Canter-trot transitions .. help please!

tonitot

tonitot

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Just wanted some help on making our canter to trot transitions better as they are pretty pants at the moment! Ethel gets a bit carried away with her cantering and basically doesn't want to stop. On the lunge when she's cantering I say, " and teerrrot" and she goes into a nice trot immediately, when I'm riding her I say the same and squeeze the reins and all I get is a very steady canter, so slow she could walk faster! But she just wont stop, I have to take a big pull and then she chucks her head up and flies off in trot and then it takes me ages to get her to settle down and start working properly again. She will eventually fall into trot if we canter a small circle for a while but I'd like to take her to a dressage comp (want to event her eventually) and obviously we cant do little circles until she decides to trot! I've tried doing lots of transitions with her but they wind her up and make her even harder to stop. She can go from canter to trot really nicely, she's done it before a few times but seems to have "forgotten" how to do it.

If it helps, she was in training to be a racehorse and though she never ran and has been out of training for over 3 years she still seems to think she is one!
 
Sounds really odd but I find the clearest signals come from me when I close my eyes and imagine what transition I want, just for a second I take a deep breath, breath out and imagine it happening... I can ask and ask and ask and get no where, then I do this and it just seems to flow. Sometimes my asking, I try too hard and sort of block the signal, when I relax and imagine it my signal automatically becomes clearer.
 
Queenbee said:
Sounds really odd but I find the clearest signals come from me when I close my eyes and imagine what transition I want, just for a second I take a deep breath, breath out and imagine it happening... I can ask and ask and ask and get no where, then I do this and it just seems to flow. Sometimes my asking, I try too hard and sort of block the signal, when I relax and imagine it my signal automatically becomes clearer.
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How interesting, will give that a go and see if it helps! I try to take a really deep breath and say teerrrot as I breathe out but I'm normally so busy saying it, trying not to yank her back and trying to keep my position that I forget to breathe!
 
tonitot said:
How interesting, will give that a go and see if it helps! I try to take a really deep breath and say teerrrot as I breathe out but I'm normally so busy saying it, trying not to yank her back and trying to keep my position that I forget to breathe!
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I found myself asking Ben for rein back (only the slightest step) and getting a whole load of nothing but frustrated confused horse and rider! I stopped asking, took a couple of calming breaths and 'imagined' it and my posture just shifted and he responded straight away. It's fantastic because I do lots of transitions, about six strides of trot then 10 of walk, then halt, then back then 10 walk, 6 trot, it helps me to be accurate and clear with what I'm asking of Ben without confusion, tension or frustration, helps to stop him flattening and rushing.
 
Queenbee said:
I found myself asking Ben for rein back (only the slightest step) and getting a whole load of nothing but frustrated confused horse and rider! I stopped asking, took a couple of calming breaths and 'imagined' it and my posture just shifted and he responded straight away. It's fantastic because I do lots of transitions, about six strides of trot then 10 of walk, then halt, then back then 10 walk, 6 trot, it helps me to be accurate and clear with what I'm asking of Ben without confusion, tension or frustration, helps to stop him flattening and rushing.
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I'll give this technique a go as we have a couple of other problems when hacking, I ask for something, she says no and throws a paddy and then I get frustrated so stopping to breathe and think again will most probably help!
 
Bear in mind she will find it much more difficult carrying a rider than on the lunge. Her momentum will be carrying her forward, and your weight will add to that. The answer really is better balance from her - do you do a half halt to prepare her? And practise practise practise at home, preferably on a 20m circle - the benefit comes not from her knowing more precisely what you want but with all that practice and circling she will be shifting her weight back ever so slightly which will mean she is better able to transition. And practise other downward transitions too, to help with her balance
 
Yeah I half halt her but it just seems to help with slowing the canter down, not actually making the transition back down to trot. What you say makes sense though, I'll just have to keep practising with her and hopefully we'll get somewhere! Although transitions wind her up, do you think doing them so much that they become boring to her would work? Say we canter, back to trot, make sure we get a nice calm trot, then back into canter and repeat, just keep repeating until its not so exciting anymore.
 
There are a couple of books which contain good exercises for schooling - 100 Schooling Exercises or 100 Dressage Exercises, or something similar. Might be worth you getting hold of a copy and working through some of the ideas to help with balance and engagement?
 
tonitot said:
Yeah I half halt her but it just seems to help with slowing the canter down, not actually making the transition back down to trot. What you say makes sense though, I'll just have to keep practising with her and hopefully we'll get somewhere! Although transitions wind her up, do you think doing them so much that they become boring to her would work? Say we canter, back to trot, make sure we get a nice calm trot, then back into canter and repeat, just keep repeating until its not so exciting anymore.
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If it were me, I'd leave the canter for hacks only, find some nice straight canter path with a slight incline and practice your transitions here, once you have that nailed... Move back to the school and try again
 
I have the same problem! Had a bit of an 'adventure' today trying to come back to trot with no stirrups.
I think if it doesn't work when I first ask then I panic that I'm out of control and it's a downward spiral from there :eek:
 
Queenbee said:
If it were me, I'd leave the canter for hacks only, find some nice straight canter path with a slight incline and practice your transitions here, once you have that nailed... Move back to the school and try again
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I know the perfect path, straight with an incline as you say. I cantered her up it yesterday and although the transition was better it still wasn't great, I guess its just a case of keep practising until we get it.

PleaseVenus said:
I have the same problem! Had a bit of an 'adventure' today trying to come back to trot with no stirrups.
I think if it doesn't work when I first ask then I panic that I'm out of control and it's a downward spiral from there :eek:
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Oh don't even get me started on canter to trot with no stirrups! I nearly bounce off every time! :p I don't panic, just get frustrated because I know she can do it and do it really well, she just likes not to! :rolleyes:
 
tonitot said:
Oh don't even get me started on canter to trot with no stirrups! I nearly bounce off every time! :p I don't panic, just get frustrated because I know she can do it and do it really well, she just likes not to! :rolleyes:
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Hehe! I hate the first few trot strides, it feels so so bouncy compared to canter. I think today I was just relieved we finally stopped :p

Argh frustrating :rolleyes: does she just give in in the end or?
 
tonitot said:
Oh don't even get me started on canter to trot with no stirrups! I nearly bounce off every time! :p I don't panic, just get frustrated because I know she can do it and do it really well, she just likes not to! :rolleyes:
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Sorry but I think this is down to your riding. It sounds as if you are too tense, because you are worrying that you won't get the transition. Relax, soften your back and hips and use your weight to stop her cantering. Don't worry if the trot isn't of particularly good quality at first, or even if your transition is a bit too fierce and you get canter/walk.
 
Just a thought. Does your horse understand the half halt? Mine had to be taught/ re taught when i got him although you would have thought he would have understood it from the other work that he did at the time.used.Went right back to walk/ halt transitions to establish and then build up through trot- walk trans. Doing a few at a time only. As someone else said , just the thinking about what you want can often be enough as we subconsciously re position our bodies at this point and the horse responds.
 
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