Cantering, the last frontier

Sweet Meeka was particularly relaxed today, not leaning on the bit at all, happy to extend or collect the trot, happy with the leg-yields, she could have been happy with the flies for all I know. I was not about to pass that opportunity to work on the infamous canter issue.

First of all, it has not always been that arduous for me. I used to ride horses that had revv-up buttons all over and started cantering effortlessly. But Meeka, well, let me put it this way: she's a bit thick-skinned. No amount of pressing, urging, kicking or hair-pulling will convince her to canter if she is not so inclined. What to do?

It seems one of the secret is in the collection of the horse. Yes, yet again, the infamous collection. After a series of exercises on the flat to put her on the bit and between the hands and the legs, my coach suggested that we cantered on the circle. I raise a dubitative eyebrow but I guess that it wasn't enough to make her change her mind because she pressed me to "start trotting already". My mount had been a little prime for the whole class, so I kind of expected her to bolt as soon as I remotely thought about "maybe" cantering.  So I rode her on short reins in a highly collected trot. At that point in time, it was not in preparation of anything, I just didn't want her to make a dash for the stable! But after a while, I felt that she had so much collected energy that I just lightly loosened of reins and voilà! No kicking, no crop, no fight! Just a smooth transition into an even, well rounded canter...

And then there was me.

I can't help it, sometimes I'm scared. They say it's normal but I can't forgive myself for being so terrified of the canter. But my coach always seems to get the better of me. As a teacher, I need someone who is just as strong-headed as I am and I believe I've met my match. Cynthia always finds the right words to either trick me into doing something she knows I can do (while I'm busy being frightened) or to make me understand the subtleties of the moves (and even the state of minds) I need to work on to make some progress. 

Today was no exception. As soon as we picked up speed, I tensed. And you might know this, but our horse’s brains and ours are directly linked by what I believe to be a high speed USB 2.0 cable. They know how we feel when we feel it, and they WILL take advantage of it whenever they can (I also know people like that but that's a whole other story). So when Meeka felt my conviction level drop, she just fell back into a much disorganized, uncomfortable but supposedly less demanding trot.

But as soon as my coach got me relaxed, using the exact same methods she uses with the horses (which is no compliment to my IQ but...) I cantered like a champ (well, a future champ...). So yes, there's the horse collection, but the rider's part seems to be just as important: keep a cool head, relaxed hands and seat, and in your mind's eyes, picture yourself in Normandy, cantering towards the sunset and "Le Mont Saint-Michel" on a wide sandy beach. Well, that last bit was from me, but it certainly worked!