How to stay on horse when cantering and galloping?

Summer F: How to stay on horse when cantering and galloping?
I have been riding horses since June. When I canter my trainer tells me that I need to sqeeze with my legs in order to stay on. I am fine until the horse starts going a little too fast for me. I have read that you are only supposed to sqeeze when you want to go faster. Am I confusing the horse and making her speed up by trying to sqeeze or am I supposed to do that? I am confused, I just want to know how to stay on comfortably without getting all discombobulated (sp?)! Thanks!

Answers and Views:

Answer by Holly Elizabeth-Jean
You are squeezing your feet and calves into the horse when you want to speed up. To stay on squeeze your thighs. The horse can’t feel that through the saddle. Don’t be afraid to have to hold onto the horn a bit for balance, but don’t rely on it.

Answer by Me
To stay on, you shouldn’t be squeezing that much with your legs. Squeezing with your lower leg is the aid for the horse to speed up, while pressure in the upper thigh (which the horse can feel and a well trained one would respond to) means to slow down. But these aren’t the basis for staying on. You need to keep the weight down in your heels, legs and seat.

You should keep your heels down (different from just lifting your toe and forcing your heel down). Pretend that someone is pulling down on your heel. And put the weight down through your knees as if you were abut to kneel on the ground. And keep the weight in your seat by keeping your upper body tall. Sit up straight, let your shoulders drop, feel like there’s a taughtness, but not tighness, in your core, and follow the horses’s motion with your seat, but keep you upper body still. Pretend that you have a string coming out of the top of your head that’s holding you up like a puppet; it keeps you upright and tall, but you can feel like the rest of your body is just dangling from it. Another good image is to think of your legs like a wet towel draped over the horse’s back. So your base of support stays with the horse, but it has to come through balance rather than gripping. It’s very important not to grip with your knees.

I know some of those images seem very abstract, maybe weird, but they’re from Sally Swift’s book Centered Riding, and can be very effective. You should look into maybe purchasing the book. It’s great!

Respnse to comment below: No, I said DON’T squeeze with your knees! That’ll act like a pivot, causing your lower leg to slide back too far and you’ll be unbalanced.

Answer by redneckcowgirl1472
As said above, you need to be squeezing with your thighs or knees, when you squeeze with your calves and heels, you are telling the horse to go faster. Horses are taught to respond to lower leg presser. When you go onto riding bareback you will find that you will be using more and more of your upper leg strength to hold on and keep balanced. But here are a few ways you can build your upper leg strength without riding bareback. Drop your stirrups. At the walk, go up into your two point. You will see that you will need to use your thigh muscles i.e. pinching the horse between your knees to hold up. Now move onto the trot, get used to your balance at a sitting trot. Once youre balanced at the sitting trot, move onto the posting trot. This is ALL without your stirrups. Remember, dont forget your diagonal just because youre working on your leg muscles. Now remember heals down, shoulders back, posture etc. You will want to do a bit of this each lesson. Lengthen the time without stirrups each time. I can tell you, Ive had lessons where you warmed up with stirrups, W/T/C, then went through W/T/C WITHOUT stirrups, Then we would go onto jumping a full course work. But You will be glad youve got that upper leg strength when you move on. Hope that little tid bit help yous. Have fun!! Feel free to email me with any more questions or concerns.

Answer by Bobbi
Firstly, I would be somewhat offended if I read on here that one of my students was second guessing me or asking for a different way to accomplish a task. I personally can’t tell and don’t know, (because I haven’t seen you ride) exactly why your instructor asked you to do what she did, how she did. She may have seen that if you carried your thighs in closer, you would be getting closer to a better position, a balanced position. If you don’t understand what your instructor is trying to explain to you, ask again, and if you still don’t understand, ask her to trade places with you and show you what she means. If you simply have an instructor that either doesn’t know the proper seat or doesn’t know how to communicate that to you, then you might be better off looking elsewhere for another instructor…now, on a more positive note, the person who took the time to explain to you what a balanced seat is and how to acquire it is well worth listening to, she knows what she is talking about and explained it quite well. Sometimes, not being able to ride the trot or canter is attributed to something as simple as not having your stirrups adjusted correctly. Why not give your instructor another chance at starting from the beginning, asking her to show you how to adjust your stirrups correctly and how to, step by step, find your correct seat, for that is the answer, not gripping here and there, sit a balanced seat and riding the trot and canter is no more difficult than riding the walk. I hope this has helped you.

Answer by SCarrolD
Really I think the worst thing to do when riding a horse at any gait is try to hard. The first thing you have to do is simply relax, and become a dancing partner with your horse. He leads the motion and you follow along as smoothly as possible. When relaxing though be certain that you don’t loose the whole contolling the speed of your horse though, especially if he is on the lazy side. Good luck and remember some things take time and patience.

have fun and happy trails!!

Answer by that dog lady…
I ushually kick the horse with my outside leg. Keep your legs tight and snug around the horses to keep your balance. It seems that your only succeeding with a fast trot,not a canter.

Answer by rachett
sit tall in the saddle, anchor your heels down and lean slightly back to get your balance. keep your reins short and half halt to slow the horse to a steady canter.

Answer by Leonie V
Use a monkey grip! If you horse lunges well, get someone to put you on the lunge then you don’t have to worry about control so much. Don’t hold on with your lower leg so much, use your inner thighs, but don’t use a “death Grip” If your horse wont lunge try doing up a steady sloping hill, that way you can lean forward slightly, which most people do when they learn to canter. When sitting in the saddle you should feel all 4 pubic bones ( 2 fanny bones and 2 bum bones) on your saddle all with even pressure that way you know you are sitting up straight. one reason that you are bouncing, may be you are leaning forward. and probably the best bit of advice i can give you is REMEMBER TO BREATH! if you are nervous SING! this will relax you and once you relax, watch it all come together….Good luck!

Answer by Regal_gal
Realy just practice and controll

Answer by river08
Riding a horse is not about squeezing unless you are trying to dressage or move a horse forward. Riding a horse is about finding your center of balance, you primarily grip with your upper leg, just positioning with the lower, unless like I said you are giving an aide. It sounds like riding instructor is not very knowledgeable.

Answer by DaisyKJ
Summer, I have to agree with river 08. I don’t think you need to squeeze your legs to stay on the horse at all. It has more to do with how you are balanced in the saddle. Yes, you use your upper thigh muscles to stay balanced, but you need to be sure you aren’t leaning back too far, or riding off-balance.

If you aren’t comfortable at the canter, go back to the trot and work on staying balanced. The canter should actually be smoother and easier to ride, once you’ve gotten used to trotting.

And I also agree with everyone who said to relax….horse riding shouldn’t be that much work. Just ride at slower gaits until you feel that you are ready to speed up. You should feel the horse’s strength extending through you, and feel strong enough to stay in the saddle and move with the horse. If you don’t feel that strong, don’t canter until you are ready.

Good luck, and enjoy riding! (I don’t think your trainer should be offended, as Bobbi said she would be if her student asked others for their opinion….the horse world is wide and varied, and we don’t have to limit ourselves to one person’s viewpoint.)

Answer by angela r
well, its all in the hipps! plant your hipps deep in the saddle and flow with the horse movement (1, 2, 3…1, 2, 3…). your shoulders shouldnt move, but your hipps should. remember to stay light in the saddle and push down in your heels.

Answer by kaylie s
I think she means squeeze with your knees and thighs to stay on. squeezing with your feet and calves tells the horse to speed up, so yes you may be confusing the horse. try squeezing with only your thighs and knees and the canter will be more comfortable for you. (and the horse) good luck and happy cantering! 🙂

ps. also keep your heels down and infront of you a little bit(which will make you sit deeper in the saddle) and relax at the canter. if your nervous or excited the horse will be nervous or excited and will there for speed up. and make sure you have your balance so your not bouncing around up there 😛

Answer by can76chaser
The best way to get your seat is to ride bareback!!! Tell your trainer that you want to ride that way to help build your seat!! It helps you find your seat & how to keep it. You need to squeeze with your thighs!!!! It feels too fast because you still are learning how to stay seated on the horse. Keep practing on it you’ll do great!!!!!! Riding for 30yrs. Trainig for 19yrs.

Answer by Lauren D
when your cantering or galloping you should squeeze with your thighs to stay on. If you squeeze with your lower leg the horse will respond to this and go faster!. also try to relax and not be tense and push your heels down in the stirrups.
hope this helps good luck!
xxx

Answer by Fancys_Mamma
heck i dont know i just hang on lol good luck