How Not to Grip with your Legs in Canter

Sports
Published on May 5, 2024
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#CanterSeat #HowNotToGripInCanter #DressagePosition #PerfectYourCanter

How NOT to grip with your legs in the canter.

Gripping with the legs at the canter is a very commonly seen mistake that’s made by riders across a wide range of experience levels! It’s an easy mistake to slip into if you’ve managed to get your horse into the canter, and you slide into the “rhythmic squeeze” to keep them from falling back into trot! (Guilty as charged over here! ??‍♀️ )

This week’s video is going to show you why that’s not a great way of doing things and also show you how to stop the habit for good!

Here’s some pointers on why gripping is bad, and how to stop it happening

- A lot of riders “grip up” with the lower leg but this just draws them up and out of the saddle. This locks up your seat, makes you bounce in the saddle and is unpleasant for your horse

- Find your neutral leg position. The place where your leg naturally hangs down, you’ve got contact with your calf on the horse, but not your heel or spur.

- To ask for the canter, the outside leg WILL come back for the canter aid, but will come back forward once they come into the canter.

- If your horse gets used to you nagging and gripping, they’ll start to NEED this to stay in the canter. Your horse will canter much better when you’re able to follow the motion with your seat and legs.

If you realize you’re gripping you should.

- Sit back. Push your heel down.
- Give a distinct kick.
- Then push your heel down again

This helps you re-educate a horse that has become reliant on the gripping to keep him in canter, and teaches keep themselves in canter until told otherwise!

It’s important to remember to SIT BACK when you’re giving this aid intermittently. A lot of riders will accidentally tip forward when they kick, and this leads to the horse breaking the gait back into trot!

Another thing to remember is to keep your hands STILL, so you’re not falling into a “kick/pull” cycle that’s just going to upset your horse.

The best way to reinforce this learning is to practice the canter transition repeatedly in your session. This is much more effective than just teaching them to stay in canter consistently, as it teaches them to come off the leg into the canter responsively, therefore over time erasing the issue of them falling back trot.

Watch me demonstrate all above in more detail with Jaques in the video and let me know in the comments if you find it helpful!

Thanks for watching and Happy Riding!