Help sitting the canter?

[DappleGreyDaydreamer]

I have been riding since I was very young, but never rode anything other than fat ponies and gypsy cobs until recently, when I finally purchased my own Connemara. He's oversized for the breed and very lanky, and after riding barrel horses in the past I am really struggling to sit his canter. It's wonderfully powerful and he's completely under my control in the gait, but I find myself either focusing on my lower leg and bouncing out of the saddle, or working on my seat and losing a stirrup. It's starting to drive me insane as I've never had trouble sitting the canter for all the years I've been riding, so any tips would be fantastic thanks!

 

[tatty_v]

I sometimes have the same problem on my Connie - my solution has been to take my stirrups away in the middle of the schooling session and work on my seat. After that, when I take them back towards the end of the session the problem goes away!

 

[Simon Battram]

Please take this the right way as I am not breedist at all!!

Some horses are a little reluctant to let go through their backs. They can and will but sometimes take a little longer. Amongst these breeds are the Spanish horse, the Danish warmblood, the Morgan horse and the Connie.

So even though the canter maybe 'under your control' it could simply be a question of him not releasing through the back and therefore not letting you have a canter to sit on.

Can you stretch him to the floor in walk and trot and what is the outline like in the canter?

 

[DappleGreyDaydreamer]

Don't worry Simon B, no offence taken at all, I'm just eager to learn!
In walk he will definitely stretch, but having been ridden in a constant strong contact in his previous home, whenever I let him go loose in trot he speeds out of control and I get spooked and snatch up my reins again, bad habit really, we are working on both of our problems there. As far as outline goes it's very much a working progress, as his previous home was a jumping home exclusively so he doesn't really know how to drop his head for a long time. We have established a good outline in walk now after a couple weeks training, and now we're working on the trot. Once that's sorted I'll start on canter work a lot, and it's something I'll ask my trainer about this weekend!

Thanks to both for good advice, I'll be taking my stirrups up next time I ride (save me haha)

 

[Orca]

Please take this the right way as I am not breedist at all!!

Some horses are a little reluctant to let go through their backs. They can and will but sometimes take a little longer. Amongst these breeds are the Spanish horse, the Danish warmblood, the Morgan horse and the Connie.

So even though the canter maybe 'under your control' it could simply be a question of him not releasing through the back and therefore not letting you have a canter to sit on.

Can you stretch him to the floor in walk and trot and what is the outline like in the canter?

That's interesting! I had a go on an oversized Connie recently. His trot was lovely to sit to but his canter was not.

It sounds like there will be ways for you to help improve his canter, OP but in the meantime, just try to relax and go with him. As above, going stirrupless is my go to if I'm not sitting in properly, which I tended towards when I returned to riding after a break.

 

[Simon Battram]

Glad you took the comment in the context it was meant!

Speed control is you first port of call. before worrying about the outline you need to feel that you can do a give and re-take (small release of the contact with both hands giving forwards) without the speed changing. I always get riders to think of aids as in they are our signals for change - when you have got what you want you do not want it to change so don't give an aid. The lazy horse tempts the rider to keep the leg on; the speedy horse tempts the rider to keep the rein aid on. Help him relax and wait, which in walk it sounds like you are doing a good job.

Once he is waiting for you in the trot and you can release the rein without him hitting the turbo button then you can work on trot stretch and you will find the back will soften and later the same in the canter.

 

[Tnavas]

An exercise that I do with my riders is to reach behind with both hands and grasp the cantle and hold themselves to it. Then feel what is now happening to their hips. The exercise is best done on the lunge or at least in an enclosed space.

The outcome is that you can feel that your upper body remains vertical and still while from your hips down your body moves like a pendulum to absorb the canter movement. Your arms follow the movement of the horses head which is very like the movement in walk.

 

[EQUIDAE]

Try this - instead of thinking of your hips moving in a forwards circle with the movement, think of them moving in a backwards oval. Sounds odd but it helped me.