Finding Balance and Confidence in the Canter - Part One

If you've seen any of my recent social media posts (or many other trainers far more "famous" than me!) you've probably seen a lot the canter and how important it is for both you and your horse.

But for many of the riders I work with, riding in the canter is HARD!  It's hard to get your horse to canter.  It's hard to keep him cantering.  If you ask too strong, he acts out... but if you don't ask strong enough, he ignores you and just trots faster!  And then, once you finally get him going in the canter, hold your breath, because it's all a millisecond away from falling apart!

If this sounds familiar, I want you to know that you're not alone.  Riding at the canter is hard.  Canter transitions are hard.  Buuuttt... you and your horse are very CAPABLE of riding good canter work!

Let's talk about how!

If you're like many riders, just getting your horse into the canter can be tricky.  Here's how we can establish and solidify that transition:

Decide what your canter aid is going to be.  I strongly recommend connecting a voice aid to your body aid in the beginning. 

For me, I sit the trot and my inside leg sets on. Then my outside leg slides or swipes back.  The inside leg tells my horse the tranisiton is coming and by the time my outside leg finishes swiping back, my horse strikes off in canter.

I also coordinate my voice to these leg aids.  I use, "Annnddd Gallll - UP!"  My sitting trot and inside leg going on matches "Annnddd".  My outside leg sweeping back matches "Galll - UP!" so that when I finish say "UP" my horse is cantering.

Decide what you want YOUR canter aid to be! And then really think about how you would teach it to someone that has no idea how to ask for canter. Try to break it down into really simple, black and white steps.

EXERCISE 1

Trot - Canter - GO!

1)  Start on a 20 meter circle at trot.  Make sure your trot is forward yet relaxed and your horse is listening to you.

2)  Ask for canter anywhere on the circle.  As he canters off, finish the circle and then ask for "BIG canter" or a little more go as you leave the circle and head straight down the long side.  Do this with a little kick, a little cluck or kiss, or both.

3)  Try to turn early and start a new circle before he "runs out of gas" and breaks to trot.  Or if he has enough energy to make it to the opposite end of the arena, go for it!  And then circle there.  The goal is to circle before the horse breaks to trot and have him trot on the new circle.  If your horse is "lazy", let him break to trot on the circle and take your time to rebalance the trot.  If your horse is "hot", use the circle to help him find the trot.  Ask for trot and let the bend of the circle help him find it.

What this exercise teaches the horse:

1) The canter aid means "Go".  When you ask, he needs to go.  And he will be allowed to go forward.

2) The circle after the "Go" means come back.  Even if he breaks to trot, it's ok.  After we aks for "go", sometimes we ask to "come back."  This will eventually turn into "sit" and "collect" but we all have to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run!

Trouble-shooting:

Problem #1

My horse just trots faster or ignores me when I ask him to canter.

Solution:

Stay on the 20 meter circle as long as he is "ignoring" you and not cantering when you ask.  Ask for canter.  If he doesn't go, give him a couple of swift kicks with your inside leg only - just enough to make him uncomfortable.  You do not need to "chase" him into the canter with your kicks!

Then breathe, find your balance in the trot, and ask for canter once again.  Repeat the above until he finally makes a different choice and offers canter instead of speedy trot!

Problem #2

My horse is too speedy. He anticipates the canter and then runs too fast when we go straight down the rail.

Solution:

If your horse is anticipating the canter transition, let's first evaluate "how."  Is he just an eager beaver?  Meaning - he has figured out the game and is offering you nice, prompt canter transitions but they're a little early?  In that case, I'd "roll with it!"  Let him - for now.  We'll discuss refining this later!

If your horse is anticipating in a "not so nice" way... he's getting tense, coming above the bit, and getting anxious about cantering, then WAIT.  Stay in the trot for two... or twenty circles!  Stay in the trot until he truly relaxes a bit.  Then ask for the canter.

If he gets too speedy as you go straight down the long side, turn your new circle early.  Ask him to trot on the new circle.  Stay in the trot until he relaxes.  Then repeat the exercise!

Give this one a try and let me know how it goes!

If you'd like more specific helped tailored to YOUR horse, shoot me a message! I'd love to work with you and create a custom plan for you and your horse to get to where you want be with your riding! Message me HERE!

How do YOU ask for canter?

How does your horse respond?

Tell me in the comments!