I feel like I'm a Speed Demon!

Wow, havnt been on here in so long! So hello everyone :]

Anyways, I've come very far in my riding lately, and on one particular horse, whom I've pretty much fallen in love with (Thank you Charm!) <3
And now that I've gotten the actual base to my riding steady, and my seat is a LOT better than it used to be (you can always tell how much you've improved when your horse decides that he does NOT want to jump the new scary brush box), Im just wondering...if your steady, do you have to be slow?
I ride hunter jumper, and whenever I can't, I feel as though were going SO fast. Im not scared or anything, but I feel as though we're on the verge of galloping away. Apparently though from the ground and on video, we look fine. But when we get so fast (to me) I start half halting and he, being a sensitive arabian, throws his head up and then we lose the whole "hunter look" and he just looks like a your typical leggy and proud arab. Other than that, I can get him to easily drive from behind and extend down into the bridle, and the only way you can tell he's an Arab is by his tail and facial features.
ANYWAYS, back to the point. Does anyone else ever feel as though theyre speeding out of control? I've just been under to influence that hunters are supposed to be slow and steady. I feel like were steady, just not slow... Could it be because he's a small horse (around 14.3hh) and Im a tall, leggy teen?

I feel as though Im not making much sense right now :P So forgive me.

Well since he's small, his stride is smaller. If you're used to riding big horses, his strides might seem very quick and fast to you.

If it looks okay to veiwers then it probably is fine. Hunter does not have to be 'slow and steady'. 'Steady', yes, but it does not have to be a lazy western lope. As long as it looks fine, it's an ok pace.

Now, the thing you need to ask yourself is this: are you afraid of speed or lack of control? If the answer is 'speed', you should be fine. I used to ride a horse who had a very energetic canter, and it was just the way he was. I could always stop him when I wanted to and he never ran away with me, but his canter still felt faster than usual. As long as you know that you are in control, just enjoy the exhileration of the canter and savour the feeling. You'll be surprised by how good it feels to just let yourself go with the canter and not hold back.

But if your answer is 'lack of control', then you have a problem. If you feel like your horse goes crazy when he canters and you lose control, you need to work on some steering excercises. Don't half halt if it won't work for you. Instead, sit back in full seat and use you seat to control the pace. Work on halting from a canter, and lots of transitions. Practice, practice, practice, and eventually you'll feel more comfortable, regardless of the speed.

I may be wrong in my opinion but here is what I have been learning.

Thinking slow over fast is not what you want to be thinking when your doing hunter. You want to be thinking MOVEMENT. Your trying to show off how consistent and well moving your horses is. I always am trying to slow my horse down, because for years he was moving so fast and rushing. So I ride every horse the same. My horse is by far a hunter, but I ride my trainer's hunter quite often. My trainer practically smacks me with a crop when I do this. When I try and slow her down she shortens her stride, stops tracking up and looks like a bump on a log.

So I am always being told that I should be galloping, which for me (who tries to always work slower) is a powerful canter. You want your horse to be moving under neath itself with good propulsion. Which for a lot of horses, is a faster pace. Arabs tend to need to be pushed out more, if yours is moving quick and well and can consistently keep at that speed, leave you horse alone! That's what you want!

Now warmbloods always look like they are moving slow to me, but that is because of their movement, they naturally tend to have great propulsion and a long stride that moves them around faster, while looking slow.

Hmmm I was trying to find good video, but I couldn't find any good ones.

I follow this girl on YT and she has a wonderful arab hunter (imo....which isn't worth much) but she edits her videos a lot. So I couldn't find any raws. X.x Anyhow its the chestnut with the four socks and stripe.