downward transition from canter

[BackintheSaddle]

OK. Cal and I have finally sorted out our canter depart from walk and trot. He is picking up a beautiful canter on both reins now, especially from sitting trot. He is also responding nicely to half-halts while in the canter. Any tips on improving our downward transistions? I think the fault is definitely with me. I give a half halt or two to balance him up and then sit back and ask for the trot, but he seems to come down into a much bouncier hard-to-sit trot than our trot going into canter. It's only a couple of steps, but I'd love it if we could have as smooth a trot coming down from canter as we have going up into it. Any tips on a smoother/more balanced downward transition? Thanks.

[wanabe]

Hmm, I've never even thought about the downward transition to trot -- what are the aids? I've just been using half-halts.

Anyway, I found a previous thread on this topic:

Canter to Trot Transitions (http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8954&highlight=trot+transitions)

[Rojeth]

i have started doing some intensive work on my downward transitions before i cam back to uni. Try and work on the different canter speeds eg. extended and collected canters. I always find that with most horses you keep them in working canter if you are just canterign around the school. Use your body and bring your horse to a collected canter. as my instructer told me, imagine you are lifting the horse by its belly every other stride - it makes your legs squeeze instead of kick. half halt at the same time, so imagine the horse gets lifted up and forward instead of flattened out. Then when you are ready, go back to trot, and since the horse is collected it will not fall into an unsteady, legs tangled run. this is often what happens when the horse is uncollected and so falls onto the forehand on the downwards transition, throwing you off balance.

try and work on the collected canter in different places in the school, and switch from extended to collected and back as well. else he will learn that collection means a trot transition and will fall back to trot before you want him to.

maybe a few lessons would be a good idea, so someone on the ground can tell you when your canter is collected/extended and give you pointers.

hope this helps. keep us updated

[BackintheSaddle]

Yes, a collected canter would be nice, wouldn't it ;) I think that is the main thing - he's listening to my half-halts to some degree, but we're not getting any true collection so he just sort of falls into trot before I balance him back up. Maybe I'll attempt a 20m circle (or egg, or square) before I ask for the trot. His best canter comes on a circle provided I don't let him fall out at the shoulder. Have scheduled a lesson for Saturday, so hopefully we'll get some help from the ground. It is really exciting for me to be thinking about anything so refined with this horse. A few months ago (heck, even a few weeks ago), cantering in the school meant diving towards the wall at the corners, dragging ourselves along on the forehand after running into it from an unbalanced trot (it was UGLY!).

[Rojeth]

Good luck with it - it sounds like you are doing some excellent work with him. hopefully if you have come this far you will be collecting in a few weeks!

good luck witht he lesson.

[Skyhuntress]

Sounds like you aren't using enough leg. You're totally right in using half halts in the downward transition, but you need to back it up with some leg as well, otherwise its likely he'll just put the breaks on, instead of smoothly going down

[jumper-4-joy]

My show ohrse does the same thing. It does get really annoying :mad:. With the horse I'm training, though, he's an off track Thoroughbred, and if I just say whoa!, then he walks from a full on gallop (his canter) :rolleyes: . Try practicing that transition on the lunge line. When you got it, try it in the saddle, and with the whoa!, sit and relax. Eventually, you will just have to sit, relax, and gently pull back a bit.Good luck!

[kedwards]

Working to improve his balance into the transition, as has been mentioned, may be the key. The other thing to consider is whether you are as balanced as you can be for the transition. It's easy to get in the habit of getting behind the motion when asking for the down transition. If you thinking about sitting up and straightening your upper body, rather than leaning back, it's easier to stay with the movement if the horse continues on with a big trot.