I've been riding for about 8 months now. I have two instructors. One of them (the owner of the place) lets me canter and says that I have an exceptionally good seat in the canter and that cantering is my strong suit. The other instructor however, never lets me canter and she is very strict about it. It's always something. "You can't canter if your reins slip and get longer during the lessons", "You can't canter if you don't perfect the sitting trot", "You can't canter if you do this and this and that"... A while ago, she told me I won't canter until I manage to sit the trot without the stirrups for a few rounds. I struggled with that but I worked hard and finally did it on the horse with the roughest trot. Suddenly, that wasn't enough. I have a bit of trouble kicking the horse when I'm posting the trot. She keeps asking me to kick him and I can't really do that very well. So now, she won't let me canter because "how will I canter if I can't even do that?". It's just frustrating. It's always something! I didn't know I had to be a perfect rider to do some cantering. If that's the case then I'm never cantering. And it feels like she only has those "requirements" for me.

Look, I absolutely trust her because she obviously knows much more than I ever will but I'm just frustrated. She makes me feel like I'll never be good enough. Every time she finds something new I have to master before I can canter. She promises that I will canter if I do something and when I do it, she'll find something else. It's endless and I feel very discouraged. She knows the other instructor lets me canter but she doesn't care. I get it. She wants to do her lessons her way. I respect that. I really do. But that doesn't make it less frustrating for me. It makes me feel like I'll never make it and I'll never be good enough for her. It feels a bit unfair. Sorry for the rant but I'm just very tired right now and wanted to vent.