Desperate to canter !!!!!!

B

Bedford Joy

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I have yet to canter my ponies this year as they have been on rehab due to injury, and at the beginning of the year I had some issues at home which meant I couldn't ride much, but as it's been over 6 months since I cantered i've found i've lost my nerve , and now when my mares want to go a little bit faster i find im tensing and asking them to slow down to a trot or a walk. I know once I do it I shall be fine but I have this mental block which is scaring me and wont allow me to canter. I feel like i'm not secure in my seat probably because i;m tensing, aaarrgghh its driving me crazy, I want to go out and have some fun and i'm stopping myself.

Any advice ?
 
I always find that my mare is more steady in canter if we go along a nice wooded track! rather than a field, so maybe if you have somewhere like that to take the pony it might be less scary? good luck
 
This happened to me a few years ago, my old boy had had a sore back & had bucked me off (in canter) then he had a couple of months off. I didn't even realise I'd lost my nerve until I went to canter and just couldn't!

I'm quite strong-willed and I just forced myself to canter, I did it down a wooded track as some one above suggested (he'd have taken off if we'd gone in a field!) and once we were going I was absolutely fine. He was a very good chap though who'd always look after me. You just need to take that first step and do it, or you end up like a friend of mine who hasn't gone for a canter in years. She still gets enjoyment from her riding but I'm not sure I would do so.
 
I would either borrow a sensible horse from a friend for a couple of sessions or go to a good quality riding school and have a couple of private lessons explaining to the teacher what you what to achieve.
 
Ask your mom or instructor to put you on a lunge line and use a neck strap, they have hold of you on the lunge so pony cant tank off, hold your neck strap and sit deep and relax, once you have done it you will say what was all the fuss about, cowboys and indians here i come, loved playing that when i was young, galloping up and down the field, jumping off getting back on, bliss.

Sorry i thought you were a child, re pony, never mind i still liked pretending to be the indian on tonto when i got older, lol
 
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