When you're cantering, you'll want to hold your body in a neutral position. This allows you to best follow your horse's lead. The same neutral position you would hold during the halt should be maintained during the canter. You should be sitting up straight enough that your ear, shoulder, hip, and heel align.
Due to the bigger movement in the canter, the rider's seat gets challenged more than in the walk and trot, and the horse often needs more support from the rider's seat in the canter in order to keep their balance.
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.
If you're worried about hard ground and the effect this could have on your horse, try to limit or avoid cantering on it where possible, we recommend maintaining a slower-paced gait - walk or trot, so the force going through your horse's joints isn't as strong.
In trot, the rider uses his leg aids at the same time and in unison. In canter, it gets a bit more difficult because the legs lie in a different position on the horse's belly and they are used in a different rhythm than in the other gaits: The inner leg stays on the girth and the outside leg goes behind the girth.
The gallop is the fastest gait of the horse, averaging about 40 to 48 kilometres per hour (25 to 30 mph). The speed of the canter varies between 16 to 27 kilometres per hour (10 to 17 mph) depending on the length of the horse's stride.
Leaning forward or backward works against the horse and unplugs the seat bones. Leaning forward causes you to bounce. Leaning backward will cause you to be left behind and off balance.
In the saddle, cantering feels very much like a strong rocking motion. For your horse to be able to effectively execute a canter, they must have a well-developed center of balance.
The secret to riding a canter is to relax – particularly to relax your back muscles. Let your body swing just slightly in rhythm with your horse. keep your elbows flexible, letting your hands and reins follow the forward and backward motion of your horse's head.
Some horses find it easier to trot. These horses tend to have long, swinging strides with hind legs that step well underneath the body. Some horses prefer the canter. These horses tend to be more short-coupled and enjoy the bouncy jump associated with this gait.
In the saddle, the canter feels very much like a powerful rocking motion.
The so-called "natural" gaits, in increasing order of speed, are the walk, trot, canter, and gallop.
So, in canter, there is always an inside and an outside. That inside hind leg naturally carries more weight because it steps farther under the horse's body, toward the center of gravity.
If the horse moves the haunches (“Traverses himself”) in, ask for the canter with your inside leg at the girth. This way, you will control the inside hind and stop the horse from coming inside the arena. Use the outside leg slightly behind the girth with straight horses. Do not put your outside leg too far back.
How long it takes for you to get to this step depends entirely upon your particular circumstances, but generally you should be cantering in under two months or so. The canter will feel fast at first, and you may bounce because you are tense. Try to relax your hips and sit as deep into your saddle as you can.
But with four legs, horses can move in even more different ways, called gaits. They naturally walk, trot, canter, and gallop, depending on how fast they need to move.
How long can a horse canter? A steady, three-beat canter clocks in at around 10-17 miles per hour for most horses. As for how long it can last, a very fit endurance horse can last maybe seven miles or so. That said, most riding horses can't go anywhere close to that long.
To train horses for a higher levels of Dressage or Show Jumping, the training should increase the time per segment gradually up to maximum of eight minutes. However, the work:rest ratio should remain 1:1. So, after five minutes of canter, five minutes of walk (or relaxed trot) should follow.