Adjusting the canter

[Ample Prosecco]

Lottie is a very forward horse but in recent weeks she has become so much more rideable SJ and XC. I’ve had thd very new and welcome experience of having a horse cooperate so i can adjust the canter round a SJ course or sit up on the XC and she comes back to me for a jump. I can focus on myself more and on trying to get better at knowing what canter I need and what lines to ride and not spend effort arguing with her.

But the flat I don’t have that adjustability in the canter. She largely ignores the cues to shorten her frame and collect if there aren’t jumps in the way. I don’t know if I’m riding differently or she’s more onward without jumps or what I need to do to improve this.

 

[ycbm]

You could put out related distance poles and practising 9 and 11 strides in a 10 stride distance, for example. That should put you in a similar mindset to jumping, without the jumps. Then you can leave out the poles and try to do the same by the number of fence posts.
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[Ample Prosecco]

Oooh I like that! I wonder if I’m just riding differently - or with a different level of intent or clarity - without the jumps. Thank you

 

[LEC]

Rather than poles, count your strides between letters. Come round 3x and see what they are then start shortening or lengthening. My guess is you don’t prepare early enough or are not strict enough about it on the flat.

It would concern me slightly that you have it jumping and not on the flat because in my experience, that just so rarely happens. I would question if the horse has become more rideable and more adaptable about the stride she sees thus better at shortening herself.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Yes I think she has figured out what she needs to do for jumping as she had a lot of jumping experience before I bought her - so she lets me tell her what we need and then gives it to me. I don’t think she does it entirely regardless of me because she doesn’t know what we need! Eg XC schooling we did a rail, ditch, rail on an angle then turn to a skinny then extended for a big table then a wide turn to a steeplechase fence then back to a bouncy upright canter for rail ditch rail the other way. She didn’t know where we were going - but she was so easy to ride through all that.
But she was very uneducated on the flat when she arrived and it’s much more of a challenge getting her to listen. Not sure she sees the point. I used to think it was a strength and balance thing (which it partly was) but it’s also a listening and responsiveness issue.

 

[RachelFerd]

Oooh I like that! I wonder if I’m just riding differently - or with a different level of intent or clarity - without the jumps. Thank you

Quite possibly - is it that you're less focused on outline and where her head and neck are? She may find it easier to shorten and adjust when allowed to use her neck to balance... But on the flat we.tend to get more focused on keeping the connection feeling the same.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Oh yes maybe? So it is then a strength/time thing. Being able to adjust while staying round?

 

[oldie48]

Do you ride in a different saddle ie a dressage saddle on the flat with longer stirrups? If you are, perhaps she doesn't recognise what you are asking for? It's a long time since I've done any jumping but I think I used to collect the canter with my body position ie bring my shoulders back and sit up more but to collect in a dressage saddle, I sit deeper (well, as well as I can) and use a corner or circle to help with the collection which also helps to keep the horse round. You could try asking for a good forward canter with lots of activity, then put the horse on a circle and ask for a slightly more collected canter by sitting deeper. I think it's easy to use too much hand and kill the canter, so I find it useful to make sure I'm still asking for lots of activity with my legs but my seat is asking for collection and my inside rein has asked for flexion round the circle but is allowing, whilst the outside rein is saying, stay round when it needs to. Once you feel you are getting some response you can try shortening and lengthening the canter on a circle. I'm afraid I can be guilty of keeping the collected canter for too long because it just feels so nice, so I try to lengthen well before the horse starts to struggle and lose impulsion. I hope that all makes sense. Once you can get a good collected canter and the horse is stronger (I think) it starts to get really exciting because it allows you to move on to more advanced moves.