canter from the walk

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Stephelia

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Nov 7, 2001
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Hello all,

In last nights lesson, we did a lot of cantering from the walk. It just didn't go smoothly! My beloved RD would trot, then I would have to keep asking for the canter. It was never smooth, and I know its because I was not asking properly. What is the proper way to ask for the canter from the walk.

Steph
 
Well, you just have to be very insistent. Maybe your leg position is off. Remember to keep your outside leg behind the girth and bring your horses nose to the inside slightly. Put your inside leg just ahead or at the girth, and squeeze hard. If he breaks into the trot instead of canter, bring him back to walk and try again. Walk to canter is sometimes hard as some people and horses are not used to it very much, but it gets easier as you practice more.
 
its differant with differant horses, but most of hte time you pick up your rein contact a little bit (just so you have a feel for the mouth) bend to the inside a wee bit, outside leg a little behind the girth, hold your inside leg, and verbely ask 'canter' if your horse starts racing around at a fast trot its making things 10x worce so come back to the walk and try again. if you are really having a hard time, try carrying a crop (you don't have to use it, just carrying it may be enough). if it still isn't working a little smack behind your leg with the crop should get him going. not little taps that feel like bug bites either:D don't worry i used to do that when i was little. i thought it was so mean to hit a horse, but once i learned that properly used they are not mean to the horse at all :)
 
To add a little more, all smooth transitions require the horse to engage it's inside hind leg. If horses aren't straight through their back they can't engage their hind leg and find it particularly difficult to strike off from walk or halt. All horses have a natural crookedness and depending on how well schooled your animal is, some horses will lean on their outside shoulder. You can tell if this is happening if you work on the inside track of the school and if the horse drifts out to the outside track (almost imperceptibly rather than the horse making a definite bee-line to the outside track) you have a horse leaning on it's outside shoulder. There are various exercises to correct this, but it's probably easier for you to talk these through with your instructor.

However, one way to correct this: you need to get a very active walk going, put your outside leg behind the girth and keep it there and keep the pressure strong against the horses side. Take up the contact with the outside hand and ask for a little neck bend to the outside. Put your weight down through your inside leg and hip. If you find this difficult turn your head over your outside shoulder - this naturally puts your weight into your inside - and keep it there as you ask for canter. Once you have got the canter and it is going smoothly you can look back to the front!

If your horse is running into the trot form walk, it is likely that he is unbalanced during the transition. Instead of keeping on asking him through the trot, half halt him, try bringing him back to a walk, balancing him up again and ask again.
 
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All of the above advice is very good. I'll put my 2 cents in, seeing as how my walk-canter transitions are usually great (it's trot-canter that needs help!) :)

Anyways... get an active walk going and get your horse on the bit. Sit back, sit tall, shorten your inside rein a bit, put your inside leg tight against his side by the girth, and put your outside leg a few inches behind the girth, and give his side a little tap with your heel. With the school horses I ride, squeezing from this position doesn't always work, so I usually have to give a little heel-tap with my outside leg (NOT a kick, mind you, or you'll be left behind! just a brief tap!). Try doing the transition coming off of a corner (it's easier to get the right lead that way!) Also, make sure you give a little with the reins, or your horse will feel like he's running into a brick wall! :)

Hope this helps!
 
Originally posted by anuvb
Take up the contact with the outside hand and ask for a little neck bend to the outside.
Click to expand...

I always thought that you take up contact with the INSIDE rein and get a bend to the INSIDE...doesn't that get the horse on the right lead? Or do you ask for a bend to the outside for some other reason entirely?

:confused: I've never heard any instructor tell me to do an outside bend. Can someone clarify this?
 
Hi Shmon - no on a perfectly straight horse you would ask for a slight inside bend. However, if you read my post I was talking about a horse which is leaning on it's outside shoulder (a common cause of bumpy transitions).

This probably isn't the most clear of explanations but here goes....

By putting their weight through the outside shoulder, the horse is not engaging it's inside hind leg. If this is the case the horse will find it much harder to make the transition particularly from the slower paces to canter. By turning the head slightly to the outside, you cause the horse to put it's weight on to the inside shoulder and hind leg, thereby giving it more impulsion to strike off into canter. It must be backed up with the correct leg aids. If you back it up with the correct leg aids then the horse will engage it's inside hind and still go off on the correct lead.

Obviously you are aiming for the correct bend eventually, but once in canter you can start asking the horse to bend to the inside, bring it back down to walk with correct bend and school it so that it has it can take off in the correct bend.

don't know whether this helps or if I have complicated the matter! Anymmore question PM me and I'll try to explain!
 
Shmon - the horse should bend from the inside leg and work through to the outside hand. If a horse is truely on the aids the inside rein only needs to invite the bend at most, if you pull the inside rein to get the bend the horse will fall out through the outside shoulder and avoid engaging the hind leg.

When asking for walk to canter the horse needs to be in an active walk, preferably with a degree of collection, if the walk is too fast the transition will be unbalanced. The commonest fault is to drop the contact as the horse is asked for the canter so he just falls into trot instead. It also common for the rider to be in too much of a hurry and to tip forward. Need to sit up straight, lengthen and close the inside leg around the horse and move the outside leg slightly further back, keep the contact and wait for the horse to lift forward into the canter. For the less sensitive riding school horse you may need to use a slightly stronger leg aid to get the upward transition.
 
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