Learn to Canter / Develop your Canter

Who is this for? – Beginners: Adults, children, and those returning to riding, all riders who need to improve their canter seat & confidence

This 6-session course is a mix of Simulator sessions and school horse sessions – essential for those who can trot independently and are ready to learn how to canter. It will also suit those feeling a loss in confidence who want to develop their fundamental canter work skills to feel safer in the saddle. Canter is a key stage of rider balance. The simulator gives riders the chance to cement their balance at the faster pace of canter – without the negative conflict behaviours real horses can exhibit if they have been caused discomfort by an inexperienced, unbalanced rider. Riders who have just begun to canter will benefit hugely from this program – to help eliminate banging in the saddle in canter, to prevent riders hanging onto the horses mouth to stay on, to help prevent stirrup loss ( and the resulting falls which can occur), and helping riders to maintain balance at faster paces.

Key benefits: – Rapid progression, improved balance, increased confidence, improved canter seat, reduced risk of falls, technical feedback for continuous improvement, muscle conditioning for riding balance when taken in quick succession.

Adult Weekend £380 Adult Weekday £347

Child Weekend £345 Child Weekday £314

Session 1	Simulator - Basic aids for canter – balance and weight distribution
Session 2	Simulator – Canter seat, staying in balance – working up and down the transitions to measure the line of balance as the horse moves as a faster pace
Session 3	Lunge lesson – taking your improved canter seat to a school horse, and working to maintain a good canter position under the centrifugal force created by lunge work in canter. Changing direction in canter or cantering around a corner causes riders to be thrown off balance, until they learn to follow the horses’s weight through the turn with their own. This can be very distressing for a horse when a rider’s weight doesn’t stay with their own at a faster pace. The lunge is an excellent opportunity to work on this skill and level of balance before riders are solo in the arena without a lunge line attached.
Session 4	Simulator – developing, balance and seat to improve the readings the simulator can provide in relation to how a rider carries his or her own weight and balance in canter.
Session 5	School horse – this will be a ½ lunge and ½ off the lunge session - trotting without stirrups and learning to rise without stirrups. These exercises greatly improve independent balance for canter work, they also assist riders who can lose a stirrup and regain it safely at faster paces without panic, due to improved balance.
Session 6	School Horse – Solo riding, working to maintain balance in your independent riding skills. Applying all you have learnt to support a well-balanced canter seat