Holding a cup of water while riding

Oh dear. This was a quite embarrassing moment for me...

Anywho, due to a bunch of extremely unlucky events in one day (too long to explain, but it was just bad luck) I ended up not being able to ride in my regular weekly lesson time. However I was able to stay and be in the next lesson, which was quite a bit less advanced. I would say I'm a fairly decent rider... far from perfect, of course, but much more experienced than the kids in this lesson. One of the exercises my instructor had us do for that lesson was hold a cup of water while trotting and cantering.

I was able to hold it without spilling through the trot. Then we cantered... and this is the embarrassing part. To give myself some saving grace, some of the kids weren't even able to get their ponies cantering for more than three seconds, but on my part it was still bad. I was on a fairly lazy pony and I had to drop my crop since I was only riding with one hand, so I had to trot an entire length of the short side of the arena before I could get my canter going (I know, it was bad). During these strides of trot I lost pretty much all the water in my cup.

See, I'm not quite sure if it was me or the motion of the horse. He's a little rocky but I thought my hands were pretty still... I don't know what happened because during the transition the water was swirling like a mini whirlpool no matter how still I was trying to keep my hand. Once I started cantering I was fine again (although there was next to no water left, haha). Most of the other kids were able to keep their cup almost perfectly full...

Now what I'm not sure of was... do you think it had to do with me having unsteady hands or just overly rocky motion? Or both? Or something else? I don't even know, because when I looked down at my hand it looked pretty level and still; it was just the water that was sloshing around. If it was truly all my fault, how could I learn to keep my hands more still? Oh, and just so no one asks this, I was not kicking. Nor do I normally depend on the reins for balance (thanks to a series of no hands exercises my trainer put me through ). Anyways, I'm just kind of confused... and embarrassed.. so any help would be great

I rode with bologna stuck to a plastic knife on my boot one time and as soon as I asked for the lope the thing ripped apart when the mare started moving-due to her motion.
The horse's motion is an excuse as to why your water sloshed all over, but with time and practice you would probably figure out a way to keep it in the cup.
It's nothing to be embarrassed about, you would probably find that when you move more with the horse's motion instead of keeping your hand static it may stay in better. I feel like this is a hard explanation for me to make so i'll shut up before what I say sounds stupid.

Nothing to be embarrassed about. That's one of my favorite games to play with students, particularly on hot days ;) Just takes time and practice. Once you find your balance & rhythym with your horse it gets easier to not spill.

Midsummer the bologna thing is funny. Haven't seen that one. My mom tortured me as a kid with raw eggs or marshmallows under my feet on the stirrups, couldn't break or squish them. Goal was to not rely on stirrups for balance. It worked.
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Don't feel bad.
I've done egg races on horseback and gotten out walking.
It doesn't mean you are a bad rider with no balance. It's just hard to hold water and eggs while riding. Bahahahaa.

I do this to the overconfident riders I work with. It humbles them a bit when they think they're so amazing but can't keep the water in the cup, mainly it's because they're stiff when riding, they let the movements of the horse jerk them around instead of being loose and moving with the motions of the horse. That's not to say that's what happened in your case just what I've noticed with my students.

I can do this perfectly, on a Pervuian Paso only!

I think that's probably what happened... I'm usually able to be loose and moving with the horse but while I'm going through upward transitions I tend to stiffen up. I was fine once I actually got cantering and I could do it at a trot without a problem, it was just the walk-trot and trot-canter transition periods that screwed me up. Any tips on how to fix this?

Also thanks to everyone else who commented.

It never ceases to amaze me what little tricks you ladies dream up to torture yourselves.
If when I am out on my trusty steed I fancy a quick swig of the amber liquid, I first ask the horse to stop - just in case it decides to throw a wobbly at the very moment I am going glug glug. |Also of course, as you have discovered, there's a good chance I will spill some - which would be a chronic waste of amber liquid.

Me too..on my Icelandic..

Don't know what y'alls problem is. Luddites?



BTW - I use a canteen when I ride. Like Barry, I believe in stopping first. In southern Arizona, spilling water is a crime...