Should I sell?

[Scaty_Bird]

Keep the horse but say bye bye to the instructor. Sounds like you just need a bit of advice on how and when you should use your leg and be sitting.

If you do come back to the UK to have a week somewhere The Yorkshire Riding Centre is great - you can do a package where you have your accommodation, meals and tuition included. The instructors that we had were great and it improved my confidence hugely - I am petrified of jumping and by the end of the week I WANTED to jump a 3 foot course.

Agree with what a lot of people are saying about the spurs and bridle - they are meant to fine tune what your asking and if your not asking in the first place won't make a difference. It would be a good idea to try riding with a schooling whip but to also make sure your asking first before you use it.

What's your horse like it you 'let him go' a bit more in the canter? Maybe he just needs his head a bit more?

 

[TangoCurly]

Do you actually need to canter at all?

I wonder if you are putting so much pressure on yourself that you have no option but to get nervous about it, the horse reads this and therefore is looking after you by not cantering.

I'd give up on cantering completely (or pretend you have anyway). Just work on walk and trot, do some lateral work, work on altering stride lengths, etc, etc then one of these days you will just suddenly find that you want to canter and will just do it. That might be in a week's time, it might be in a year or two's time. It doesn't matter.

If you don't want to canter at all after a few years, well sod it, don't canter!

 

[Little Ted]

Lots of great advice again, thanks all.
This week I'm doing my own thing with my snaffle, schooling whip and no spurs. He's listening to me, so I'm taking it slow and easy trying to stay relaxed. I also have a strap on my saddle D-rings to give me a psychological boost.

In answer to how does my horse go in canter if he's 'let go', he has a lovely extended canter when someone else rides him So I really need to be less tense, take off the hand brake and go with the flow. Wish me luck.

As I said before I'd change instructor if I could but there is seriously no choice. I'll continue to look but a trained English speaker is a rarity here.

 

[Goldenstar]

Will he let you canter with your wieght off his back ?
By that I mean in a sort of long jumping postion you might have to shorten your stirrups a couple of holes also I would use a neck strap if you don't already.
If he will let you do off the back canter I would practise this on a circle until you get the feel of him moving forward under you .
Think of your wieght going down the stirrups into your feet and heels . I suggest this as its a way for your to canter without blocking him which I think he's reading as a stop aid.
Please check he is safe to ride like this before you try.
The cure for canter problems is cantering you just need to canter as much as possible try to ride other horses if you can .

 

[Little Ted]

Hacking - I've been out on the only bridle way we have half a dozen times with my instructor. The last time I was with him a dog popped out of a bush and my boy bolted though I did manage to stop him about 100yards away from my instructor without having a coronary.
This week I've taken my boy out myself (which is a little scary) and pushed on when he tried to turn us around! I haven't ventured far but every little counts...

 

[Little Ted]

Thanks Goldenstar, will look into it.
I take your point though, just need to canter.... and perhaps be a little braver.

 

[Goldenstar]

Don't think my typing is good enough to take through exactly how I think I would approach this if I was teaching you but in the off the back postion you need to learn how to balance using your lower legs with the wieght in the feet ( on the stirrup) and down the heel ,you learn that you need to be in control Of your upper body and you don't have your bum in the saddle to help you so it helps develop balance and poise in the muscles .
When you where confidently cantering like this I would get you to sit hopefully by then you find it easier to stay with the motion .
Most uk trained horses are used to ' off the back work' but I am assuming your horse is Spanish trained and that why I saying be cautious and check this won't freak him out.

 

[Cluny]

OP thats great news about the hacking. I know how you feel, I used to have a horse who I completely lost my nerve on out hacking as he would bronc with me until he got me off. I literally had to force myself to get on board and my legs felt like jelly when out hacking, but I was determined not to be beaten and forced myself to go further and further, until in the end I actually started to enjoy myself and so did my horse.

A good tip I found was to sing nursery rhymes went out riding, it means you have to breath (when we are nervous we hold our breath) and this in turn stops your body being rigid which in turn helps relax your horse.

 

[Little Ted]

A few people have mentioned singing which I've recently tried particularly if I play music, and agree it works. Interestingly I have been more relaxed and ridden better on the odd occasion I'm recovering from a night out - clearly my brain is fogged. That said, I have no plans to drink more!

 

[Cluny]

Lol, no I don't recommend alcohol as a cure!

 

[sally259]

Whereabouts in Spain are you? I haven't got a horse but I have weekly lessons with a wonderful instructor in the Malaga area.

 

[HappyHooves]

Have you tried an ad here - http://spain.angloinfo.com/

 

[Little Ted]

Thanks Sally259 and Happy Hooves - appreciate your input.
I'm about an hour and a half away from Malaga

 

[sally259]

I have PM'd you the link to where I go riding.

 

[Aarrghimpossiblepony]

I'd ask myself two questions if I were you.

Why did I start to ride?
Why did I buy a horse?

If the answer to those questions isn't "because I wanted to canter right the way around the arena", stop beating yourself up about not being able to do that.

Concentrate on what you can do and relax doing what you can do and ask yourself if you are enjoying that with your own horse, (that's pretty much the dream for all of us isn't it, owning your own horse you can have a relationship with)

And if the answer is "yes" carry on.

And he sounds a very nice horse if on a hack something spooked him and he stopped after a hundred yards with, by your own admission, a quite nervous rider.

 

[Fahrenheit]

There is schoolmasters and there is schoolmasters.

To me a true dressage schoolmaster is not for a novice rider... no offence intended, a dressage schoolmaster knows their job but still requires the rider to be able to push all the right buttons, to me you need a more allround schoolmaster you can establish yourself on first. I'd say the same about show jumping schoolmasters, I had a Grade A schoolmaster but that doesn't mean anyone can ride them, the rider still needs to have the balls to jump the fences and to be able to push the right buttons

 

[Booboos]

I don't know you or your horse, but my feeling is that you have overhorsed yourself.

A schoolmaster can only be described as such in reference to the type of rider he is suited to. For example, a 'first competition horse schoolmaster' should be able to take a competition novice rider to Prelim/Novice/Elem with a bit of support from a good trainer. If the rider is already at Medium, then they need a PSG schoolmaster. If the rider is doing well at PSG then they need a GP schoolmaster. None of this means that the GP schoolmaster would be a schoolmaster for the original, competition novice, rider.

As horses progress in their training they develop more sensitivities to more complex aids and the rider has to have some approximate ability of delivering these aids. Allowing the horse to go forward with the hand when applying the forward leg/seat aids is crucial otherwise the horse will become seriously confused and no amount of increasing the aids (longer spurs plus stronger bit) is going to solve the situation.

In addition, some (although I appreciate not all) Spanish trained horses are pushed a bit too quickly to advanced movements without establishing the basics so they require an even more experienced rider to set them up correctly - therefore they are even more difficult for a less experienced rider, e.g. just because the horse can piaffe it does not mean that he can trot a 20m circle without falling out of the shoulder.

If you can find another instructor it would be worth getting a second opinion on whether the partnership between you and your horse can be developed, but if you cannot, continuing to spend the money on three lessons a week and not being able to canter your horse after 3 years does point to a fundamental problem. Sadly I think you should consider selling your horse for one that is more suitable.

 

[paddy]

First of all try working with what you've got. You know your horse can canter, although it seems he needs reminding. You think you're tense and blocking (been there got the t'shirt).

One thing that really worked for me was taking the pressure right off. Work on a 20m circle, and do lots of transitions between walk, trot and halt, and on and back in each pace. Don't ask for canter yet. When your horse is off the leg and pinging, start talking to someone - doesn't matter who - about something unrelated to horses. Continue your transitions. Whilst maintaining the conversation, ask for the canter for a 1/4 circle, then back to trot 1/4 circle, canter 1/4 circle etc. Do that for, say week one until you're comfortable with that. Then do half a circle canter half trot, all the while keeping the conversation. When you get up to a full circle, stick to canter circles - cantering in a straight line and keeping the horse's weight back on his hocks is difficult. When that's going well, do a canter circle, go straigt a few paces up the long side, put in another circle, go straight a few paces, etc. Slowly build the amount of time you're able to canter on the circle and straight, and if you feel the weight moving onto the forehand whilst going large, do another circle. AND KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING.

Why? It may be that your instructor is able to better balance the horse, or it may be that you're blocking. Taking your focus elsewhere will stop you tensing so much. Working on circles will help keep the weight back (oh, and make sure you're not tipping forwards too).

Good luck! Bear in mind schoolmasters generally know all the tricks going.

 

[dangermouse64]

Hi Little Ted,

I personally wouldn't sell him, from what you've said he's lovely other than not keeping the canter going.

I rode a riding school pony last year who was very forward and honestly (even though I wouldn't admit it) he scared me. Everytime I had to canter I felt a knot in my stomach, I'd ask for the canter, he'd rush and go flat, I'd tense up and then he'd stop, all in the space of about 30 seconds. Riding instructor rode him infront of me and he went like a dream.

She recommended singing and just walk and trot work, lots of transitions and she just left me to find my balance with him while she taught the rest of the lesson (she kept an eye on us obviously)

By around the 4th lesson I felt so much more relaxed and knew a few more nursery rhymes lol so I just sat and asked for the canter, I wasn't bothered if he did it or not so I wasn't as tense, I got around six strides of canter and then asked him to trot again. That was my light bulb moment and I used that to build from, a few lessons later and I had my confidence back, joined in with the rest of the lesson and had him jumping small cross poles.

If you relax and focus on what goes well then your confidence in him will grow and before you realise you'll be cantering and doing whatever else you want with him. Patience pays, don't rush yourself.

Good luck

Dani.x