Help - how do I detach my hands when in Canter when in the school

[PONYPC]

So a bit emabarrassing, after some injuries to both horse and rider, i am back in the saddle, looking to regain my riding skills. My horse loves hacking, but hates the school. Walk and trott are fine, but in canter, i can't help following through with my hands and just not keeping them still enough. I have had lessons on the lunge and more recently did quite a few circuits of trott trott canter canter with no hands, arms stretched out and keeping my horse nice and forward. Similarly riding with one hand, my horse remains forward, but when i use both hands even with the lightest of contacts, keeping my seat, my horse loses forward motion. I am keeping an even balance, he is always forward when out cantering on hacks, but remains ultra sensitive in the school. Any ideas, tips, excercises please on my maintaing a correct position please? Yep i am writing this at 4 am in the morning as what else can i be thinking about half way through the night thank you

 

[sbloom]

The body works in zones - your ankles, hips and ribcage/shoulders should be flexible, your knees, waist and neck should be stable. If any of these isn't functioning well then the next "zones" start to do the opposite thing too, so a too loose waist would lead to lack of flexibility in the shoulder girdle, and your hands will bounce. Hacking horses have more adrenaline etc flowing so tend to be more forwards and less sensitive, it doesn't mean the problem IS about the school.

Join the Rider Reboot group on FB, there is some free stuff on there but you may find his classes/services helpful, he offers 1 to 1 assessments and exercises to get the body working better, but it's not hard work. He will see if there's anything else causing these challenges, not just the zones I talked about.

Do also bear in mind that if the saddle doesn't fit you at all then it's very hard for those zones to all do the right thing, and saddle fit for the rider is a subtle art.

 

[ycbm]

I can't help but I am giggling over your title ?

 

[Jess1994PM]

So this may seem a bit weird but trust me IT WORKS! Years ago when i was in a riding school i was the same, I would loose my position completely in the canter and everything would just look ungraceful! one of my instructors actually made me ride with a whip while placed behind my elbows fixing my elbows slightly behind my back (in the crook of one elbow placed around the back and hooked inside the other at the other side) and one whip tucked under both my thumbs for thumbs on top and correct hand position. Sounds silly and you do feel a bit weird! BUT it really works and once youve done that for a few weeks it really makes a difference and teaches you to keep those hands still and not grab for the rein. put your reins in the ideal position (nice and loose enough for him to feel forward with the slightest contact so he knows your still with him) and if you feel him start to slow before he drops transition wrap your legs around sit deep and squeeze him on every stride. Hope this works for you but well worth a try! it helped my position massively.

 

[Skib]

Learning to canter as an adut novice, I was told to imagine the horse flowing forward between my hands. Taking care not to block that forward speed. We learned to canter from walk, which avoided sitting trot at the corner but also slowed everything down. If we needed control after that first stride of canter we were told to close our shoulder blades behind our back.
I find closing my shoulder blades very handy out hackng.

 

[Cloball]

I wonder if maybe you are lacking a bit of strength and engagement through the core. I find if you are riding without reins you will naturally engage more as you don't have the crutch of the reins but when you take them back are you losing that engagement?

I always notice if I haven't ridden in a while I sort of forget to "turn on" my core and my hand do feel less independent and I can feel pulled around until I concentrate.