Have you ever been taught to gallop?

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only_me

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have you ever been taught to properly gallop? (well not racing
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)

my YO who is old style is teaching me to gallop "properly" which i find very interesting, and is killing my calf muscles and down my thighs!!

just wondering
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or am i very odd to be having gallop lessons?!
 
I think quite a few people wouldn't recognize a gallop. I have been riding for nearly 40 years and have only galloped once! I would imagine most of us have experienced a really fast canter but haven't felt them drop and go up that extra gear.
I felt in the desert, of all places, on a retired arab racehorse. My horse is a wb so it was like sitting on a piece of rope with no brakes. Amazing feeling but quite scary as well!!

I am, however, fully prepared to be shot down in flames for my reply!
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I actually think that is really interesting as I for one have probably never felt a full-on gallop although my horse defiantely changes gear but only when eventing on the XC...I can never get it out of him when I am schooling despite training at home on gallops (albeit not full distance) in the summer!!

How is she teaching you?
 
i thought it was odd!
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but when she was eventing she was taught "properly" and never had difficulty in getting the time at novice on a 14.2!
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well, she is teaching me HOW i should be, like bum 2/3 inches above saddle and 2 point position, and what a proper gallop feels like
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its hard to describe! will try and organise mind better
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I know what a gallop is, but riding a fast canter and a gallop is an entirely different feeling!
 
umm, what do you mean? do you mean riding short and in balance (as in, work riding on gallops)? or how to get a horse to gallop properly so that his breaths are truly in time with his strides and he stays relaxed and can go a lot further without too much effort (whole new territory, that.)
or do you mean, the difference between a good strong canter and a true gallop, where the horse kind-of lowers a bit and applies the turbo? if the latter, as long as you can do the 2-point seat thing, i can't see what else you need to do, other than check that you aren't going to run out of room before the brakes start working!
 
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how to get a horse to gallop properly so that his breaths are truly in time with his strides and he stays relaxed and can go a lot further without too much effort

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yes that!! so horse is galloping properly so is able to keep going for longer and dosent get as tired!
and also then learning how to ride a horse like that
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i knew someone could put it into words!
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haha. *gets popcorn* this could take a while!
it's a weird one, and i think tbh that it is something that horses teach you, not people. or maybe that i was just too thick to learn it from anything other than a horse!
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i wasn't taught it by a person, but the idea of what it is was pointed out to me by a person later, put it that way!

okay, i'd say... first, rider needs to be able to just float above the saddle in balance and let the horse cruise underneath them, then it is just a case of the horse being relaxed and slowly learning how to increase the canter strongly but without tensing or getting excited. you want the horse to just keep breathing deeper and not faster.
not sure how it's related, but i was taught to check on the gallops how long it took a horse to take that big double-breath, and i think they only do this if they've been doing their normal breathing properly beforehand.
and if you understand that, you'll understand anything!!
 
this is really interesting... i think my horse taught me how to gallop. it came from quite a 'regular' canter... not a flat out one that fell into gallop... if that makes sense. It was a real 'gear change' and a wow moment. I thought my ponies used to go 'fast' but until i sat on a horse trained to race... and he knew how to gallop without me asking... then i just had to stay with him and enjoy it..... and watch my daughter on her 13.2... get smaller and smaller as I left them behind!!
and yes.. i felt him drop... and then we were off...
 
yep, that's it. my first horse used to do it and taught me, she was 1/4 ID but could really gallop. funnily enough her daughter (far left pic in my siggy), who was only 1/8 ID (the rest t.b.) really could not gallop, she just scuttled along as fast as she could! we did loads of work on the gallops, and lots of events up to and including 2*, and she just could not gallop, bless her! so i don't actually think you can teach them really, they either learn to do it themselves, or they don't/can't!!
 
My horse already knew how to gallop (ex racer) and the only time I have really felt him gallop properly was on the beach and bloody hell can he shift when he wants to!! I felt him lower and power up the turbo booster, it was pretty awesome though a bit scary but that could have been due to the fact he didnt want to stop at the end
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He jogged all the way home full of himself and I havn't dared to go back
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sort of understood that, but confused about the big double breath?

When training today (which is set to become a weekly lesson
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) I got him into an "outline" and we went from backend up through the front and out!

But he felt much more together and i was able to get a better gallop - its very confusing to explain!!
And he was relaxed within himself... but it was hard trying to ride him tbh
 
In a word, yes and no.....!

MdM will be the expert here, but basically I've learnt more than I could ever imagine through riding proper racehorses. Jumping off at the bottom of the gallops is like sitting on a rocket launch, then there's working at the correct speeds, most of which are quicker than I've ever been before
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. We use: canter, half-speed, three-quarter-speed, 'work' and sprint. I didn't even know sprint existed until a month or so ago and it's pretty blooming fast!
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The other thing I've learnt is to balance them and let them cruise at the desired speed. The trainer I work for likes their heads down so that they're pulling over their backs and really opening their shoulders to increase their stride length.

I've applied this to my own horse recently who has a tendency to be a bit short and choppy and have found that I can program in a longer, smoother, faster canter (or gallop) and leave him to it with my reins longer and hands just above his withers. Revelation!
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No I haven't but reading GB's response I have just got my chap to do this in second half of last summer (as we're normally fighting too much
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). You go much quicker but it almost feels slower and is definetely more relaxed and easier for the horse.
Other horse is a full TB and don't think hes ever galloped properley properley but he has about 17 different canter speeds already
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the big double breath is something they do on the gallops, and how long it takes for them to do it can be used as a measure of fitness. I guess they must do it in races/comps too but i can't remember ever noticing it on a xc course, too busy concentrating on the fences! at gallop, instead of the normal breaths in and out, you feel a very noticeable breath-BREATH, as they really fill their lungs to the max. then they go back to normal breath in, breath out pattern. i've only ever had them do it once.
sometimes only happened near top of 2nd or 3rd trip up hill gallops, iirc. actually, come to think of it, i think i can remember it happening in phase B at 3-days.
i hope someone else knows what i'm talking about! i was taught to look out for this when galloping pointers years ago.
 
I know the double breath you are on about - Haddy did it just the other day when I was going up a hill in the park..well I am pretty sure it was - no idea what else it could have been!
 
kerilli yes I know what you mean re. the double breath, Ironically I felt SGO do it round Cranwell
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as he was galloping like a loon
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I have also felt Goddy do it for the first time in the last couple of weeks, but thats because he has only just learnt how to gallop. It is fab to feel their whole rib cage move your legs out!! And then continue to breath, I also believe it means they are comfortable through their backs as they wouldnt breath properly if there was any tension?
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absolutely understand kerilli - we do this with the racehorses, listening to their breathing as we work them, and keep an eye on the watch to see how long after finishing that they blow out properly and start to breathe normally again.

I have to say, I am learning a lot about galloping horses properly at the moment - being a new recruit into racing, I have had a bit of a dramatic learning curve, and have also spent two days at the british racing school on a work riders course - I am so much more comfortable and balanced riding at (serious) speed now, and I am also much more aware of how the horse is coping with speed and assessing their fitness.
 
RachelFerd, that's interesting. what do you mean by "blow out properly", please? i've timed and counted breaths per minute, and recovery time, but i think i've only ever noticed a gradual decrease in breaths per minute as they recover. is there something else i'm missing? ta.
 
When I walked Chepstow a couple of years ago we walked it with Lottie Prentice. We had a step up to log pile then quite a steep hill up, she told us to keep them going up the hill and once at the top not to ask them to gallop on again until they double breathed (not sure if thats a word
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). I left him be at the top and waited and about 2 strides later he seemed to double breath (my horse breathed really deep which I asumed was DB! Could feel his whole body moving from the ribcage) and he picked up straight away again! Hopefully someone might understand that
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that's really interesting too, i have a feeling i'd probably have given them a breather automatically at the top of the hill but it's good to know to wait for the double breath. cool.
it's amazing what comes up on this forum! thanks!
 
Well it was first ever 3 day and thought I'd better listen and ask lots of questions and try and implement them all!!!
Feel quite sorry for Lottie as she was stable very near to me as well and I asked for lots of opinions/pointers but she answered them all and was very helpful
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I've learnt something today, its weird because it is something I have only recently felt on my horse after cantering uphill and I was concerned she was broken, and low and behold up it pops on HHO! Mind rested.
 
by blowing out properly, I mean when the horse has cleared their airways - usually a few minutes (or more) after finishing work the horse will have a good snort and deep breath - and after this is when they are breathing totally normally again.

have to say, when I went into racing I was expecting a much more hi-tech and scientific way of assessing these things, but no - seems to be all about listening to and feeling the horses breathing and assessing it that way.
 
On the original topic of being taught, yes, absolutely. Eventually properly by a very good horse (I tried to make other horses feel like him even when I didn't know what I was doing) and partly by a crazy German man who'd been eventing twice as long as I'd been alive.

Position - me and the horse, appropriate contact, how different speeds felt, adjustments without disturbing rhythm - just like any other kind of riding. And similar lessons in clinics with people like LG, on marked out distances, through exercises etc., and before that through Pony Club. I wasn't aware event trainers DON'T teach people how to gallop properly. Interesting.
 
My welsh would do a double breath when I took her for a blast up a huge hill long and steep. She would get to the top and it was almost like she did a huge sigh then she kept going. She really knew how to gallop, she used to flatten lower and go like a rocket. i think she taught herself though as a means to get home faster lol definitly not my work.
My tb who has never raced is learning to stretch over her back into a longer canter. I've only let her start to change gear to gallop once though a few weeks ago and she started bunny broncing so we haven't tried that agin till she is a bit calmer lol.
 
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