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  Virtually Horses

When people talk about how you must have a soft and supple lower back I had expected that my concentration or relaxation or main feeling perhaps would be in my lower back.  However, to me the canter was much more about my stomach.  The whole 'lower back' emphasis made me think that the movement would be up through my spine - but to me it feels much more like you have to allow your pelvis to tilt up and rise through your stomach (in front, not back) when you canter. 

This is shown in the close up on the left.  In order for my bottom to stay firmly and lightly glued to the saddle through the last phase of the canter my lower back must be allowed to shorten and my stomach (below the belly button) must lengthen in order for my body to stay vertical to the ground.  That's what your instructor really means by lean back - you should remain vertical to the ground even when your horse moves under you.

If you're struggling with canter and still can't imagine what I mean try this exercise  - lie on the floor on your back, have your legs slightly bent and your feet flat on the floor - now perform some pelvic lifts.  In order for your pelvis to rise from the floor your stomach must lengthen and go forward - and your hips, upper legs and knees are pushed 'down' toward your feet. This is somewhat similar to the canter. To me at least this is not what I was expecting from the instructions to 'have a supple lower back'.  

As you are trying to improve your canter it is also noteworthy to realise that all the fuss about 'heels down' can have a detrimental effect on your riding. Yes, your heels must be down but not because you force them down.  All the effort to push heels down tends to activate all the wrong muscles and pops you up and out of the saddle.

You must learn to open your hips, both outwards and backwards - allowing your belly\pelvis to push down and forward toward the pommel or withers of your horse.  This sets your thighs back into the correct position (hanging down from the hip joint).  It is here that we shall talk about those hips for a moment.  To me, again this is a little misleading for often what is talked about is only 'opening the hips' and this does not truely describe what is required.  When I first heard this phrase I imagined it to be the type of opening like when you sit cross legged on the floor - or do one of those yoga poses where you stretch the amount that your leg can go at right angles to your body.  This is only a small part of it.  If you do these stretches it will certainly help your hip mobility but in order to ride the hip actually stretches more 'back' rather than out.  It is the top of your thigh bone, the ball joint of the greater trochanter that must stretch and rotate to allow your leg to hang down the sides of the horse.

Next to the hip, the knee is perhaps the most key joint when riding and probably the most underemphasized.  You knee cap must point downward.  It does this when you release the tension from your hips and allow the thigh to roll downwards.  Try to standing with your feet apart and then lower yourself to kneel on he ground without using your hands for balance.  As you begin to lower you must rotate your hip, allow the weight through the front of your thigh and let the kneecap roll under you.  The lower leg will bend\collapse backwards as the weight drops through the kneecap and you drop to the ground - this is the riding position (before you hit the ground obviously).  If your knee is tense or straight you cannot let your weight drop because it will attempt to travel through your leg and hit the stirrup.  Instead your leg must bend away under your knee allowing the knee to act like a spring and take any forward or downward pressure as you stop, perform a downward transition, go downhill or CANTER - which has a phase in which you are 'riding downhill'

*Update Dec 2004 I've recently hurt my lower back quite badly and I can now confirm for certain that having an overtly 'supple' lower back is not a component of sitting the canter correctly as I was able to canter sitting quite comfortably when many other movements were very painful indeed.

I still keep my video diary and compare what I THINK I'm doing against what I AM doing.  In the photo above (left) we have a pretty good picture of the canter seat.  My horse is looking forward and round because at last I have learned to sit the canter softly, as well as securely.  

In the second photo above (right) I have a shot from Jan 2005 when I was still recovering from a bad back injury.  You can see that although my back problem has caused my feet and legs to be forced forward I can still use my torso (stomach) to sit quietly in the saddle without bouncing. 

As my back spasms and ligaments eased off I was able to open my hips again and return to a correct riding position - bottom right, this time riding in a rope halter.
 

However, the important thing about a forward seat is balance.  In order to achieve this balance you still have to have that stable lower leg that you want when riding in a seated position.  Very important is the ability to recognise that you must not push or brace against your stirrups as if water ski-ing or using them to stand up.  If you can ensure that the bottom of your stirrup remains horizontal you will be able to use this as a test of whether your leg is under you and also use it to work out what you need to change about your leg or hip in order to achieve this.  A common problem is that there is not enough bend at the knee (it is tense or gripping).

I have also found it helpful to think about the lower body as starting from about the belly button (or the top of the pelvic girdle) NOT the hip.  When you bend forward into a forward seat from the hips - your upper body is quite a large mass to support.  If however, you make the bend from around the belly button then your 'leg' becomes much longer - your lower body is now a large and stable mass that stays with the horse and can easily support your upper body and bring it back over the horse no matter what it needs to do. 

It is important to note that this is not a change that you can see easily from the ground.  You cannot actually bend forward very much from that section of your spine.  What you are achieving is a change of balance, a push of your centre of gravity downwards.  By keeping that section of your body from the hips to around the belly button vertical in relation to the saddle, this also means that your seat bones are in the correct alignment at all times.   This is because when you think of simply bending forward at the hips, most of us automatically hollow our backs, tip forward from the hip and the pelvis itself also tips forward.  Our centre of balance moves up to our chest and our legs either tip back or shoot forward to counter balance.  All these changes make us less stable.

The transition from canter to gallop is not something you will generally experience in the arena, but if you're out and about and urge your horse forward from canter you should be able to feel when you slip from the three beat canter into four beat gallop.  The gallop is a flatter gait as the horse stretches out rather than having the characteristic rocking motion of the canter.  Generally, the faster canters and the gallop are ridden in 2 point position.  You can ride either gait seated but it gives the horse more freedom through the back if you are out of the saddle.

As with other gaits you must remain in balance with your horse at the gallop and be prepared for sideways shies or sudden stops. The temptation is too lean too far forward instead of remaining centred over your legs. Before trying a gallop you are best to have your balance in trot and canter sorted out first! 

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