| If you're holding your breath, you can always try singing, or even just counting aloud, etc., since you really can't hold your breath and sing at the same time, plus it's a good distraction. Other thing you can try is stroking the horses neck with your inside hand (no pressure on neck though, and think of movement with arm as a clockwise rather than the usual counter-clockwise movement that we'd normally use while stroking the neck. Reason for the clockwise movement (down, forward, then up and back) is it will tend to keep you from collapsing forward so much. Be sure you keep your shoulders back during the process though, since you don't want to collapse your weight onto his front end as that will stop him. The stroking idea is just another way to keep you relaxed and give you another focus. Also makes you give with the inside rein (yes, you continue to hold the rein with your inside hand during the process), which allows the necessary release on the inside for the horse to canter. If horse has a low head carriage, be sure not to let the inside hand drop too low, as shoulder on inside needs to lift more for canter than other gaits. PS - don't let anyone kid you about singing out loud while riding, as some of the best trainers in the world do it at one time or another. Not only helps them, but gives the horse a rhythm to match as well.
Hope this helps. | 
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