So you turn the corner and ask your horse lengthen the stride in canter a little but instead of covering more ground with each passing stride, it feels like his legs have begun to move nineteen to the dozen. Flash backs to pony riding are flying through your brain, the rushing and racing gets more intense with each passing stride… The result is…
You have finally managed to truly be able to dictate what lead your horse strikes off with in canter each time. The shouts of ‘Wrong Leg’ following you around the arena are a thing of the past… However, now everything you have learned is being turned a little on its head when you realise that sometimes, you can indeed canter on…
Think back to the last time you were cantering along on your horse and a change of rein was coming up. You began the task of preparing to drop back a gear into trot to change the canter lead; better than losing rhythm and balance through a flying change. However before you even got there, your horse (being the clever…
Do you find that when asking your horse for canter, you tend to ‘over do’ some aspects of your aids? Perhaps you throw your reins at your horse, or you try to ‘push’ too much with your seat or upper body… You are shoving and bumping about in the saddle and when your horse eventually ‘strikes’ the canter, you are…
Who doesn’t love to canter? It may just be the most enjoyable gait to ride when in the saddle for many riders, however it is also the gait that might just have us working the hardest to actually successfully get there and then, returning back to trot or walk seems to also open a whole can of worms for many…
Do you , like many riders, find yourself overlooking the humble serpentine as being too basic and easy a schooling movement to be of any real consequence to your horses development? If so, I would love to challenge you that the modest serpentine, if ridden and worked on correctly, can be a fantastic training aid for both your horse; and for…
