How to Keep Your Stirrups In Canter

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I’ve noticed that with many horses and riders, everything goes pretty well until it’s time to canter. The canter is where things fall apart for many horses and riders. Often, the rider gets a little tense, forgets to breathe, the hands and center of gravity come up and this causes the horse also to get tense! In this week’s video we focus on how to keep your stirrups at the canter.

Many riders grip with their inner thigh and knee in the canter either to stay on or to keep the horse from breaking out of the canter. Gripping with the leg is incorrect and it can cause the rider to loose their stirrups. Gripping also tightens the rider’s hips and lower back which make it impossible for the rider to follow the motion of the horse with their seat.

Here are some tips to keeping the stirrups in the canter:

Get the horse in front of the leg
Let your ankle joints sink down to the ground on each down beat of the canter stride
Get the horse straight - if the horse is leaning or pushing in, it will cause the rider to loose the stirrup on that side.
Focus on following the motion of the canter with your hips and seat. This will automatically force you to keep your legs long and heels down.