Hi! I’ve been struggling with sitting the canter. I’ve read a lot of articles and threads and I’m just so confused. So is the rider supposed to relax which helps with sitting the canter or is the rider supposed to like move their hips to stay with the horse’s back? Is riding a pony’s canter or large WB’s canter easier for someone who is learning? TIA!
Relaxing allows the hips to move. I like to think of the area around where your belt sits as being very mobile. When this can move back and forth, the hips will naturally follow the horse. You don’t need to actively move your bum. Remember to keep the back (upper and lower) tall too – many people round the back and while this will absorb a little of the motion, never as much as the combination of relaxed joints with a strong core (No one said riding horses is easy 
)
As for pony vs warmblood, I’d say it depends a lot more on the individual. There is a huge variation in canter “feel” from horse to horse (or pony).
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If I feels like I’m struggling to keep my butt in the saddle I think about making sure my lower back isn’t tense (you should be using your abs to sit up, not your lower back) and almost imaging I’m spreading my legs. Lol! Imagine you want to spread your thighs, but don’t actually lift your legs off the saddle! This helps me make sure I’m not bracing with my thigh in a manner that would result in me lifting my own seat up and out of the saddle.
Basically, you want to sink into the saddle while maintaining control of your upper body and keeping an appropriate amount of contact through your leg. Relax the top off, don’t let go with the bottom half.
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My advice? Drop your stirrups! Difficulty sitting the canter usually leads to (or is caused by) bracing your feet in the stirrups. If you drop them, your weight will be all in your seat and legs. You’ll have no choice but to learn to sit in the saddle and go with the motion. If you feel unsure about this, you can always do it on a lunge line first. You can even tie your reins in a knot and hold the pommel while on the lunge.
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On the lift off stride, the first stride of canter, you sit in, and lift your hips up and forward, still keeping your seat in the saddle. Every canter stride is ridden as a lift off. As suggested, on a longe, you can feel this, without worrying about where your horse is going. If you forget to follow and ‘ride’ the canter on every stride, he will break down to the trot.
Usually the WB will have a longer time between strides, due to leg length, which gives you more time to think it out. But then, some ponies will fool you. Try tp pick a horse that has a long overstride in the walk, they usually have a long stride in the canter, unless your get in their face.
Are you working with a trainer? To me, this is something incredibly difficult to help over the internet without having videos to evaluate. Advice that is correct in one case can result in a motion similar to a monkey humping a banana in another, and that’s never a good look. :lol:
The mechanics of how to sit the canter can vary with the motion of each horse or pony. The overall goal is to have a fluid, following position without an excessive hip roll…in H/J, we want to see loose hip with a more stable hip/torso position because we need to be able to mobilize into a variety of seats at a moments notice. So the very deep-seated, very loose-hipped position you may see in dressage or in western riding is not the correct position in H/J. The H/J deeper seat is more triangle based between the crotch and sit-bones rather than the seat pockets.
But even in saying that, some horses need more of a swing from the hips while some horses don’t…it really depends. As far as pony vs warmblood…again, it depends! A size or type of horse is no indication of how easy the canter is to sit. Likely a smaller stride will be easier…but some of those small ones feel like a jackhammer if their back is tight, and those are not easy to sit or balance on.
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Yes I’m working with a trainer, I’m just trying to understand the mechanics of what I’m supposed to do if that makes any sense lol. So my thoughts are, I should try to relax and let the horse’s motion help me sit the canter and if that doesn’t work then I should try moving my hips in an effort to stay with the horse, depending on the horse. Is that correct? Thanks for all the replies 
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First, you need to relax. Think about riding Western, Even if you never have ridden western , visualize a cowboy loping across the range.
This video at about 2 minutes in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yn8bgfdmVI
At this stage, don’t worry if you are in a bit of a chair seat. If you are riding jump saddle, lengthen your stirrups a little. (If you are in a dressage saddle, opposite advice, shorten them!)
it might be useful to do this in longe lessons so you do not need to worry about speed control and direction. A neck grab strap can be useful, to hold you down into the tack. If you are bracing in the stirrups, longe lessons canter with no stirrups, and a neck grab strap as needed could be helpful.
The number one thing you need to get is the feeling of your butt rolling with the horse, and not ever leaving the saddle. You can think “dressage” as well as Western and try to lean back into it.
this video at about 4:55, and note the lengthened canter at about 6 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80bksIOCRxQ
You will need to relax your legs and open your hips. You will need to unlearn forward seat or tipping forward.
Once you can sit the canter with your butt rolling with the saddle, never bumping, then you can start trying to get your leg back under you. But if you are bracing and gripping with your leg, you will get bounced out of the tack. So don’t worry about the leg until you get the feel of rolling with the back.
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And again, in my opinion, this is an impossible question to answer over the internet without video or at least without more description of specifically what you’re struggling with or what your trainer says is happening. It really depends on what the horse’s canter is doing AND what you’re doing that’s resulting in you not sitting it properly. It also depends on what stage of rider you are. If you’re brand-spanking new, then following Scribbler’s advice is a good first step, but know that the western and dressage seats are not where you should end up if you’re wanting to be in the H/J rings, and the back-pocket, overly loose-hipped style can be very difficult to unlearn (and it’s not wrong in the rings it belongs in - but is not how we sit in H/J land).
My best recommendation would be to watch some Youtube of the big name hunter, jumper and equitation riders to visualize what’s supposed to happen. Sitting the canter is a unique combination of looseness/follow and core stability. Whether or not you should move your hips really depends…again, sometimes that’s correct, other times, it results in the humping monkey look.
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Everyone has given you good advice–it’s not the easiest thing to learn as it combines a combination of relaxing yet still holding with your core, etc etc. Riding is hard. :lol:
I will pass along a piece of advice I just got a few weeks ago that was weirdly life-changing (and I’ve been riding for 20+) years. I can sit most canters well, but do struggle on horses that are particularly bouncy/less balanced. The trainer said to envision lifting the zipper on the front of your riding pants–so just lightly tilting your pelvis up. Some people say belt buckle, but that can make your round your lower back quite a bit. Thinking “pant zipper” creates a very subtle shift and also forces you to relax your hips a bit.
It worked like magic. :eek:
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Interesting concept! Could you elaborate? Like pretend you’re pulling your zipper up? What does thinking about the pant zipper do for your posture? I’m just trying to envision it lol. That sounds like it might work! I’ll definitely try it out, thank you!
Sit in, sit in, sit in. You cannot stiffen your back.From the middle of your back allow it to sink. Any lifting is done with your upper body.
Sing the Tennessee Waltz, or have it playing. Canter is a waltz rhythm.
I agree, you don’t want to end up riding in a slouched chair seat like some Western riders! But I actually think it would be hard to really ride like this in a jump saddle, so I was just suggesting this as a visualization rather than an actual goal! For instance, when I ride dressage, sometimes I lean way way back, like I feel I am way over the cantle, and look in the mirror and hey, I am merely sitting up straight!
But I would say, do whatever it takes to relax and keep your butt in the saddle and moving with the horse, and once you have that feeling, then you can start thinking about making sure your leg is under you and your back is straight.
I’ll try :lol:
Picture yourself sitting straight up in the saddle, with your weight evenly centered on both seat bones, thighs/hips relaxed, weight in your heels. Now “lift” the front of your pelvis, aka area where a front zipper would run, without rounding your shoulders/collapsing your chest. It ends up being a very subtle tilt back, and engages your core automatically…I doubt anyone would even see that you’re doing it, unless they have a practiced eye and are looking.
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In yoga they would say to pull your belly button towards your spine. To feel that, lie flat on the ground, and notice there’s a small space between your lower back and the floor. Now engage the abs and draw the belly button towards your spine until you feel the small of your back make contact against the floor.
THAT small amount is what you’re looking for…it strengthens and gives stability to the lower back and core. It’s a soft back, but it’s a strong back. This is the proper alignment/posture for sitting the canter, as it allows the hip to absorb and move with the horse to a degree without ending up with a round lower back or a huge rolling move through the midsection, which we don’t want.
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Thank you so so so much I finally found a way for me personally to learn this!! And Mac123 thank you so much for elaborating
My experience with trying to “sit the canter” are most attempts are usually misguided. You don’t actually want to sit the canter when riding hunters or jumpers. What you do want to do is sink into your stirrups and wrap your leg around the horse and maybe have some contact with the saddle or not, depending on the canter and the exercise. I’ve seen a lot of people contort their bodies in weird ways trying to keep as much weight as possible in their bum but have the heels up and legs swinging when a real pro will tell you to weight bare through your feet and legs but have your bum light.
This video series might help you visualize what may work best for you:
Not as good as a trainer there but maybe it’ll help!
But for example in jumpers, how is the rider supposed to ride tight rollbacks and sticky situations if the rider isn’t sitting the canter? I see olympic and FEI riders sitting the majority of the course, with a few exceptions of course.
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I agree, if you can’t sit into the canter as needed, whether that’s to send the horse forward or to ride a tight turn, that’s going to be a problem. And also, my observation has been that kids that can’t really sit the canter don’t have a good two point either. They tend to be bracing in the stirrups and perching. I think that you need a good seat at the canter before you can two point with security. And yes, lots of pros do ride a course in jumpers mostly sitting, just getting out of the tack for the fence.
Hunters may be different, fewer rollbacks and no emphasis on speed.
