This message is from: Steve McIlree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Kari--
Wednesday, July 14, 1999, you wrote:
> I would appreciate knowing if any riders on this list have ever
> conquered specific mental blocks about particular riding tassks.
Here's another thing to think about with cantering. I learned to
really ride on my Morgan, ("Thank you I'm a driving horse not a
saddle horse") Pferd. One thing that may have contributed to my
tension with cantering was that he would occasionally bolt and run
away, totally out of control, however I never fell off. Anyway, I
was very tense, to the point of outright fear when trying to canter
on him. Then I started riding my Trakehner, and discovered that
Pferd had a horrible canter. I would wager, that the best of riders
would have problems staying balanced with his canter. Since he was
the first horse I had really ridden, I didn't know, I thought it was
totally my inability to ride at a canter. With Skipper, the
Trakehner, I learned to love to canter. I still don't know how many
total different canter gaits she has, every time I asked her for
more she'd just shift gears and go faster, but always smooth as
glass. So think about whether you have trouble riding one horse or
all at a canter.
--
Steve McIlree & Cynthia Madden -- Pferd, Keyah, Skipper, Tank -- Omaha,
Nebraska, USA
If I be once on horse-back, I alight very unwillingly; for it is the
seat I like best. --Michel Eyquem de Montaigne(1533-1592)
