Riding a Canter can be Fun: Fear and Familiarity
Posted: Tuesday, February 01, 2011
by Dianne Lehmann
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The first time I got up on a horse as an adult, I wondered for a moment why I had thought I wanted to do that. It was very high and he could do anything at the drop of a hat, literally. Horses will spook at just about everything including leaves and butterflies. Mostly they run off, but sometimes they rear or buck. I'd seen it happen and didn't want it happening to me.
I experienced a lot of the same fear when asking him to trot for the first time. Walking a horse is a Sunday stroll along the boardwalk compared to trotting a horse. Until you learn to post (rise and fall with the trot) or sit the trot really well (and I mean really well), it's a butt-bone-banging ride that feels like you could bounce right off at any moment. And then I found out he wasn't really even trotting; it was more of a jog. You could color me red except for some reason or other nothing having to do with my lack of knowledge about horses has ever embarrassed me.
The first time he gave me a full-out fast trot it scared the … well it scared me a lot. But I just kept reminding myself how frightened I initially was to walk him. I'm now quite comfortable with his fast trot … as long as I can post to it. Sitting, not so much.
I won't say that I've perfected the trot … or the walk for that matter. In dressage, nothing is ever really perfected. There is always some new thing to learn or do better. But I'd come to the point where I felt I was ready to add the canter to the gaits that I could ride. Even with all my experience of fear riding the first two gaits, I was not prepared for how much the canter would frighten me. Mostly due to the fact that the first and worst fall I've had was shortly after beginning my instruction in riding when he spooked and took off at a canter. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I knew it wasn't a trot.
The canter, until you learn to do it properly, can be back breaking … especially if you are tense. And boy was I tense. Still am mostly, but it's getting better. Where the trot seems determined to mercilessly bounce you up and down, the canter feels like the horse wants to first dump you off his backside and then, very next thing, throw you onto his neck. And it's FAST. Not full out gallop fast, but fast. Then of course, I found out that what he was doing was more of a lope than a canter. My friend had put a buck strap across the pommel of the saddle (English type saddle … very small pommel and no horn) and I couldn't let go of it to save my life. I had a death grip on the reins and the strap together and so there was no way I could steer him. Good thing we were in the round pen.
Just gearing myself up to ask him for the canter was a major undertaking. And because he could sense my fear, he didn't always give it to me when I asked (it didn't help that I would nervously and unconsciously pull back on the reins just as he'd start to canter). He'd just start trotting faster and faster and I had to be sitting when the departure to the canter came and so I couldn't post and the whole thing was one big nightmare. I clenched up my legs in fear (picture me trying to take a fetal position on the back of a horse), which tended to bring my feet out of the stirrups and then I really felt like I was about to come off.
I've been told to ride the canter properly you have to belly dance in the saddle. I don't know about that, but I have let go of the buck strap … even on departures from the trot to the canter. And I'm learning that steering at the canter is not so much about what you do with the reins (what did I know?) as what you do with your legs (I've discovered muscles I didn't know I had … mostly because they are very sore). I've gone past my initial five second canters and can sustain it for a couple of minutes. I had three perfect paces the other day (that's something like three or four seconds) where "my" horse was in perfect position and we were in perfect sync. It felt like floating; like riding a wave. It was awesome! Now I know what I'm shooting for.
I fear most the things with which I am least familiar. I think that is true for the majority of us. I had a friend once that totally frightened me with her intensity. It almost kept me from developing the friendship. But the better acquainted I became with her, I learned about all the other sides of her and the familiarity lessened my anxiety. They say that familiarity breeds contempt. I'm just not so sure that's true. I think familiarity breeds tolerance and an end to fear.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Its been a long time since I rode a horse. When I was a kid I lived on a farm, there I rode horses but that was a long time ago. Good article DianneHi David.
I think riding a horse is like riding a bicycle ... you never really forget how. You might wobble a bit when you first start out, but pretty soon you're back in the swing of it. Maybe you should give it a try again. I find it to be good for my soul.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Hugs,
Dianne
I would like to ride one soon and know the experience. Haven't done it yet.Hi DM.
I haven't yet worked through all my issues surrounding cantering, but it's certainly exhilarating. That's for sure!
I think everyone should get on a horse at every opportunity. I hope yours comes along soon!
Hugs,
Dianne
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