Counter Canter

Madam_max

Madam_max

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How can I stop Corroy doing a flying change? She is fine on one rein and will do 1/2 20m circle true canter then 1/2 counter canter. On the other she just changes
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. I am careful with my weight aids. I think being a SJ she finds this very difficult to grasp. Ay suggestions. Oh yes and I have been through shallow loops etc and she will pick up a named lead, but when it gets a bit tougher she changes.
 
can you make the circle tighter for a while until she stays put on that leg?! Being a SJ she should be more inclined to stay on the right leg? I cannot get my jumpy boy to do a counter canter without a huge effort in telling him its ok!!
 
ok i'm not sure if what i do is right but its the best way i've found to teach sjers counter canter. with the older ones that didn't learn it as youngsters we start them doing the counter canter on the long side of the arena...technically not true counter canter as they are on a straight line. we do on an inside track so they don't use arena sides to balance. then flex them to the outside as the go around the corner. this lessens their desire to switch legs. as they become established in this we start alternating flexion from outside to straight then gradually to inside for a few strides. once this is established it is relatively easy to work them into circles in counter canter. like i said maybe not the most conventional manner but has proved very successful with all the sjers on our yard.
 
V odd that you've posted this today as I was lying in bed last night thinking about this very subject (exciting life I lead!!?)

My boy will usually "correct" himself through a flying change and he thinks this is what he is meant to do - bless him. I guess this is usually what I've wanted him to do when jumping etc.

But now I'd like to work on counter canter....

Anyone else got any tips/exercises. Should you ask for outside bend slightly or not??

Hope you don't think I'm hijacking your post MadamMax
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!! (you beat me to it
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)
 
Now heres a problem I had.
Trying to get my Grade B not to change was a big issue.
The trick was to do the loop back but the instant his canter started to fawlter or he showed the slightest inclination to cahnge, bring him back to trot. My job was to prevent him from changing at all costs.
It did work in the end but for a while we never got more than 1 stride of counter canter.

Reverse problem now. Gone back to SJ and he wont change automatically like he did.
Ho Hum.
 
Makre sure you are not unconciously oving your weight to the new 'inside' so if in left canter and going onto right rein, think left all the way and as said before as soon as it becomes unbalanced come back and retry.

Shallow loops are better than across diagonal (as that is where most horses have been trained to change)

Make sure the horse stays bent to the inside of the lead you wish to remain on rather than flexing to the new inside

My lad used to do this - I BSJA'd him from 4yo to 10yo and it was what he did - suited us at the time - swapped to dressage and had a devil of a job but he just clicked one day and will now happily CC 10 m circles and when I used him as a schoolmaster to teach OH how to ride changes OH didn't ask correctly and tried to wrench him round a 1/2 10m circle to make him change - result - one very stupid looking OH and one very smug looking horse
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she shouldnt be so damn clever should she!!!!!
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Im having a similar problem with Archie, on counter canter to the left he always changes, however still i sit.

Andrew said to me to ask him to canter on the wrong leg on that rein and canter him around the arena like that, so im not actually presenting him with the oportunity to change as such and he is learning to balance more for himself on that rein.

any help?
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Thanks everyone. P-G, if I ask for canter on the long side she will maintain it going large, so maybe I should stick to this for the time being?
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yup - thats what andrew told me to do with Archie. But keep alternating legs that you ask for the strike off on, so if on the left rein do one on the left leg, canter for 6-8 strides, trot for 3 strides then canter on the right leg and keep repeating it around the arena.
 
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