Negativity and lack of progress

[Luclila]

Hi, I’ve recently (8/9months ago) started riding again weekly and have been cantering now for 4months but recently feel like I’ve made no progress and am going back. I’ve got tense in my canter and hunch forward and completely loose my seat position. I feel like my instructors aren’t helping in a way I can full understand and it’s just going in one ear and out the other. Now I focus so much on that and struggle not too. Does anyone have any advice???

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I have had this issue myself when I came back to riding after a break and what I found helped was riding in a school with mirrors. Somehow watching what I was doing made me less tense (distraction or the extra concentration maybe?) and also seeing what i was doing helped me correct it more than just *knowing* what I was doing wrong.

 

[Luclila]

Would love to try this but due to riding in a school on a riding school horse it’s hard due to the instructors and small mirrors!.

 

[norolim]

I'm no expert by any means, but have you considered maybe trying a lunge lesson? It may help you to focus on your seat and relax a little more, not having to worry about also controlling where the horse is going. Are you having private or group lessons at the moment?

 

[Luclila]

A lunge lesson is a good idea thank you, I usually do shared private lessons with a friend I ride with but have done some group lessons - found the horse I rode in them was nice so got my seat better and they helped me with her as she needs a tiny nudge and she’s off ? but after 3 lessons on her my canter felt better and rein contact but as soon as I went on a different horse it collapsed.

 

[JackFrost]

Ride as many different horses as you can, they all move a bit differently. Some have easy canters and some do not.
Do lots of no stirrup work in trot, so you get a better sense of security.
Hold on to the front of the saddle if that helps you feel more secure.
It could also be that the saddle isn't helping if it's just not the right shape for you.
I have never found instructors are very helpful with canter, possibly because the horse and rider movements are quite complex, so it takes someone with a very good eye to see the issues.

 

[Luclila]

Yes I do agree with the instructors in canter, and the saddle shape may be a contributing factor. (Thinking now they are completely different) Will definitely try to do more no stirrup work, thank you for the suggestion, but as I share lessons with a friend who’s seat is fine, I find the instructors tend to cater to her problems more and I have to do the exercises with her so it can be difficult.

 

[Cob Life]

I agree with the lunge lesson.

First lesson with my new instructor I told her my canter was iffy, so she put me straight on the lunge and all I had to worry about was sitting there and it was a game changer! I’m so much more confident and stable in my canter work now

 

[Bob notacob]

Hi, I’ve recently (8/9months ago) started riding again weekly and have been cantering now for 4months but recently feel like I’ve made no progress and am going back. I’ve got tense in my canter and hunch forward and completely loose my seat position. I feel like my instructors aren’t helping in a way I can full understand and it’s just going in one ear and out the other. Now I focus so much on that and struggle not too. Does anyone have any advice???

Yes .geta grip. It isn't easy . Learn to relax into tjhe movement and keep breathing (very important this)

 

[Rumtytum]

Another in favour of a lunge lesson. Could you treat yourself to a private one?

 

[Muddy unicorn]

I’ve just started learning to canter as an adult beginner and at first I’d tense up and grip with my knees which obviously made me bounce all over the place..

I had some lunge lessons which were great, and had a couple of days of back to back lessons (ie one in the morning and one in the afternoon) which was enormously helpful as I could start putting things into practice immediately instead of waiting for a week. And breathing is always good!

It’s by no means perfect now but all feels a lot more stable and enjoyable.

Weirdly when I rode as a child (decades ago), I found canter much easier than trot so I could vaguely remember what it was supposed to feel like.

Good luck!

 

[Skib]

I learned most of my riding on the lunge but not canter. The lunge isnt necessarilly the best way to learn canter.
My RI explained that close control of canter on the lunge involved a smaller circle and a small circle could be harder for the new rider (and the horse). But if the lunge line was long the speed of the canter was less easy for the RI to control.
I learned to canter on the straight, out hacking, and even when I could canter well, I did relatively little canter on the lunge.
That has partly to do with control. Many adults like to control the vehicle on which they are moving at speed. One RI friend of mine said she could not bear to be lunged.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

I’d second having a lunge lesson, also is there anywhere near you that has a riding simulator? That might be a good way to learn which muscles you need to switch on and which you need to relax, also unlike a horse the rhythm is constant so you can practice (and make mistakes) without affecting the horses way of going

 

[Luclila]

I’ve looked into the simulator but the closest one i can find is nearly 2hours away .

 

[Muddy unicorn]

I’ve had some lessons on a simulator and although they were helpful in lots of ways, they gave me a false sense of security with the canter. On the simulator, I could sit happily to the canter with no problem so I assumed I’d be fine on a real horse… but it actually felt completely different - I think it was partly the sense of forward motion which of course you don’t get with the simulator.

 

[Rumtytum]

I’ve looked into the simulator but the closest one i can find is nearly 2hours away .

I’ve had simulator sessions and echo what MU says above. My instructor wasn’t good, I didn’t learn a lot, but it was fun which is why I went back a few times. I remember the mechanical horse was SO much slimmer than the Welsh D I ride at the school ?

 

[Luclila]

That’s another aspect I think it might be due to being scared of not getting the canter and having to kick loads.

 

[Widgeon]

I learned to canter on the straight, out hacking, and even when I could canter well, I did relatively little canter on the lunge.

Yes this - assuming you're not going to literally fall off, cantering out hacking is much easier as you don't have to worry about "getting" the canter, or maintaining a circle. You just have to stay out of the horse's way and possibly regulate the speed a bit. Although I suppose not all riding schools will have access to a nice safe canter track - could you try riding a bit at a trekking centre as well? When I came back to riding I had lessons at one place (which was very good but didn't really "do" hacking at all) and I went to a trekking centre every so often for a nice hack.

 

[Luclila]

That’s a good idea might book one now ?