Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Fly like the wind - The Canter

After many a Bum Stutter and cursing frustration I feel I have it, I have mastered rising trot (well when I say mastered I mean I'm more in rhythm with the horse and less like a rag doll on board). So now I'm moving on to THE CANTER!!! Which is basically when a horse runs!! On a scale of how fast a horse can go its third on the list starting from the slowest. The different strides of a horse are:
  • Walk (self explanatory)
  • Trot (kind of like jogging)
  • Canter (running but not flat out)
  • Gallop (flat out running or sprinting)
I am still on good old reliable Tubs, Vincent my instructor deems me ready to try a canter. So firstly, he imparts the communication technique that I need to use in order to be able to convey to Tubs what it is I want her to do next. So to date we already have had the aid to (1) walk and (2) trot and now

3. Canter - To canter you must change your aid from trot in order to communicate to the horse that you wish to canter and you must repeat this aid in order to continue the canter
             The aid being - you put one leg behind the big belt that goes under the horses belly (the girth) and the other leg on the girth. Then stop rising trot and do sitting trot and tap your legs against the horse until they canter. Then to maintain the canter you must continue to apply the aid above. 


Sounds about as simple
as it was for me to perform the first time I did it!!!

Tubs being the dutiful stead that she is she knew the score of what I was trying to attempt when I wrapped my fingers in her mane to hold on for the canter, I put my legs in position and kicked on. The lady of the yard (that's Tubs not me) started a lovely soft canter in order to break her rider in gently. If I thought that bouncing in Trot was tough Oh My God I was bouncing all over the place in Canter but its scarier as your going faster and the rhythm is completely different and so is your seat. 
Seat meaning how you sit into the saddle for example:
  • In trot you rise out of the saddle every second beat 
  • However Canter you have to sit into the saddle and try and polish said saddle with your bum
So I'm back to my trying to pat my head and rub my belly type of action!! Which is so difficult as you've so many elements to remember and throw in a horse that you've to communicate with in the middle of all that. Tough stuff!! And let me tell you practicing this bad boy is a whole different type of soreness than the trot!!

As I relentlessly bobbed around in canter and held an iron fist grip on Tub's mane in some attempt to stop me from popping right off. Vincent would shout "Remember Clodagh you are suppose to be an extension of the horse, at the moment I can see a foot of air between you and that saddle". The minute I would feel like I was getting something right then something else would give and go to pot. Here are the various helpful hints being pointed out to me in the arena: 
  • Heels down 
  • LEG, LEG, LEG, Use your legs
  • SIT BACK 
  • SIT UP, SIT UP, SIT UP
  • Are you getting air-miles for being that amount away from the saddle
  • DONT lean forward, LEAN BACK, LEAN BACK 
  • Sit into the saddle                                                                                                                              (yea that's fine when the horse is standing still add movement and that becomes a much bigger task)
My aim is to be quite in the saddle when cantering and that seems a long way off!! However myself and Tubs are determined.

And here I am on-board cantering on Tubs:

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