What a collected canter!!

[laura jeanne]

We went on a trail ride this weekend. The wrangler that took us out kept his horse at the most collected canter I have ever seen. The horse was doing a teeny tiny canter- so slow that our horses were just walking at the same same speed.

How can he do this??

Anyway, we had several long canters where we just passed him because we couldn't go that slowly. My muscle tone must be improving because I was hardly sore the next day and did all the cantering in a half seat bec I can't sit when the horse is going that fast!

Also saw a deer along the edge of the woods which was pretty cool. And the usual dead furniture someone tossed away with the stuffing all over the place. How they got it way out in the woods I can't imagine.

[kelsey]

He was probably doing a Western lope, which is not the same as a collected canter in dressage. Many times, a four beat lope can develop when a horse is asked to canter very slowly. It is very hard to fix the canter again once that happens.

A collected canter maintains the three beats of a regular canter (and the rhythm) but the horse's weight is directed more onto the hind end, and the energy flows upwards. (The horse will look like they have a little jump in every stride.)

[kedwards]

Exactly. The primary difference between a lope and a canter is in the amount of impulsion and suspension. A horse in a very slow lope (for example, like the Western Pleasure horses do), is moving very slowly in short, low strides. There may be no "moment of suspension" where all 4 feet are in the air. The point is that it is very gentle and easy for the rider to sit. Generally, the head is held very low.

A dressage horse in a collected canter has shortened strides, but the same amount of energy and movement as he does in his working gait. His movement looks big and bouncy, and the moment of suspension is maintained. The up and down movement, combined with the elevation of the front end, makes them look almost like carousel horses. It's quite dramatic.