riding regularly at a school and are not cantering after a year or more of lessons.

They are bad schools!

I'm an ex riding school owner and we'd start most riders with 10 ½hr lunge lessons - at the end of the 10 lessons the rider would be confidently cantering without stirrups.

If riders start in a group lesson it may be a little longer but they would definitely be confidently cantering and jumping small fences by the end of their first year of weekly lessons.

Have you spoken to the college and asked them exactly what is involved with the interview as I'm sure there will be some who have barely ridden at all going on the course.

Relax and enjoy the experience rather than stress yourself out.
 
I understand what you mean about not cantering yet. It's not like I haven't started, I've been taught in theory and have a started practicing both cantering and riding without stirrups but until recently I have been too worried. I never fallen off and I am a natural worrier and quiet unconfident so I was really anxious about falling off and didn't want to try more than a trot but then I thought, if I don't want to ever fall out I might as well stop riding but I could never do that. When I told the instructor that I wanted to start she seemed quite surprised. The reason the horse I was on had to be chased with a whip is because he only the only horse I am confident on available at the time, it was in the evening on a day I'd been helping and I was a little tired and with him you need to get the leg position right and steady and although I wanted to try I was like 'okay I have to do this now, its going to happen now.' and then I hesitate. I think where I started riding on the bigger sized horses, it worried me a bit. Helpers at the riding centre go in the same lesson so there are fairly new riders and people who had ridden mist to their lives and you get one lesson for one day of work. I was the same with driving, it took me just over two years to pass my driving test. Out of the saddle I am confident with horses, I learnt very quickly with that side and I try as much as I can.
 
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