DefinitelyDressage.com

This is saud with smile, but yes, with the shorter rein you finally stopped giving her permission to be on the forehand because she is downhill. Next step, relaxation on the shorter rein. And I don't mean that you should lose the positive tension, it's that fine line between positive tension and agitation that we dance.

demi wrote:This is a clip of trot-walk transition from today. Yes, it has a ways to go, but I feel there is improvement since this thread started. A lot of the comments you all have made have resonated with me. One of the things Tanga said was that no matter the level, all of the horses settle and feel more secure in the shorter rein balance (not an exact quote but something to that effect). I think this will prove especially true with Rocky. There were lots of other really good comments from this board and I am working on them☺️.

https://youtu.be/DvSmxl_ScCY

(If you notice the clucking it isn’t me!! It’s my chickens who were hanging around the Pivo!)

I think that is much better! She really gets it and stays up and balanced.

I was going to be impressed with your nice clucking sounds!

Really nice Demi! She kept her hind legs active and carrying right into an active, connected walk, super!

Very good work, Demi!

Yesterday I had my first dressage lesson in about 3 weeks. I'm not sure I even have ridden except maybe once in the last 2 weeks because of the holidays, cold and everything else going on.

We focused a lot on transitions and for the first time ever I felt Lynx immediately go into a relaxed but swinging and marching walk. Part of this is he definitely is more energetic in the winter lol. But I was really focusing on thinking about starting the walk and I just stopping the trot.

Here's one of our attempts from yesterday, not nearly as polished as Demi's transition (lovely!), but an improvement I think. I was focussing on 'leg on' in the trans, and apparently can't think of more than one thing at once because I totally forgot to 'start walking'... Connor's still a bit unsteady in the connection, but felt like he stayed 'up' more (then totally lost the forward when I got to walk - I guess I took my leg off, please excuse the ugly ponyclub kick, to which he clearly objected!).

https://vimeo.com/663551217

I see the improvement , Anne. And I totally get not being able to think of more than one thing at a time I will try to make a list of tips that I got from this board that I am trying to incorporate into my riding at the moment. All I can think of right now is half halt, half halt, and now let’s walk… it works for me!

[quote="Chisamba, … it's that fine line between positive tension and agitation that we dance…[/quote]

Love this thought

I really like my horses to be relaxed and in as much self carriage as possible. So I find that line a tricky one too! Especially when you want them to change their balance.

Anne, he did stay more up and I reckon don't rush him. Take your time with the prep, the transition and afterwards. Your vid is only very short though!

I don't expect anyone to learn anything useful from this one

https://youtube.com/shorts/fnrS4hjoG_k?feature=share

Looks remarkably familiar to me, Chisamba!

I learn that I am not alone

It takes a village…

I pulled the following posts from this thread, and it’s neat how they all work together. Thinking your thoughts has helped. Thank you!


by Sue B » Mon Dec 27, 2021 6:05 pm
Take it for what you will, but I think the "problem" is that you need to carry your hands more forward, fully in front of her withers


by Moutaineer » Tue Dec 28, 2021 2:26 am

…Carrying them more forward, with a bent elbow, and a shorter rein, will give you a more refined and subtle contact that will allow you to “breathe” into the transition…

by Moutaineer » Wed Jan 05, 2022 7:41 pm
…Imagine that you have 12 noses attached around your belt and breathe through them."..

StraightForward » Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:27 am
…One thing I'm learning is to remember to look for opportunities to shorten my reins within the ride as the horse comes together. …There is that moment that the horse "comes together" and that is the opportunity to shorten the reins and ride into the new contact…




by StraightForward » Tue Dec 28, 2021 3:15 am
…after you turn the corner, it looks like you could slide your hands 3-4" down the reins so they would be slightly lower, with a little more obtuse angle to your elbow, but your upper arm would still be in the same position, so I don't think that would create more tension in the shoulders

y

by blob » Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:06 pm

…In both videos the rein connection does not stay as consistent as it could be--the rein comes slack often. A shorter rein and a hand that moves will help keep the consistent connection to get the better quality work. ..



by Tanga » Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:47 am
Let me explain my thinking on shorter reins …And no matter the level, all of the horses settle and feel more secure in that more balanced position…

by Chisamba » Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:25 am
…Next step, relaxation on the shorter rein. And I don't mean that you should lose the positive tension, it's that fine line between positive tension and agitation that we dance…

I sense a theme...

Sue, I know, right!?! But I see it much better this way then when someone just yells “SHORTEN YOUR REINS”.

demi wrote:Sue, I know, right!?! But I see it much better this way then when someone just yells “SHORTEN YOUR REINS”.

I hear you. One thing Chisamba had said to me previously, about my elbows, is why I am not carrying my hand. Which for me especially, is a good point. Not easy, because my body is complicated (I have Elher Delanos Syndrome.) But sometimes I do need to think about the other changes I need to make in addition to the one in focus (like my elbows.)

Good job, demi! I have been helping a friend lately, and it's always the same. There is nothing really new in what we are asking for, just different ways of understanding it and getting the feedback. Every time I tell her something, she's responds that she's always telling her students the same thing.

But, LPS, as you say, we need to deal with our own, individual bodies. I have very long legs and a short waist. My friend has short legs and a long body. I made her get rid of her whip so she stopped moving her hands so much because she can add leg without having to bring it up. I started riding with a whip so I can add an impulsion aide without having to bring my whole leg up (which is what I have to do on every horse to get any spur contact.) I also have WAY too much curvature of my back, so besides exercise and stretching (and learning to walk so I don't lean forward) I am trying to retrain my body to tuck my tailbone under without hunching.

There is so much hidden beneath the surface that needs to be teased apart as well. I know I've mentioned many times my struggle with my collapsing left side. I've been doing Feldenkrais work all year and making small adjustments. I thought my left side was weaker and collapsing, but recently I've realized that it's more about my back right ribs not staying knitted together, so I'm easily pitched forward/left, causing my right hip to get low, sliding to the left side of the saddle (plus both my horses tend to push the cantle right). So now it's a matter of finding how to keep my right side together without excessive tension or putting my seatbone on a collision course with my horse's right hind leg. I'm sure I'll find more layers to the issue as I keep working on it; these things don't get solved overnight even when they seem simple on the surface!

Finally some video - I didn't forget: https://youtu.be/TU1HpR7aVyY

I was surprised to get the little jog steps in our down transitions. Usually that doesn't happen, but I think I was focused more on to swinging into the walk and didn't get a clean transition.

Thanks for posting that SF. Annabelle is looking fit. She also looks like she’s working with you. Your transitions look really smooth and relaxed.

I’ve been doing a lot of transitions lately. Mine are not so relaxed or smooth, and where you sometimes get some jog steps into the walk, I sometimes get some jig steps. I videoed yesterday and will try to get some t-w-t and c-t-c clips posted.

Transitions are still a work in progress but here is where we are:

https://youtu.be/-RKhS1MKZmg

https://youtu.be/tIqkTr41Wnw

I think I am chasing her a bit, and that’s why it isn’t smooth or relaxed. But at this point, if I don’t keep after her every step, she doesn’t keep her hind legs coming under on her own. I let her have a lot of walk breaks, and usually let her stretch down, but I keep her marching.

Any helpful comments are welcome

Straightforward, thank you for sharing! As usual, in envious of your position! You have a beautiful seat and leg in the sitting trot (and canter.) Annabelle is looking really good! As far the jogging into the transition, I find that happens with Lynx if I'm "sitting in" too much.

Demi, thank you for sharing again. I think your arm position is looking really good here. And as usual I'm always impressed with how you make Rocky look. She sure can look fancy!

I think she did look a bit tense in the first video. My thought is to add more exercises for suppleness too. I need to watch the second. She definitely was a lot more active in the transitions compared to others.

Agree with Lipsmackerpony88: Straightforward, I have position envy!

Demi - great videos! One exercise that I found hugely helpful for t/c transitions is the w/t/c/t/w sequence. I saw it on a dressage YouTube channel (Amelia Newcomb Dressage). The trick was not to make any of the sections very long, especially the t/w/t section before you go back up to canter.

LSP - You might be right on the sitting in a little too much. With the DRT program we are riding without stirrups 1-2x a week and I think my seat is deeper as a result, but I also need to remember when to lighten and give the hind legs a little more room to step under.

Demi - Rocky is looking super, and I see a lot of improvement in the quality and consistency of your connection! She looks like a worker bee; I wish I could get that much activity out of A. There are a few moments where you take your hands up to keep the connection, so I think the reins could still be just a touch shorter with your elbows a little more forward as "neutral" but it's really slight. It looks like she's carrying herself much more now, so you might find it easier to maintain your seat with the more forward elbow, whereas she might have pulled you out of position when she was more on the forehand. The other thing I noticed on the first video, is that it didn't look like there was a lot of preparation for the change of direction, and so the right bend might not have been fully established. You could try riding a volte at X in the new direction and make sure the bend is established and the new outside pair of legs is taking the weight.

To add on to Mari's comment, one thing my instructor has us do is trot to *almost walk* and then trot out again. It can be helpful for getting the feel for collecting a bit in the trot to prepare the canter transition

Thanks for the insight!

LSP, I will incorporate more suppling exercises into our arena routine. I already do some lateral work but I can increase the amount, especially now that Im getting fitter. Honestly, I find good trot lateral work takes a lot of core strength. Anyway, I will do more SI and LY for the next few weeks and see if that helps. Suppling exercises will hopefully help with the trot lengthenings, also.

Mari, I like Amelia’s videos. I looked for the one you were talking about but havent found it yet. I watched one this morning about c-t transitions and it was helpful because the horse she demonstrated on, Mercurio, seems a bit like my horse in that he didn’t want to come back to trot once he was cantering. I’ll keep looking for more her transition vids.

SF, I am encouraged that you see the improvement in Rocky. I could see what you were talking about in the places where I could still shorten my reins more and let my elbows a little more forward. I will now have that in mind as I ride! And, yeah, that right side…. I will remember to try a volte to set her up better for the change in direction.

With Annabelle, I have seen still photos of her where she shows a super active hind leg. It looks like you have the activity when you want it so I thought in the tw-t, c-t-c vid you were purposely letting her do a smaller trot in order to let her learn the transitions.

demi wrote:Mari, I like Amelia’s videos. I looked for the one you were talking about but havent found it yet.

Gosh, now I'm wondering if it was her or some other channel. In my mind I can hear her voice talking me through the exercise

SF--from what I see i don't think the shuffle step is necessarily from the seat being too deep, but rather the seat getting a bit side to side rather than into a clear rhythm. This is nitpicky stuff because you have a beautiful seat with a lot of feel. But it seems like your seat is following what she does rather than dictating what you want done. If that makes sense?

You have some very nice consistency throughout in the connection and there is clear relaxation in the body which is nice to see.

blob wrote:But it seems like your seat is following what she does rather than dictating what you want done. If that makes sense?

Yes I think so. I was trying to step down into an active walk and lost the clarity of the transition. I did try to lighten my seatbones a bit yesterday and still got a couple jog steps. Maybe more walk/halt transitions would help with getting that clean transition and then the marching walk in the next step.

Here are some flying change videos of not-great rides from a lesson last week. He was so strong, pulling through my hands. I’m bracing in my upper body and arms to counteract, and it just never really came together into a harmonious picture.

https://youtu.be/OB_m1s6z8Dc
https://youtu.be/YAQf8ur3R6A
https://youtu.be/e3TWMCjhEwA

(to be continued in next post because apparently I have too many URLs...)

(... continued from above)

To find a half-halt and some semblance of respect for aids, we did some c/t/c/t transitions. I got greedy and tried for the change at the end, and it was still not good.

https://youtu.be/4_AyQLgvyhA

This is a video from yesterday. Much much better feeling in my hands, much more responsive to my leg, and in general more supple bodies for both of us. Still not as nice as it was a while back, but better than last week.

https://youtu.be/hvlfe3N9KPY

Cool vids Mari! He can do the changes no problem . Not sure if you're after a discussion about them or not, but it does take a bit to settle into 'normal'.

You can talk about them all day long and I will listen happily. It's been a few years of struggling for us, so if you're interested in my essay on our journey, then I can do some typing for you :p

Mari, to improve those changes you need to improve the canter. He needs collection, sit and adjustability. Those are jumper changes not dressage changes. That's not an insult. Jumoer changes are great, but if you want to show dressage you need more collection. Once you have the sit behind you won't be balancing him in the hands

For example instead of trot canter transitions you could do walk canter transitions on the circle. Instead of supplying the neck and shoulder in the preparation for changes, bend through the ribs and keep the neck straight. Instead of half halting in the left rein, ride the hips. Also I would suggest allowing him to come up from the base of the neck to open the door for the hind legs to step under so he can sit in his balance. You want to rid those transitions as if you are going up a hill. Wherever you walk or trot after the canter it should still feel like you need to go up that hill.

As always, just trying to be helpful.

Mari! Thank you so much for those videos. This is so much where Junior and I are now. I think your horse is more than capable and has lovely changes in there. I really like his hind leg.

Chisamba, I so appreciate your comments because again 'this is so much where Junior and I are now' LOL. You describe our challenge/issue to a "T" and it's so helpful to read, watch the video and 'feel' much of what I do too. Junior is such a cheeky little bugger that he would love nothing more than to do jumper changes (and they're - clean) LOL including the jumps. I find that when I really ride him forward and back at the canter repeatedly (I almost have to bring hell, wind and fire to the arena to make an impression on him) and do C-W-C changes in between the forward and back that I can then ask for the FC and get something closer to a true 'through' dressage FC. It's as if I am coiling the spring such to the point that the power and energy has to bring the withers up because I am no longer letting it dribble or pour out the front and thus, he is so much more on my seat and capable of carrying the change through from the seat and not change in response to the rein. The other key I find is that I really, really, really have to supple him on both reins because with the hell, wind and fire of course he wants to brace and freight train it instead of bringing the power all the while staying soft and malleable in front.

Mari, your horse doesn't give me the impression that he's quite as braced as Junior gets but then Junior is built more like a spark/fire plug.

Exvet, it's really relevant to Kimba too. I am so proud of the fact that she can canter a true 3 beat knowing how she started, that I allowed her to coast along in that happy place instead of saying on, now we develop the sit and carry.

She would much rather do jumper changes too. It's now that I am working on pirouette with Saiph that I realized how much damned room I have to improve Kimba and Cali

Mari, those are really nice changes to start with. Just what I like to see. He's using his hind end. It's so much harder to fix them when they are late and/or lazy behind.

As Chisamba says, he needs to come up, but that takes time and strength. That's why I just sometimes spend weeks going in straight lines working on sitting and forward behind coming up into the front end, as C says, so that the front end comes up and lightens and it's from the hind. They are planes--they need to take off and land tail down or you crash. I work on this every single day. For my own body, I really try to tuck my tail bone under, open up the front of my crotch so I don't get forward, and loosen my seat so I don't interfere with the horses, just helping them with leg, voice, whip to come under behind and up in front.

Just be wary that it's a LOT of work, so push it a little, and then breaks, and think about how much you can do each day without going too far and it's too hard. It's all about conditioning.

I was going to add the same thing. He knows the aid for changes now, you've taught that well. Then next bit is getting him to carry more behind, strengthen up and get off your hands. So more lateral work and all the stuff that does that, and then your changes will become effortless

Mari--I think those changes are really nice--clean, forward, expressive. Sure, down the line you will likely want/need more sit and collection as others have mentioned. But I also think if you went and showed third level today you would easily get 7s or even more on those. Maybe not at 4th level, but def at third.

Having said that, I might actually honestly be interested in hearing the essay on your journey! I feel very much like I am in a bit of my own long-suffering struggle with MM and changes.

I enjoyed watching your videos, Mari. He’s improving for sure, but he’s still quite the character! You’re both looking good, and your hard work is paying off.

I’d be more than interested in reading anything you care to write about your journey! I also really appreciate that you’ve posted videos along the way.

I think I've previously shared my video compilation of training changes with Norsey, I was in flying change hell for ages!! Maybe for professional riders, they can get them nicer sooner?? But I think it really just takes a good bit of time.
Mari, yes share your fc story if you have time to type it out.. pretty sure we can all relate to it

He's turning 17 at the end of this year. I've owned him since he was 5, and every.single.ride is a battle to get him off my hands. And I’ve had some really good help along the way. I’ve probably given more upwards half-halts than I’ve taken breaths while riding…

All your comments line up with what my plan is for the next few months, which is encouraging. Really working on the sit in the canter. He is quite movable in canter, in that we can do SI/HI, HP and LY pretty nicely. But if I’m not awake and aware every single stride for weight on the bit (and I struggle to be, because I’m trying to also concentrate on the actual aids I’m supposed to be giving) he will lean into my hands.

Tanga - Interestingly, we’ve started working the canter on straight lines recently. Good heavens that is hard… Because he tends to roll forward like a boulder down a hill, most of our work is spent on curves and complex patterns and hundreds and hundreds of transitions. So wish us luck for the next few weeks, bit of a brain shift for both of us!

On to my flying change essay (you asked for it!). I can only tell what I know and what I’ve experienced with this particular horse. I’ve ridden changes on schoolmasters, but this is the first horse I’ve ever had to teach myself. And by luck, he was also very tricky for both my dressage instructor and jumping instructor (who is himself a high-level dressage rider).

We didn’t start with them very early. We did a sort of traditional route on the dressage side - establishing counter canter, and w/c/w til that was solid. Asked for a change across the diagonal every now and again just to see what would happen. Nothing.

On the jumping side, it sometimes in a blue moon happened automatically, but more often he would happily counter canter, or we would change through trot to keep it smooth. He rarely changed over a pole on the ground. He would even happily do the circle of death exercise (4 small uprights on a circle, 5 strides between each) in counter canter if he happened to land on the wrong leg after a jump. He would get irritated with my leg and kick out if I kept insisting on a change. And this despite being able to get the correct lead every time in w/c/w.

This carried on for a while, no one was in a huge hurry and we all thought it would eventually click. It just didn’t. Eventually my jumping instructor decided that we needed to ramp it up, there needed to be some kind of reaction to my leg aid, even if it didn’t result in an actual change. And with some effort and a dressage whip, the flinging flying changes phase started. He would kick up violently behind, change behind and then in front. (And let’s add the caveat here that he is seen every few months by a sport horse vet team and aside from hock and coffin joint maintenance, no physical issue was concerning them.)

The flinging phase was a very long and tiring phase. We tried more c/w/c transitions. We tried from a big canter, we tried from small canters, we tried from working canters. We did zigzags and transitions, we did the small loops where you turn back to the wall and then change. We tried renver in c/c to a change (which admittedly is more of a fix for late-behind changes, but we tried anyway). Jumping instructor got on a few times. No improvement. Every change was on the aid, but every one was a kick out behind. The few times he changed without the kick, he would change behind first and then a half-stride later in front.

Last year my dressage instructor and I pressed pause and decided to rethink. First priority for me was to address the kicking out. I just couldn’t deal with it. My already-bad neck was taking a beating and it was filtering through to a general pissy reaction to leg aids that I was not happy with. Worked on the general reaction first. Back to c/w/c, but the problem wasn’t so apparent there. c/t/c, on the other hand… So I did them a lot. Every pissy reaction to my leg was met with a sharp tap and a send forward and a praise for a good big forward. Every kick out got a hard halt and a growl, reset, tried again immediately. It only took a few sessions, the c/t/c was our saviour I’m pretty sure.

Then we started trying a change every now and then. Same deal, a kick out was a hard stop and a reset. The kicking out got progressively less (still there every now and then though), but he still almost always changed behind first. Sort of by accident we discovered that the rides where we did a lot of counter-flexions and more exaggerated inside flexion in canter, and LY where he had to move off both legs with acceptance of small flexions each way resulted in clean changes for the first time. A member of this board or COTH at that time was having a clinic lesson (I honestly can’t remember who, I’m really sorry), and relayed something about front-end suppleness being key when dealing with late-in-front changes.

Yes, it is counter-intuitive, we are all taught to keep the shoulder straight, and yes I try to do that during the change, but for this horse with late-in-front changes the prep of a very movable shoulder and neck and jaw is what gets us the most clean changes.

Our absolute best set-up exercise for changes is c/t/c, with random strike-offs in every place I can manage, with quite a bit of quick counter-flexion during the few strides of canter. Straighten, down to trot for 3-4 steps, up to canter, repeat. When he is settled and reactive, I straighten, give the h/h, ask for a change, get it, go right back to c/t/c.

The videos I posted earlier are not great ones, I’ve said before that it feels we’ve gone backwards a bit during the last few weeks after some gorgeous big efforts. But I’m happy to keep posting as many videos as possible (as long as my instructor is willing to take snippets while teaching).

You've done really well to get good changes like in the videos, Mari!
Bit of a journey to get where you are now, and I can totally empathise. My little black horse used to do handstands with his kickouts and my big horse, I had to do some crazy crooked stuff to fix his late behind changes.
But you know what? If we ever have to go through it again with another horse, we've learned a heap from these ones

I cannot ride a horse with a lot of weight in the reins. I have arthritis in my fingers and wrists and I am simply physically unable to do it.

Horses who are heavy are heavy because the rider tolerates it. I train 2 horses that I " fix" every time I ride them, and their riders return to status quo every time they ride them. In my opinion. And yes, it's just my opinion, there are certainly better opinions out there, we all tolerate certain things to achieve other things. I will explain using a personal example. Kimba is a pacer. Her mother is a stakes winning and stakes winner producing standie. She wants to lean in, flatten and fly. Of course I taught her to half halt, I taught her to canter. Now even when I turn her out she will canter across the field. Here is the but. BUT. I tolerated heaviness, speed, and even some head tossing in acquisition of the canter. I was even defensive about it. In a clinic Marius told me to improve her canter. I said well, you know, she paces. He said, she is cantering now.

Then one day I was reading exvet discription of her goals with junior and she said from now on it'szero tolerance And I realized every negative characteristic Kimba has, despite its genetic and disposition roots was because I tolerated it

So it is that I mentioned a few times that I was no longer going to tolerate incorrect. Others disputed my goal, but I have realized that the difference between an average trainer and a good trainer is knowing what should not be tolerated.

On my case in the first five minutes of every ride I establish that the horse may not balance on my hands. No. I do not bump, half halt or wiggle the bit. There really is not any one thing because horses are different and what their riders have tolerated are different. But I cannot ride a heavy horse so if I am going to ride that horse I do not tolerate it.

My point is that if any horse is heavy, despite its inclination, genetics, and character, it is heavy because it's rider tolerates it.

If you want to really fix something it's about what you tolerate. Let's face it, we teach the horse every thing to do with being ridden. Every single simple or complicated thing.

So Mari. I your essay about changes at what paragraph did you say you will not lean on me? Ever. I have a bad neck you may never lean on me.

I wish every dressage rider had the chance to ride a nicely trained reining horse. Every speed and gait adjustment is made with a draped rein. I am a great believer in contact but you really can do it all on a draped rein.

I remember a terribly depressing moment. I had ridden FEI. I had been training professionally for a couple of decades, and Kea, my Irish Draught mare was really struggling with piaffe and passage. I went to an Andreas Hausberger ( chief rider SRS) clinic and in my introduction explained what I was struggling with. In 30 minutes he had me doing a light uphill happy piaffe. It took30 minutes and I nearly cried. I said I have been riding my whole life and I'm still learning to ride. AH said it takes more than a life time which is why we respect the experience is others.

But my. Point is simple. If you're horse is 17 and still out of balance. It's not because you're a bad rider obviously you're a good Rider. Not because you have a bad horse. You have a very nice horse. It's simply because you've never truly ridden him in balance so you don't know what it should feel like and you don't know what you shouldn't tolerate. Paragraph however I am still going to make a suggestion you want to improve your changes you need to improve your Canter. In order to improve your Canter you need to change his balance
The way to change his balance it to make balance of priority and do something different

mari wrote:Tanga - Interestingly, we’ve started working the canter on straight lines recently. Good heavens that is hard… Because he tends to roll forward like a boulder down a hill, most of our work is spent on curves and complex patterns and hundreds and hundreds of transitions. So wish us luck for the next few weeks, bit of a brain shift for both of us!

I know that one. Quilla likes to roll and drop in front and Quinn wants to drop and be a freight train. It IS hard. Just stick with it solid for a few days and they will get it. They can't do it for long initially, but it will get better. If I can stay that way, I think it's the solution to Quill's one tempis. If she gets at all like that, it's a gonner. If I can keep that straight up on the hind end, we can get them clean.

I used to focus more on all of that stuff, too. Straight lines are so much harder! Remember, though, when you do get it, a lovely, long, curled circle to stretch out is all good!

For the "rolling downhill" canter, I found doing half steps, then into canter, then walk and half steps really helped keep the shoulders up in the canter and reminded my horse he had hind legs that could be under his body. I think if you and the horse find changing the balance hard while cantering, fix it in the walk and trot and then go to canter. If the rebalancing half halt doesn't go through in the canter, back to walk and fix it again.

Another good collecting exercise to help with canter is RB to canter or toh to canter. I too like piaffe steps to canter as well though.

Don’t forget your own equitation though! I find it helpful to watch really nice riders in the canter work so I can emulate their position.

This is one rider I just really enjoy watching
https://www.facebook.com/10000647320374 ... 16698/?d=n

Some big truths there Chisamba!
I remember having a ride on a reining horse, I struggled at first! It was sooo light to all my aids. And I took some of that feeling back to my horses. Riding our own horses all the time, you can get lulled into that well known feeling and it can be hard to change.

I only like a light contact. The amount of contact you should have is quite contentious and if you do ride on a light contact, the horses can come off it easily and I feel that because it's really easy to spot this, people are more critical of it.
Riders who have a heavier contact, you can hold them there. It's a bit harder to spot. But you have to be happy with that weight on your hands.

"AH said it takes more than a life time which is why we respect the experience is others"
This!! Which is why I get so frustrated with trying to access good coaching.
Knowing how to correctly and kindly fix things and what not to tolerate, along with that consistent self discipline when riding, is a challenge.

I'm uploading some video from a lesson I managed to have a few weeks ago. Working on transitions etc. Ding doesn't really sit behind, is built really straight and tries to pull up through his poll. So, trying to change this without being too forceful. It's far from perfect!

https://youtu.be/06ro3mvJXQ4

Flight wrote:But you know what? If we ever have to go through it again with another horse, we've learned a heap from these ones

Totally! I would LOVE to have a second, younger one to bring on now. But money...

Chisamba - Your post is really thoughtful, thank you. I went through a "no tolerance" stage quite a while back (beginning of last year, iirc). And it did get better. But it takes literally one or two rides of not concentrating on it every single stride and the backslide is so great that it is just utterly demoralising. I don't think I'm a bad rider, and I'm also not a bad trainer, but currently I don't feel that I'm quite good enough to address this particular problem on this particular horse in a lasting way. And that doesn't mean just giving up, your words are probably the kick up the bum I need to go back to the drawing board. So let's see how it goes the next few months.

Thanks so much to tlkidding, Tanga, khall and Flight for posting. I really appreciate it. I'll see if I can get some collected canter exercises on video over the next few weeks. We're not terrible at c/h/c, but after a few tries the h-c can become a bit of a rodeo

I want to say No tolerance is simply a matter of focus. It's not aggressive. It's just focus, you do not have to fix it sharply, just fix it consistently.