Hey Guys! I know quite a few of us here are horse riders and/or trainers, and I have a question for all of ya'll: I keep seeing more and more people learning to canter on a lunge line, Why?

Way back when, I personally learned to canter 1. only after feeling fully confident in my trotting and 2. after my trainer telling me the gist of what I needed to do and 'how' to sit a canter. No lunge line, just verbal correction and instruction.

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I've heard a few reasons for this but let me explain my views on them.

I've heard some people say that it was so that you don't use your reins for balance when you are cantering, and I think that by the time you are cantering, you usually already have a pretty good sense of balance, and you really shouldn't be learning to canter without one. Secondly, I feel like having the security of controlling your own horse, being able to circle, steer, etc. helps you feel more secure in your canter much faster. Jumping back to reins for balance, I myself (did not learn with a lunge line) can easily drop my reins around my horses neck and still maintain the exact same balance, and I've never had any instruction to fix any habit of the sort.

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Another reason I've seen is that it's helpful for fearful riders to canter on a lunge, but in my experience, fearful riders will be fearful no matter what, and it's more important to work on building confidence at a slower gate then just tossing them forward. I've seen this many times with younger riders, and after building more confidence at a slower gait, they were just fine at a canter. Associating this more with the above statement, wouldn't you think fearful riders would feel more secure in full control of their animal?

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Please let me know what ya'll think / reasoning, and did you learn to canter with a lunge?

Honestly I think it just depends on teaching/training methods. I could be mistaken, but I believe it is a very common practice in both teaching dressage and a more European style of teaching - I may be completely wrong on this (as I am an eventer not a true dressage rider, our eventing dressage differs in style/expectations etc. And I am from North America, not Europe) but most people I've conversed with who favour teaching primarily on the lunge seem to have either a background in dressage or come from a very tradional European teaching education :)

I re learned that cantering isn't going to kill me lol. I was cantering once when I was younger and had a tragic fall. My new trainer 4 years ago helped me get passed that and put me on the lunge and said "We'll just trot really fast" lol, she got me cantering again.

I'm so glad you were able to start cantering again!! I had a similar experience, I broke several bones and shattered my confidence,and I would have absolutely freaked out if I was put on that horse again and had her start cantering without the confidence building I did, that may just be me though xD (I am recovered from that though and happily cantering her once more, it just took a bit of time <3)

I only ever had a few lessons in dressage and I got the fancy trotting stuff down pretty quick- (I was lucky the horse I rode connected with me almost instantly)

I think my teacher did lunge line cantering to see if I was actually comfortable with it and could balance because I really did get all the other stuff in a few lessons. Also, I was not, she took me off the line after and I could canter! But not steer........

r.i.p. my horse riding lessons I will come back to you when I become rich

I think a balance of both lunge-learning and 'figure it out' style will build a good canter, that's how I did mine!

I first learned on a tiny QH with a typical slow, smooth cow horse stride in an empty field. I then hopped on a 17HH TB and thought he actually kicked up into a gallop rather than a canter because his stride was absolutely massive. The difference threw me for a loop but a few lunge sessions with no reins to focus on my seat helped me get used to it.

It really depends on the rider's reaction, because some of them will have their balance and seat challenged and some of them will fall in place quite easily! It also depends on the horse's stride size and how smooth it is. Different horses even of the same breed or height category can feel vastly different.