Long and Low help

[AshleighEmma]

Hi all,

I am looking for training advice to try and achieve a long and low, relaxed, supple canter with my mare.

She has been a successful show jumper for all of her life (now 16) and I’m doing some low level prelim tests with her currently (before lockdown). I struggle with her canter it’s very ‘show jumpery’ over expressive and very tense throughout the circle.

I am looking to take her back to basics in order to build more top line and getting her using her back properly so starting with long and low to build from there hopefully to get rid of some tension!!

we have long and low well established in both walk and trot and she stretches brilliantly and literally exhales when long and low to release the tension (she’s a typical hot warmblood!!)

canter is another story! I try and give with my contact, open my rein to encourage her to stretch down and at the moment we’re just increasing speed and end up running round like hooligans!

Does anyone have any advise as to what I can do to achieve a steadier, more relaxed canter?

any advice greatly appreciated, it’s not pain related she’s been see by saddle fitters, chiro, physio, teeth etc so just want any sort of tips/tricks/exercises I can try to make her canter more manageable.
Thanks

picture of said hooligan below

 

[milliepops]

I think that "long and low" in canter is much harder work for them. I find its only when a horse is fairly established and strong that they can canter *in balance* with their back up and neck down. So I would continue to develop the idea in walk and trot and only ask as much as she can offer in canter.

If she's quite tense then it will be even harder. I would concentrate on generally improving her balance, suppleness, rhythm and contact in the canter in a working frame until she can do that easily, and then begin to ask for some stretching. If you push her to stretch before that is established then she will lose her balance and run.

 

[P.forpony]

Its definitely much harder for them to stretch down in a canter like mp says, so it may well be just that she finds it hard at the moment.
Also if she’s a stressy anxious type they tend to be more upset about becoming unbalanced and therefore vulnerable.

If you think you can manage it without disaster... just be patient and sit quietly. If all you’re asking for is a stretch then ignore everything else that distracts from that request, including speed, wait (it might be a while!) until you get one, then reward.
Gait, speed, stretch, bend, tempo, direction, contact. It’s really easy to overwhelm them by asking for everything at once.
If you add requests in one by one as the previous ones become established it breaks it down into much easier to understand chunks.

A bit of extra speed may be what she needs to feel secure until she’s stronger and she won’t relax down unless she’s confident. The slowing down will follow.

 

[milliepops]

A bit of extra speed may be what she needs to feel secure until she’s stronger and she won’t relax down unless she’s confident. The slowing down will follow.

Agree with this. Often a bit more pace helps them trust their balance. Even though as a rider you feel like you need to slow down, sometimes you have to get to that point by a roundabout way.

Slowing down often requires a load more strength which she may not have right now. Riding positively forward will probably help her to accept the question.

 

[AshleighEmma]

Thanks all for your replies, seems like i need to just let her do her thing for a bit longer until she becomes more confident and relaxed to stretch down.

Can anyone recommend any exercises to encourage rhythm and consistency within the canter?

Thank you

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

Thanks all for your replies, seems like i need to just let her do her thing for a bit longer until she becomes more confident and relaxed to stretch down.

Can anyone recommend any exercises to encourage rhythm and consistency within the canter?

Thank you

canter poles! Either in a straight line (on the 3/4 is useful because it stops you using the fence line to keep them straight and shows any weaknesses) or I like the exercise where you put them like a clock face, one at 12, 3, 6 and 9 and canter round and aim for the same number of strides between each one and a consistent bend. Then once you find the stride that is natural for her try to push for a longer stride (so less strides between each pole) or try and collect and get more strides. I also sometimes pop them up as teeny tiny jumps (more like raised poles than jumps). This helped my mare stop rushing in canter and sit back on her hocks.

 

[paddi22]

From any ones I've had with a stressy canter, it was really a case of building hind strength and waiting until they had enough self carriage and were more uphill. I'm not a full-time dressage rider so for me it's a slow process, but generally I noticed it took until the horse was comfortable at novice level before I got a good canter. So it was really getting all the bits in the walk and trot (balance, getting the lateral work, getting the flex, control of the shoulder, mediums etc) that build the strength to get the stage where I could get a good canter. The canter developed as a result of all that foundation if that makes sense. All I really needed to work on on the canter at that stage was being able to sit efficiently with a strong supportive seat and have a good half halt at the right time, and to make sure my contact was correct.

I always understood the rushing stage like if a person had to learn to hop on one leg for 20 metres. Ideally you want a series calm, relaxed hops where you can jump the same distance in a nice rhytmn, land balanced and power off again to hop more. to start you won't be able to though. the chances are you will get tired, lose your balance and fall forward with a series of fast out of control hops. your pace will speed up and slow down as you wobble or get tired. that's what the horse does with the canter. so with a person you don't just keep hopping forward furiously hoping you improve. you would stop and work on improving your core muscles for balance, you would make sure you have enough leg strength etc. and you would time each session so you didn't overdo it or strain something. you would learn the rhythm that works for you so you weren't being pushed out of balance. it's the same for the horse. it's a constant balancing act of seeing where the horse is at with it's training because at each stage you need to understand why the horse is doing what it's doing and you need to support the horse a difference way.

 

[milliepops]

I always understood the rushing stage like if a person had to learn to hop on one leg for 20 metres. Ideally you want a series calm, relaxed hops where you can jump the same distance in a nice rhytmn, land balanced and power off again to hop more. to start you won't be able to though. the chances are you will get tired, lose your balance and fall forward with a series of fast out of control hops. your pace will speed up and slow down as you wobble or get tired. that's what the horse does with the canter. so with a person you don't just keep hopping forward furiously hoping you improve. you would stop and work on improving your core muscles for balance, you would make sure you have enough leg strength etc. and you would time each session so you didn't overdo it or strain something. you would learn the rhythm that works for you so you weren't being pushed out of balance. it's the same for the horse. it's a constant balancing act of seeing where the horse is at with it's training because at each stage you need to understand why the horse is doing what it's doing and you need to support the horse a difference way.

exactly this, for me. and because horses change quite rapidly sometimes when you are changing the goalposts, you need to be prepared to adapt and take a new approach from time to time to keep up with them. last one I had that struggled with the canter quality started out needing only short bursts, because getting in and out of canter was the issue, his balance was quite good for his level of training, but he would scramble and dash off, so a 20m circle or 2 was adequate to just say - this is canter, this is how it goes, we can stop doing it now before it starts to unravel.

later on, that was not enough time cantering, and he had to learn to get round the whole arena to get used to a longer burst of quiet cantering, straight lines were hard but corners were OK so as a rider it felt a bit YIKES on the long sides but we just had to get through the initial worry and let him find his rhythm for himself.

So there's really no hard and fast way, and you have to experiment a bit, take your cues from the horse, some good input from a trainer is invaluable, but I echo the above that if a horse has a weak spot then just doing loads and loads of it won't necessarily help. So work in walk and trot to develop consistency and rhythm will bleed into your canterwork because it helps the horse in its general understanding of the concepts. and shorter amounts of really constructive, progressive work in canter is better than tons and tons of lolloping around

 

[AshleighEmma]

Thank you for your comments, such a great way to look at it and definitely makes sense that it’s a working progress to achieve the goal over a long period of time!

I think I’m going to work more at my walk and trot rhythms and small bursts of correct canter and hopefully build from there!

I do usually have lessons but with the pandemic everything is on hold so just wanted some tips to work with in the meantime!!

If anyone has any further exercises/tips/comments I can try please do let me know, always keen to try something new thanks

 

[Rowreach]

Have you got anywhere you can canter out of the arena (or an enormous arena)? I would be pulling my stirrups up a few holes and getting out and doing some long slow canter work with her (think like eventing/racing endurance work) where you are out of the saddle, you can sit your hands at the base of her neck to keep her balanced and rhythmical, and aim for a lollopy relaxed canter with a lower head carriage. I wouldn't be cantering her in the arena at the moment.

 

[oldie48]

My horse is going out and getting reasonably good scores at medium but she still finds cantering long and low, in balance with a softly raised back and her hocks under her, quite challenging and most horses don't find it easy as they want to use their head and neck or speed to balance. She can walk and trot quite easily now but that has taken time. Basically there's no quick fix as it depends on strength and being able to use the correct muscles so I'd suggest working on the walk and trot and just add in short bursts of the canter. Having had to sit on the sidelines and watch it's become very apparent that often what some riders think is "long and low" is actually long and on the forehand, which is really what you don't want to encourage, so unless you are confident in what you are wanting to achieve a good trainer and/or eyes on the ground are essential.

 

[P.forpony]

For strength and muscle development small periods of correct work are the way forward.

But a caveat on that, if they’re loosing rhythm and consistency because they’re mentally not with you, anxious or excited, then getting those short periods can be really difficult.
If that’s the case, the best option usually is to sit quiet and keep going, for as long as it takes until they settle find their own rhythm.
She will find what she’s comfortable with and that will tell you your starting point.

She’ll rush off full of spurts and acceleration but if you just wait, sit quiet and invite her to relax with you she’ll realise all your doing is cantering. It needs to almost be boring.

I used to have access to a mile square field so 4miles round. Anything that rushed or got silly at speed was offered this enormous space and as long as they kept cantering I basically left them alone to choose how hard they wanted to work!

Didn’t take very long at all usually about 3 rides before they started a nice sensible consistent canter from the first transition.

I’ve used the same tactic in the school too, I just like straight lines and scenery if possible!

 

[iknowmyvalue]

Agree with the others. Short bursts of correct canter are the way forward, and lots of canter work outside of the arena. I’d also add to that: canter work over different terrain if possible, up and down hills of different gradients, slightly uneven ground (but not dangerously so, just a grassy field or a beach or something) so they learn where their legs are and how to balance themselves.

I also find it useful to lunge (or ride but I’ve never done it personally) with an elastic tail bandage round their bum to basically act like a resistance band to help build up the right muscles. It’s not for everyone or every horse, and you’ve got to be a bit careful with how tight it is/how much you make them do in it, but works well for us. I also like doing lots of transitions/polework/varying pace within the pace (if that makes sense?) all working with the goal of getting them strong and balanced enough to relax and work over their backs!

My big lad really struggled with canter when I got him (as in basically couldn’t canter without disuniting or breaking to trot). It’s still his weakest pace, but we are finally starting to get some glimpses of true long and low canter after years of hard work!

 

[Goldenstar]

One of the biggest tests of balance is the stretch in the canter .
Some horses never develop the ability to lift the wither and lower the head in and neck .
Always remember its a stretch and two inches further than the horse find easy is a stretch the ability to do a full long rein canter is developed in little steps over time .
just ask a little often and in time you will get more .
I will often work in a jumping saddle with short stirrups off the horses back it’s them also a very good test of the riders poise balance and the ability to apply the aids effectively.

 

[Carrottom]

With an ex racer who could get a bit onward bound along the long side when going large I found riding shallow loops helped to steady and balance.

 

[smurf]

I have a very similar mare. I find short bursts of give and retake help. But just one rein at a time. I think SJ horses are used to being held/carried and the thought of long and low is quite alien to them and their first reaction is to fall on their nose or shoot off. So I start with just a couple of strides giving away one rein, take it back for half a circle then give the other. They slowly learn self carriage and balance. Once you can give both reins for a couple of strides she will be more comfortable with the idea of long and low as she won't panic at not being carried