So I know that the aids for asking for the canter are “inside leg on the girth, outside leg behind the girth,” but I’m unclear on how exactly to ask. I remember an instructor telling me to kick with just one leg to get the correct lead, but I’ve forgotten. Do I kick with (or apply more pressure with) the inside leg or the outside leg? And should I be gently pulling on the inside rein or loosening on it?
Just need some clarification, thanks!
Most hunters you use just the outside leg behind the girth. Inside leg is at the girth, but passive.
However you can always tweak it depending on the straightness/positioning needs of the horse.
Inside leg should be on the girth giving support for straightness but outside leg should be behind the girth so you kick into the ribcage. If you do that and ask at a corner it will give you a greater chance of getting the correct lead. Also sit the trot before asking the canter.
I’m interested in responses to this because right now I’m imagining how I ask and thinking it’s slightly different from the responses above, except for inside leg at the girth and outside back. But I never kick the outside to get the canter depart, I use more inside leg and hold a bit more with the outside so he doesn’t move sideways instead. I’ve always been told by my coach and clinicians when I can’t get the right lead or great transition, to use more inside leg. Interesting questions…
As for the reins, that’s what I’m interested in hearing people weigh in on.
The inside leg is at the girth, it creates Forward, the outside leg is back, to ask the outside hind leg which is the leg that initiates canter, to reach forward and under. The rider takes a deep breath, closes both legs and lifts off into canter. If you know how to half halt with your seat and body, not the reins, you can use a proper one instead of the deep breath.
for a youg or green horse it is best to ask going into a corner or when the horse is correctly bent on a circle.
I agree very much with all of this. I teach my students a scale for every transition. Always start by thinking canter or whatever you want the horse to do right then and if needed apply the lightest leg aid possible. If that isn’t enough proceed to use your leg harder and harder, eventually up to a kick if needed along with maybe a tap with the whip behind your leg. But always give them the benefit of the doubt and whisper your aids for every transition first. If you start out screaming at them i.e. Kicking, what happens when that doesn’t work? And why would you want to scream for every transition every ride anyway?
I don’t do much with my inside leg at all. I train my horses to go off my outside leg for the correct lead departure. Of course, each horse will vary a little bit. My horse Red is pretty sensitive and will easily take off into the canter from a standstill, with just very light pressure from my outside leg (slightly back), and my body leaning very slightly forward (cantering is his favorite, so he gladly picks it up!). My horse Shotgun is more on the lazy side and still in the process of getting solid with his simple changes. I do need to give him more of a “bump” with my outside leg at this point so that my cue is very obvious, although I am hoping he will also eventually be able to do it with just light pressure, and from more than just the trot. He’s learning and progressing well.
I also am pretty big on verbal cues. Red doesn’t need them as much anymore, but Shotgun still benefits greatly from them while learning. I specifically use a cluck sound to trot and a kiss sound to canter (or do a flying lead change). They pick up on that pretty quickly, and know what they need to do when they hear the kiss sound.
If Shotgun’'s having a lazy day, I don’t hesitate to use the crop. I want him light on my leg aids and I don’t want to have to kick him. They wise up pretty quick to the crop.
For contact with the rein shouldn’t it be shortening with the outside and open on the inside. Or that’s what I was taught. Maybe it is a terrible description. My horse is very green and this is where it comes down to for me. Basicaly I am going “Hey, I got the leg, you can have the other one.”
Practical Horseman had a good article about canter departures in July - there was a link to it from their Facebook page yesterday.
It depends on the training of the horse you’re riding -what they’ve been taught as a canter aid. Almost every horse you ride will be taught some version or variation of the above.
If this is your own horse, you can teach any aid you want for canter. However, consider whether you see half passes in your horse’s future and train/pick your canter aid accordingly.
In general, I agree with this approach.
One question, though. Isn’t the first step of the canter taken by the outside hind? Thought the footfalls were:
I was taught the purpose of the outside leg behind the girth was to both (a) activate the outside hind and (b) slightly push the haunch to the inside so that the outside hind is underneath the horse, putting him in a better position of picking up the correct lead.
I love this! My mare will canter from a windshield-wiper swipe of my outside leg behind the girth - a little whisper. My retired gelding responded to strong inside leg at the girth and a slight indirect inside rein. My other gelding has to almost be in a haunches in or I cause him to pick up the wrong lead. They’re all different. And yes, some require a whisper (or react with mental telepathy), while others require you to be a bit ‘louder’.
I am confused by merrgorounds description too. (maybe is a typo?)
The outside hind leg initiates the canter. This is why you want to use your outside leg to push the horse’s hindquarters over, so they must step under themselves with the outside hind and thus “take off” from that foot.
It was a typo, I goofed. The rider’s outside leg comes back to ask the outside hind to reach under.
However, you do not want the quarters to come to the inside. It is preferable to keep them straight. should you ever want to do tempis, you’d rather your horse did not appear to be doing the rhumba. :winkgrin:
You are correct, It was a typo. The outside hind initiates.
Truism #1: A horse CANNOT take the inside lead if his butt is to the outside. There are physical reasons for this, but as long as you remember to make sure that his body is slightly bent in the direction he is traveling, you will pick up the correct lead.
NB: “Bent” = from nose to tail the horse is curved around the inside leg. Too often people think their horse is bending correctly when only is neck is curved inward. WRONGO. The entire body must curve around the inside leg. This puts his haunches slightly inside his rib cage and he has to get the correct lead.
More often than not, a canter depart seems hard because the horse’s hind end is to the outside of the rest of his body. But if he is bent correctly, as long as you are consistent, it does not matter which leg you ask with. One reason to ask with the outside leg is that the leg also pushes the hind end to the inside. Still, horses or one-sided horses frequently cannot get their leads easily. This comes from their lack of suppleness in general and (often) has nothing to do with soundness.
BL: There is no right or wrong leg to ask with. What is right is establishing the bend of the horse. Dressage riders use the inside leg to push the ribcage slightly to the outside while H/J people use the outside leg to moves the hind end slightly to the inside.
^^^^THIS
If the horse is bent correctly (which means that his haunches will be ever so microscopically shifted to the inside) and you are reasonably close in your timing (ideally, you should cue at the moment the outside hind leg is preparing to leave the ground), the vast majority of horses will pick up the lead you want. You can use the inside leg, outside leg, both legs, voice only, or some other cue you’ve conditioned the horse to associate with “canter” - as long as you have the proper bend, it shouldn’t really matter.
That “bend” concept, though, is a very tricky one for beginners. Which is why we usually start off with “kick with the outside leg in a corner and pray” and then refine later in the rider’s education. :lol:
VERY true. But I wish that instructors explained the “why” we do what we do so that it makes sense, even if the beginner is unable to actually carry out the movement correctly. I was taught to “kick and pray” too. But, I had no idea for years why the horse ends up on/off the correct lead. If beginners understand that the canter depart does not start with “which leg to use”, but are taught to feel where the hind end is, then their life will be easier in learning more advanced movements.
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