How to teach a horse collection in canter?

[peanut]

She goes nicely in walk and trot, and her canter has elevation but is too fast and not well rounded. She is very forward going generally and we easily 'motorbike' in canter!

Being very bouncy, the canter is not easy to sit to in the first place, so sitting deeper and back (I tend to lean forward) is incredibly hard although it's probably something I need to do.

I could have just answered my own question above as I know my faults, but any other ideas/help would be much appreciated.

 

[Wagtail]

She goes nicely in walk and trot, and her canter has elevation but is too fast and not well rounded. She is very forward going generally and we easily 'motorbike' in canter!

Being very bouncy, the canter is not easy to sit to in the first place, so sitting deeper and back (I tend to lean forward) is incredibly hard although it's probably something I need to do.

I could have just answered my own question above as I know my faults, but any other ideas/help would be much appreciated.

You need to be able to sit your horse back on her hocks. I think you would benefit from lunge lessons.

 

[Booboos]

Try more transitions. Pop her on a 20m circle in trot and see how many upwards transitions you can fit in and back again, so if the first time you manage one trot-canter-trot transition, then see if you can fit in 2 next circle, 3 the next one, etc. She has to be quite balanced to get 4 transitions in. Once she is good at this try staying mainly in canter, then downwards to trot for 3 strides then up to canter again and try to fit 4 in one circle.

Then try lengthening and shortening the canter. The easiest way to do this is to lengthen down the long side, then sit up, half half, inside leg for bend to outside hand for control and shorten for the short side, then off again down the next long side.

 

[peanut]

Great ideas - thank you

ETA: It's very easy to get heavy in the hand in this situation and of course that's something I don't want to do.

 

[unbalanced]

According to the scale of training which my instructor taught me, collection is the last building block which will come. The scale goes like this:
1. rhythm
2. suppleness
3. contact
4. impulsion
5. straightness
6. collection

Until you have all of the first five ingredients on the scale you will not be able to achieve collection with your horse. Each point builds to the next one and if you are having a problem with, say, impulsion, you need to look back to rhythm, suppleness and contact in order to solve that problem and progress with your riding and your horse's training. This is how my instructor explains it anyway.
So for example with your horse you said you wanted to work towards collection, but that she has a tendency to rush in the canter. So for now, forget about collection and focus on rhythm and getting a good three beat canter with an even tempo. When this is really good, progress to working on suppleness so lots of bending exercises and getting your horse laterally (side to side) flexible. It is hard for them to be longitudinally (nose to tail) flexible if they aren't laterally flexible.
I have found that using the scales of training in my lessons has been really helpful and given me a really good outline of what I should be doing in between my lessons as well.
Also as one of the other posters has said, perhaps have lunge lessons to work on your position. If you are tipping forwards you will put your horse on her forehand and make it more difficult for her to carry you. But you are already aware of this which is the first step to fixing it. I find it really difficult to be organised in my position on my own pony as due to her arthritis she finds it quite tough to work correctly. I have be in the exact right place to really help her and she would rather disorganise me so that she can work less. However if you put me on my friend's young nicely schooled dressage horse it is much easier to sit correctly. So you and your horse are probably contributing to each other. Have some lessons together to get yourselves on the right track and good luck!

 

[Amaranta]

Try more transitions. Pop her on a 20m circle in trot and see how many upwards transitions you can fit in and back again, so if the first time you manage one trot-canter-trot transition, then see if you can fit in 2 next circle, 3 the next one, etc. She has to be quite balanced to get 4 transitions in. Once she is good at this try staying mainly in canter, then downwards to trot for 3 strides then up to canter again and try to fit 4 in one circle.

Then try lengthening and shortening the canter. The easiest way to do this is to lengthen down the long side, then sit up, half half, inside leg for bend to outside hand for control and shorten for the short side, then off again down the next long side.

^^^^def this, lunge lessons may teach you to sit 'up' but to get the horse to sit you need transitions, transitions and more transitions. One the horse is able to do walk to canter directly, this really helps too.

 

[TheMule]

You can't sit on a horse properly until the back is soft and you have relaxation. It's hard to say without seeing the specific problem but you need to work on shapes such as circles and squares to help you to engage the hindend and soften the back without needing to go to the hand