More Thoughts on Canter and a Remedial Canter Aid

A useful tip for improving horses that have poor strike-offs is to separate the steps of the canter aid and work on them individually.

1) Increase the contact.  Work on being able to shorten the reins and take a firm but gentle hold on the horse's mouth and for the horse accept the pressure and soften to the hand.  If you are consistent with your release and soft feel, the horse will soon start to soften as soon as you take up the reins.

2) Be able to sit on the trot and practice doing it!  Some (many?) riders only ever do sitting trot before they canter.  Many horses anticipate the canter when the rider starts to sit, which creates tension which makes it harder for the rider to sit quietly and so the catch-22 situation grows!  Sitting trot is incredibly useful of itself so it is definitely worth persevering with this one.  Cross your stirrups, keep the tempo slow and bounce gently like you're on a trampoline.  Experiment.

3) Put your outside leg back. Then do nothing.  Many hot horses are triggered to do a big overreaction when the outside leg goes back in preparation for canter.  Get the horse used to your outside leg sliding back (but not tightening) and staying there.  Trot numerous circles with the outside leg back.  Don't push or training travers might become harder later on.

4) Add a voice aid.  Take a look back through my posts and learn to do click-click-wallop!  A voice aid is so helpful in clarifying the moment you want the horse to switch from trot to canter.

5) Shape the strike off with your seat.  You want the first step of the canter to be short, uphill and calm. If the horse is in the habit of flinging its head in the air and leaping or lurching or throwing its forehand down, you need to gently but firmly block this action with your 'sit strong' (locked elbows and strong abs, basically) and your self-correcting contact, where you hands lighten but your reins remain the same length.

6) Ride other horses.  So many adult amateurs don't have access to schoolmasters but they can swap horses with their friends.  Feeling the different canter strike offs of other horses can help you have a different ideal for what the canter strike off can or should feel like.   A horse with a tidy pop into canter can be very encouraging to ride, and you can try to recreate the feel of that on your own horse.

7) Turn your shoulders inwards.  So many riders turn their shoulders outwards when their outside leg goes back. Make an effort to turn them inwards - I always picture sitting on an office chair and swivelling from the waist. Don't lean or tilt.  This simple correction can go a really long way to improving horses (and riders) that habitually take the wrong leads.

8) Finally, add the inside leg.  The ideal canter strike off goes: feel the mouth (horse softens), sitting trot (horse maintains tempo), outside leg back (horse does not react), rider turns shoulders inwards and cues with the inside leg and a lifting but level seat (horse steps quietly into canter with a soft mouth and a relatively short stride.)