I agree 100%. I’m an academic by nature and need to know “why” before I can master “how”. But I have found that many very good riders/trainers are not great at articulating those kinds of concepts, especially in a way that beginners and children can understand.
I have been taught differently by different trainers. My hunter trainer said ask with the outside leg, my jumper trainer said ask with the inside leg.
My baby learned to pick it up with outside leg, but has since been taught the inside leg. I honestly think it depends on the horse.
I’m sorry if this confused you further, but this is my experience with trainers. I’m not under one now, though, as I’m tired of the inconsistency. 
If your horse isn’t getting it, I second the windshield wiper motion with outside leg. Here a great question/answer blog from dressage trainer extraordinaire Jane Savoie - http://www.janesavoie.com/ezine/issue33.html:
"Canter Questions Answered
[INDENT]Question:What do I do with my outside leg to ask for the canter?
Answer : Swing your outside leg back once, and then bring it back to its normal position on the girth. Think of it as a spring-loaded action or a windshield wiper action.
If you wait for your horse to answer, he’s not listening to your leg aid. If he doesn’t canter right away, give him a little bump with your outside leg or tap him with the whip. (Carry your whip in the outside hand for the canter work so you can use it to reinforce your outside leg aid.) Then ask for the depart again.
As soon as he responds immediately to this quick aid, reward him.
You can teach him to canter by holding your outside leg back, but when you start doing half passes in the trot your horse might get confused. He won’t know whether to stay in the trot and go sideways for a half pass or pick up the canter. It’s easier to teach him to canter from an aid that only means canter depart, rather than to teach him to canter from that aid and then have to reschool him when you get to trot half passes.
Question: Are you saying that the canter depart is achieved with the legs only? Or are you just addressing a reader’s concern about her legs? I thought the canter depart was achieved by a slight turn of the wrist on the inside hand, weight on the inside seat bone, and the “windshield wiper” outside leg. Is that correct?
Answer: Yes! I was just addressing her concern about the legs–but you’re right about the rest of the aids. I also push that inside seatbone toward the inside ear and support with the outside rein so I don’t get too much bend in the neck.
Question: How do I use my hands and seat in the canter depart? What rein aids, if any, should be used? Do I stay centered with my seat or shift my weight to the inside or outside when I cue for a canter depart?
Answer: Your weight is on your inside seatbone. When you ask for the depart, push your inside seatbone toward your horse’s inside ear.
Ask for flexion at the poll to the inside with a slight indirect rein aid, but support with the outside rein to keep your horse from over-bending his neck to the inside.
Question: When I ask for the canter, my horse just trots faster. What should I do?
Answer: Close your outside hand in a fist during the moment you cue the canter depart."[/INDENT]
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Really…it also changes. Both as the horse and rider develop. Green horses and novice riders…cue outside leg back. Then as a horse and rider become more sophisticated, it can shift to more off the inside leg and/or seat (shift of your hips).
If you you end up doing Dressage…you have to change the aids because your aid for halfpass is similar to outside leg aid for canter …so you want the canter aid more off inside leg. Aids will also change if your focus increases on straightness and depends on a particular horse.
Sorry OP…keep it simple for now and ask from your outside leg shifted a bit back. But be aware that as you develop, and have a stronger feel for straightness etc, your aids may change.
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