Downward Transitions- help

[Boots*McGruber]

Downward Transitions- does anyone have any advice on exercises
I can do to help improve balance in our downward transitions from canter to trot? Horse is quite fit for a leisure horse. Ridden 5-6 times per week combination of hacking with hill work; flatwork & jumping. Loves a good whizz about hacking/ jumping but struggle to keep him going a bit in canter when doing flatwork and we often fall into the downward transition to trot. Any advice welcome.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I don't know if this is quite what you mean but Dex has the same issue in trot where he sort of falls out of trot and slumps into the walk rather than sitting and pushing into it. My instructor has had us going from trot into walk for one stride then back up into trot, you could do the same from canter into trot. The idea being that as they then have to complete an upwards transition, they cannot slump into the downward transition as they have to retain the impulsion to allow them back up.

 

[Marigold4]

Downward Transitions- does anyone have any advice on exercises
I can do to help improve balance in our downward transitions from canter to trot? Horse is quite fit for a leisure horse. Ridden 5-6 times per week combination of hacking with hill work; flatwork & jumping. Loves a good whizz about hacking/ jumping but struggle to keep him going a bit in canter when doing flatwork and we often fall into the downward transition to trot. Any advice welcome.

Can you teach him a voice aid for canter? My young horse used to do this and I taught him a voice aid on the lunge first. So I had one voice aid to get him into canter and then used "canter, canter, canter" and swirling the lunge whip round whenever he looked like dropping down into trot. He soon got the hang of he had to keep cantering. I use it for ridden canter too and it has solved this problem.