So, I’ve been riding for about 4-5 years now. For the first couple of years, I rode at a Western barn. A little bit more than a year ago, I switched to an English barn. I’m just about to leave there because they’re not as competitive as I hoped. Now, I’m going to be riding at a different English barn (one that’s SUPER competitive). Something weird that I found out on my initial barn tour and set up for my assessment lesson was that apparently people learn to canter and jump within their first month there. At my Western barn, you’d have to wait around 2-3 years (just an estimate, of course) to learn to canter after regular lessons there. And at my first English barn, it was from 1-2 years of regular riding.

So, is it common for some barns to teach the canter faster than others? Is my new barn just different? At my Western barn I was told that I couldn’t canter until I’d “mastered the trot”, and after a month, you surely haven’t mastered it in the slightest.

Thanks for reading!