TarrSteps
Well-Known Member
This is one of my "get inside people's heads" questions.
I spent quite a lot of time today listening to people talk about "Getting a better canter," "Not having enough canter" etc. This has become the buzz word for jumping now (and it is partly fashion as people jumped for years and years before is became the thing everyone says) and while it is, indeed, essential to have the pace you need, I wonder sometimes how riders interpret the direction.
Do you know what the "ideal" canter is for your horse? How do you know? Do you know what the most usual best correction is if you don't have the canter you need? Do you know what the correction is if your horse surprises you and doesn't react as usual? What are you looking for when you want that canter?
I don't so much mean exercises at home - in my experience people really only use a handful of exercises to develop or test the canter. I mean what corrections do you make in the moment? Specifically as you start jumping and in the warm up. Do you have exercises you do that you know will get you what you want? Do you wait to jump a fence and use that feedback? Do you aim for the ideal or get more and then throttle back? What about on course?
Just musing. I just find it interesting when people get given advice and nothing changes - I wonder if they don't understand, don't know what to do, or think they're doing it already.
I spent quite a lot of time today listening to people talk about "Getting a better canter," "Not having enough canter" etc. This has become the buzz word for jumping now (and it is partly fashion as people jumped for years and years before is became the thing everyone says) and while it is, indeed, essential to have the pace you need, I wonder sometimes how riders interpret the direction.
Do you know what the "ideal" canter is for your horse? How do you know? Do you know what the most usual best correction is if you don't have the canter you need? Do you know what the correction is if your horse surprises you and doesn't react as usual? What are you looking for when you want that canter?
I don't so much mean exercises at home - in my experience people really only use a handful of exercises to develop or test the canter. I mean what corrections do you make in the moment? Specifically as you start jumping and in the warm up. Do you have exercises you do that you know will get you what you want? Do you wait to jump a fence and use that feedback? Do you aim for the ideal or get more and then throttle back? What about on course?
Just musing. I just find it interesting when people get given advice and nothing changes - I wonder if they don't understand, don't know what to do, or think they're doing it already.