Cantering help?

Question

yesterday i had my first canter but i was bouncing out of the saddle and i looked really stupid . Can anyone give me some advice or tips about cantering cos tomorrow i have another lesson and im really nervous . :( im rubbish at cantering

Answer 1

Just try to sit back deep down into the saddle and keep your legs long.  Try to keep your body back, but let your seat go forward and back with the horse's movement.  You want it to be like you're sitting on a rocking horse.  When the front of the horse goes down, your upper body kinda goes back.

I'm sure you didn't look as stupid as you think.  Learning to canter is all about learning what the horse feels like.  No one is good at it when they start... you just sort of do it for a while and then you get the hang of it.  It's like posting... when you start, you can't figure out what you're doing wrong and why you're not on the right diagonal and all that sort of thing... but eventually it gets really easy and you don't know why you had such a problem.  Just keep with it and keep your weight back and down in the saddle and you'll be fine.

Answer 2

Just relax you will learn to feel the motion under you better that way. It takes time, don't worry about how you look so much, learn to feel the horse under you. For now just relax.