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I am not a novice rider. Miss A. was a schoolie for years and tolerated absolute beginners. So why can I not get a walk to canter transition? W to C is much easier for me and her. My instructor can get the transition with no problem, although Miss A will pin her ears when asked but immediately pricks them forward.

I give her the aids (outside leg back, heel scoop with inside leg at girth). She trots faster and faster. I half halt before asking with seat and leg. I vow I am doing it correctly but obviously not since she won’t canter.

I’m open to all suggestions. Throw them at me.

She's not understanding. Even though you think you're giving the aides, somehow you're not. Are you "half halting" and preparing her to let her know she needs the energy and needs something?

Honestly, I have added "cheats" to all of my gait cues because it gets tricky in the GP to keep or get the right gait. The collected walk to passage is a bugger to get them to keep the walk until the transition. And the passage to canter can be beautiful or awkward. So, besides the "half halts," I add a little wiggle to the inside rein before they aides so 100% know what to do.

I assume she knows the word "canter" or something? I would add verbal cues to help her understand what you want, repeat a few times, and then they usually are quite cooperative.

I think it was ExVet who mentioned the image of a plane taking off? To me it's not just the half halt, but making sure the hind legs are gathered a little under, having a forward feeling with the contact but not throwing the reins away, and having that up and forward feeling in the body so the horse feels free to jump forward. Maybe one thing to try is from canter to come down to a walk or almost walk (small energized trot) and then directly back into canter and repeat. Then the idea of canter is in both your minds, and eventually you can walk longer before the next canter transition.

I always use the plane taking off and landing imagery, though I am sure there are others. I didn't mention it, but thanks SF, for explaining that the "half halt" includes all of the collecting, imagery, energy. The rider really keeping what they want in their head is very important.

I’ve used toh to canter. Helps with the collecting before the canter transitions. I also like to feel the walk to the point of almost jigging energy. I put my legs in canter position but it is my seat that does the asking. It’s a swoop of the hip

the trick with the w-c transition IMO is timing. In the trot, which only has 2 beats at worst you will be 1 beat off on the timing and so usually you will get the carry over to the transition even if the timing isn't quite right. In the walk, you do need to get the timing right. The first step of the canter requires striking off with the outside hind so the horse has to be in the part of the walk where that is possible.

khall wrote:I’ve used toh to canter. Helps with the collecting before the canter transitions. I also like to feel the walk to the point of almost jigging energy. I put my legs in canter position but it is my seat that does the asking. It’s a swoop of the hip

Karen Rohlf calls this ‘busy feet’. I move her slightly left and right…kind of get her pinging off my legs but making sure we have proper positioning into the actual depart. I do that with Kyra to wind her up…get her hot off the leg so to speak. Once we do one or two walk—> canter, then she is with the program and then I work with her tendency toward anticipation.

Susan

try more preparatory HH and "almost canter" ideas then canter.
I would go back to trot canter, trot halt trot and then revisit walk-canter

She might be getting surprised by the aids.

For this issue the TOH would likely confuse the horse more. While good for getting collection this might confuse and an already confused horse more.

Tanga wrote:I always use the plane taking off and landing imagery, though I am sure there are others. I didn't mention it, but thanks SF, for explaining that the "half halt" includes all of the collecting, imagery, energy. The rider really keeping what they want in their head is very important.

Another imagery is to think about lifting the horse up into the transition with your seat as if you are lifting a heavy box. Like the expression goes, you lift with your back and not your legs.

airliner2009 wrote:

Tanga wrote:I always use the plane taking off and landing imagery, though I am sure there are others. I didn't mention it, but thanks SF, for explaining that the "half halt" includes all of the collecting, imagery, energy. The rider really keeping what they want in their head is very important.

Another imagery is to think about lifting the horse up into the transition with your seat as if you are lifting a heavy box. Like the expression goes, you lift with your back and not your legs.

Yes this is the one that works for me

A really good halt (hind legs under) is related to the walk to canter. Worth touching on.

To clarify what I want to my (trained) horse, I might do a step or two of shoulder in at the walk, then straighten (maintaining riding "in position) and canter off.

When a horse is strong enough/trained enough, it can be helpful to incorporate halt/rein back/canter off to clarify how much you want the hind legs under for the take-off into canter.

Some horses find halt-canter more obvious, too (again, it takes more strength, so know your horse).

Have fun with Miss A!

We have been working on these and are getting them with my boy. The things I keep in mind (from my instructor):

You don't canter for the horse, this means no pushing and moving your body (I was working way too hard at first to try to get this to no avail). The energy comes from the horse and the horse can go right into the canter (not too long of a walk stride, a good working walk). This means you have to establish the energy in the walk and then not block it. Keep the horse round using the outside rein and make sure the horse is straight, not pushing out through either shoulder. I will also do a few steps of SI if needed before the transition like piedmontfields. Inside hip forward and do not tighten in your seat. I have to really relax my inside hip to not block my guy, he's so sensitive. Then ask when the inside fore is moving forward and the outside hind is on the ground getting ready to push off. I'm astonished at how easy they seem now, less is more imo.

Paula, how is this going? I thought of this thread because I just downloaded the Ridely app and W/C/W transitions was one of the first videos I watched. It's in the free edition of the app (I'm not planning to subscribe because I just paid for a year of Ride iQ).

My riding has been at best sporadic. I’ve done the W2C transition a few times but I wouldn’t say it’s solid. What’s the Ridley app?