RE: [RC] [RC] Stupid Question :Canter - Kitley, Carrie E Civ USAF AFSPC 30 MDSS/SGSLFThat's exactly what I meant, half-seat, thank you. (I'm not a word wizard, can you tell?) lol I pretty much ride what I think suits the terrain at any given time and what I think is best for my horse. Trying to be a rider, rather than a passenger is always on the forefront of my mind. God Bless 'em, horses have such HUGE hearts when you think about it, I always try to be a help rather than hinderance whenever possible. =) Carrie Kitley 30th Medical Group, Vandenberg AFB DMLSS?Database Sustainment Specialist (DSS) CACI?International Inc? www.caci.com dsn?276-1077, Comm (805) 606-1077 fax dsn?276-1179 <\_~ // \\ carrie.kitley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx? -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Joe Long Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 7:09 PM To: Ridecamp (E-mail) Subject: Re: [RC] [RC] Stupid Question :Canter Kathy Mayeda wrote: I canter on Beau in a half-seat - which is what I think you're describing here, Carrie. He has a real wierd canter and gallops better than he canters. However, I am taking a lot of arena lessons and finding that I almost HAVE to canter Drako with a full seat otherwise he gets really disorganized. And Drako has a wonderful canter. Trick is to have your body not lean forward which is my tendency from too many miles on the trail and not enough arena time. If I understand the terms correctly, I would not ride a "deep seat" canter on an endurance ride. I'm at least partially up out of the saddle at a canter, most of my weight being carried by the stirrups. I have always believed that one of my strengths as a rider (and I certainly have faults as well) is that I ride "light," moving with my horse and minimizing stress on him. I believe that is part of being a rider instead of a passenger. I think that any standing in the stirrup leads to more stress by displacing weight that would be distributed on the saddle pads onto the stirrup bars which would lead to more pounds per pressure. I also think this would beat up your legs a little and cause more fatigue trying to hold this position than if you have a nice relaxed following seat in the canter. Maybe with a treeless saddle. With a tree, the stirrups attach to the tree, which distributes the weight. The tree is going to press down on the horse with the same total weight whether you are standing in the stirrups, or have your feet out of them. What matters is that you are balanced with the horse, move with him, and stay in sync so that you help him rather than make him compensate for you. It seems to me that if you are sitting with most of your weight on your butt in the saddle instead of the stirrups, you are going to not be able to do this very well. Maybe in a flat, groomed arena, but not on the trail. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 13,000 endurance miles (11,000+ on one horse) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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