Bad Habits

Yesterday's ride went fairly well. I can definitely see improvement in just the short amount of time I've been riding Mae. Her balance is still a little iffy when cantering clockwise, and I think it's because I stiffen up and get nervous. She has a very energetic, fast canter, and I tend to worry she's running away from me. I need to remember that I can bring her back to a more controlled pace, just like when she tries to go super fast at the trot. The only difference is that when I feel a really fast canter, I tend to panic because it takes me back to Charlie, the very first pony I rode. Charlie was great, but every now and then when cantering he'd decide to take off at a gallop and refuse to stop. He'd go around and around the ring (while I pulled back on the reins, sawed on the reins, yelled WHOA and basically panicked and made everything worse) until he typically stumbled on a turn and I'd go popping off. So I guess you can say I'm sometimes still worried about having a horse take off with me at the canter.

Anyway, one of my worst bad habits is leaning forward as Mae starts to canter. When I ask for the transition, whether from the walk or trot, she really lunges into it full-force like she's trying to chase down Big Brown or something. She takes several fast strides and then literally lunges into the canter. It's kind of awkward and I assume this somehow must be my fault. It certainly doesn't help that I often end up leaning forward to urge her into the canter. I try my best to sit back, but during her "lunging" moment it feels like she might just go faster and faster without breaking into a canter, and so without trying I end up leaning forward until she canters and then sitting back again.

I know this can't be good, and I'm trying to break myself of it. It doesn't help that often, in the split second before I ask her to canter, a little voice in my head says, "OMG this is the time you're going to fall off her!" It's worse when we're going clockwise, and again, I think it's because of me and because I'm psyching myself out in that direction. This is definitely something I'll be working on a lot this summer.

My other bad habits include letting my fingers become too loose on the reins, sometimes shifting my outside leg back when there's really no reason to do so, stiffening my arms, focusing too much on one spot instead of having "soft eyes" and probably a million other things.

What about you? What are some of your worst riding habits?