Jane Savoie’s Happy Horse Tip #6-Improve Your Seat in the Canter

Happy Horse Tip #6-Improve Your Seat in the Canter

Think about how your seat moves when you’re cantering. Notice how your hip angles open and close. Start with your upper body on the vertical, and then open your hip angles and let your upper body rock a bit BEHIND the vertical. Then come back up to the vertical with shoulder over hip over heel.

Visualize arrows extending down from your seatbones. Whichever way those arrows are pointed, is the direction you’re sending the hind legs. If you lean forward and close your hip angles, you push the hind legs out the back door.

If your upper body is on the vertical and you rock behind the vertical, you open your hip angles. As a result the imaginary arrows extended down from your seatbones point forward. You’re saying to your horse’s hind legs, “Come along, come along, go with, go with.”

Elastic Contact with Your Horse’s Mouth in the Canter

Happy Horse Tip #3 In the canter, your horse telescopes his neck forward and back in the same way he does in the walk. You need to follow with your arms in the canter. If you don’t, your horse can’t use his neck as balancing rod. So, he struggles, gives up, and falls into the trot. He’s not being bad. You’re just putting him in a position where it’s very difficult for him to continue to canter.

Imagine that when you pick up the reins, your arms don’t belong to you anymore. They’re an extension of the rein, and they belong to your horse.

Here’s an exercise to help give you the feeling of an elastic contact in the canter. You can even practice this exercise in the halt first to get some muscle memory.
• Get up into a two-point position.
• Pretend you’re a jockey galloping down a track with your hands pushing your horse’s neck forward every stride.
• While doing that, notice how your elbows open and close with every stride.
• Then sit back down, and keep your elbows opening and closing in the same way.

For more info on the Happy Horse Course, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/