I am finding canter down the long sides to be increasing difficult. Its incredibly hard for me to just sit there. My horse has a good motor and is straight…and so I start fiddling…UGH Anyone else struggle with this?
Can you be more specific? What are you trying to fix? Is anxiety a part of this? Do you feel he’s running away on you? Do you have past scary experiences? How do you feel cantering down the center line or on a trail? Do you feel ok doing a big trot? Do you feel ok on other horses?
Usually the urge to micromanage comes from fear, but may be exacerbated by bad coaching.
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I didnt really equate fear to my fiddling but that makes some sense. I am good when circling, going across the diagonal, counter canter, serpentine - because I have to ride that. To me the long sides feel like just sitting and doing nothing which is my struggle.
The fiddling/fear connection…that is hitting home with me. For the most part I trust my horse, and as I type this, I realize that I trust him when he is being kept busy. This is eye opening.
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One of the very hardest things for me to learn, finally, is to do very little. Less is more in riding.
Try to relax and just enjoy how good your horse is. If you need to do something with your brain, listen to the cadence and rhythm of his hooves striking the surface. Count the beat and play around altering your speed by counting slower or faster.
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I’d add that doing less in every move is something that develops over time, obviously a green horse needs more direction. But at a certain point you can just ask and the horse will do the thing with minimal support.
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If you’re fiddling, it may be that something goes a little nqr when you go straight - horse maybe rushes a bit or tips ever so slightly forward.
Make your straight lines only long enough that you feel the quality of the canter and your comfort do not change. Maybe it’s one stride (or maybe 4) until something goes sideways. That’s ok. Do a circle or 2 to re-establish the canter you want and try again. Add strides to your straight lines gradually. This, like most everything else in dressage, does not need to be bitten off, chewed, and thoroughly digested in one bite. Break it down 
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Instead of fiddling, amuse yourself by lengthening and shortening the gait, concentrate n the rhythm , make sure the degree of flexion is correct, prepare to ride the upcoming corner, OR just sit back, follow the rhythm with your hips and enjoy.
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On sascha’s note, if you are the problem, then you need baby steps too. Your horse doesn’t come out of the package fully trained, it’s a process, both physically and mentally, to build the finished product so to speak. Riders are no different. So go up the long side, pay less attention to the perfection of your horses canter but rather your ability to tolerate doing nothing but being centered in the tack. However many strides that is, as long as you are happily centered and relaxed with doing nothing. When it becomes a challenge to be relaxed, don’t fight it, give yourself that mental break by moving off into the largest circle you can do where you are still doing as little as possible. Go back to the straight line, see if you get more correctly ridden strides. Don’t push for more because that mental pressure isn’t going to improve your centered doing nothingness, but it’s ok to ask yourself if you have one more.
Wash, rinse, repeat…
But I bet if you remove the mental pressure of doing all 60m it will become much easier!
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Reporting back on my journey to just canter the long side…I knew I was the problem but was having a lot of trouble getting to root of the problem. Well, in an effort to “just sit there” and “not fiddle”, I was bracing to which my horse reacted to by getting faster. So by focusing on rhythm and tempo, I am now able to ride the long side. My poor horse.
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Horses are forgiving creatures … with great memories. Now that you’ve solved the issue you can both move forward. If you get yourself tied in knots again your horse will roll its eyes and carry on giving you exactly what you ask for until you figure it out, and then, forgiveness again 
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I’ll share a little tip I give my jumper students when they start nit picking at a distance when they have a long approach to a jump: sing. Row, row, row your boat works for me everytime. 
Helps you relax and focus on the rhythm. Before you know it, you’ll be at the corner!
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My song of choice for jumping is “Stayin’ Alive.” 
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Maybe I’ll sing that one when I am going cross country 
I think your horse is lucky to have such a conscientious owner! No one is a perfect rider. The fact that you had the ability to self reflect and realize it was something you were doing shows that you really care about him/her.
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Better than, Another one bites the dust. Which happens to have the same rhythm and tempo as Staying Alive, much to the dismay of my last CPR trainer. Lol
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Omg I’m dying
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