How do you ride with contact in canter?

[Skib]

My hands in canter are not "right" for the school work I am now doing.
I havent mastered the combinatin of still hands and cantering with contact.
Can anyone please describe the stillness of hands in canter, and stillness in relation to what?

I have ridden the exercise where I fix my hands on top of my thighs as I canter, but that is to deepen one's seat. It requires a long rein and deprives me of contact.

But when I keep my elbows to my sides, with my hands still and with contact, I feel that I am touching on the mare's mouth at each stride of canter.

I just watched a video of a rider in canter, and it looks as if the distance between the horse's nose and its chest closes in with every stride. Which explains why I feel this tiny catch on her mouth.

How does one avoid this? If the distance between the mouth of the horse and the shoulder of the horse changes at each stride, how do good riders keep a steady contact unless their hands are moving too?

[eml]

I am not a fan of the description 'still hands' prefering to think in terms more of hands belong to horse.

Still hand to me has connotations of fixed hands whereas a true contact is only achieved by the horse feeling secure and comfortable in the steady contact and therefore able to go forward into your hands, think constant but light rein tension and weight at each part of the stride brought about by relaxed (but not floppy) shoulders and elbow

[RachelEvent]

the movement of the hand is determined by the movement of the horses head and neck.

in the case of a horse that is supple through it's back, working from behind and is soft in the poll and jaw - the movement is actually fairly limited - and just by keeping the arm soft with no resistance, the hand will follow automatically.

however, not many school horses will canter in the above way automatically - it is hard to follow the stiff and jolting head and neck movements of a horse who is already itself stiff and tense in the back, neck and jaw. To achieve a feeling of stillness when the horse is as such, requires asking for softness - in much the same way as one would in trot, so that you can be soft and elastic in contact with the horses mouth.

as with other paces, that elusive feeling of stillness and softness is really only achieved through movement - which is at the suggestion of the horse.

the horse shouldn't be distinctly shortening in the neck at each stride - if that is happening it suggests to me that the rider is not elastic enough in the contact. It is easy to forget that the horses nose does naturally come in front of the vertical for moments in the canter.

I know it's poor quality, but this video of a dressage lesson I had a while back illustrates a horse who is soft in the canter and the amount of movement you would wish to see from the horses head and neck - and my hand (hopefully!) following the movement most the time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=122CV0MEMMI

[Chilli]

One of the classical schools teaches it like this, the hands are fixed and should never be in front of the pommel.

The fingers however do move, they open and close slightly with the movement, in addition your body and seat also move very slightly (I think they describe it as movement in the back and seat, it’s been a while since I had the lesson covering it and the exact description has escaped me) and allow additional movement so together they allow the reins to give whilst keeping the hands still and a contact.

From experience of riding like this for the last 6 months it works well when you get it right, that said you need a horse that is able to carry itself properly and know what is expect of it( I guess that really means schooled to a certain level)

[Skib]

Thank you very much - all three.
I have been too floppy eml - several times even dropping the right rein altogether! But reading these three answers, I guess I have gone from one extreme to another and have been trying to keep them too still.

Rachel your hands look very still in that vid - (I hope to go there one day)Much stiller than Richard Davison riding a wb. Because his body is being lifted by the elevation of the horse, his arms open up at the elbow.

Chilli, that is very helpful as I didnt know that. This makes sense. I am learning from someone from Spain. And they suggest one's hands higher and closer than I'd expect.
RI is away on holiday so I have time to experiment. I am so scared of hurting the mare.
I am not convinced I shall succeed in sorting this out. But I will try.

[Wally]

It's the illusion of stillness you want, and the only way you get that is by moving with the horse as one! in actualy fact you will be moving a great deal.

I don't think the elbows play a huge role, you see this dreadful locking and unlocking elbows which comes from a polishing seat rider. If the body and trunk are moving correctly with the horse and not rocking back and forth wildly, the hands will follow naturally but subltely, without trying too hard.