How can you be baffled by a stretch of work between walk breaks that doesn’t require fiddling around with rein length?
And again, I ask, how do you do transitions? Picture yourself on a 20 m circle and you’re doing a transition from collected trot to collected canter or collected canter to collected trot at each circle point. Are you really changing your rein length 4 times on one circle just because you’re changing gait? That is nuts (and incorrect.)
I would probably ride on the shorter rein length. My comment was regarding a test where you do all of your work in one gait, then move to the next. Arguing hypotheticals is boring anyways.
Hypotheticals? Trot-canter-trot-canter is a pretty standard exercise to build strength and balance.
You are right, but it’s easy to sit here and speculate how I would ride an exercise perfectly. Actually riding it, with consideration to the training, fitness, and the horse that day, is an entirely different thing.
The point is there isn’t really any need to speculate. It’s such a basic exercise that all of us should be riding it on the regular whether it’s a baby horse doing a couple a day spread much further apart on the circle and in a non-collected way or a 4th-level horse doing the exercise as described.
Changing rein length to change from trot to canter and back is just not a thing and if it is there’s a giant hole in the training somewhere 
You are deliberately misconstruing my original point about rein length and why anyone would change it between gaits, but the constructive discussion up thread was fun while it lasted. Lol.
If asking you about and commenting on exactly what you said is misconstruing, then the problem is yours, not mine. I am not deliberately anything other than trying to figure out how your difference of 4" rein length between canter and trot could possibly work for the day to day training/riding in a normal fashion. I’m going to suggest this is a question you should ask your teachers and if they can’t answer, it might be time to shop around. Honestly, it’s not a thing.
It depends on the horse and its level of training, IMHO. An upper level horse can be “put right to work”, while a younger horse or lower level horse needs to be started in a longer rein and frame.
I agree with Maude that billions of transitions in and out of the gaits and in the gaits are part of the key to engaging the horse’s hind end. If you don’t have that, you’ve got nothing.
When the bracing happens you keep your hands the same and then use more leg (or even a tap with the whip) to correct the bracing. If he tries to spurt forth or otherwise convince you to change your plan, don’t.
Your trainer is having this same conversation, just very quickly.
My horse is a dedicated specialist in this particular evasion and Vera Kessels taught us a great exercise: ride a 20m circle btw B and E. When crossing center line, do a 10m circle to the outside of the circle (so changing direction). When touching B or E do a 10m circle to the inside of the circle. The constant circling and bend/direction changes means you can’t get locked into one oppositional discussion; everything keeps flowing and if you need to do a quick wallop in the ribs to get him OUT IN FRONT of your leg, the circles will keep him from spurting out too far forwards, and then in two strides you’ll be in a new bend again and moving on so nobody gets mired in a tug of war. The horse will figure out pretty quick that there’s always a turn coming up so he’ll dtart carrying himself accordingly.
Thank you. That exercise sounds like a great one. I’ll def try it. We’ve been pretty successful as long as my seat is correct. I noticed that when we are struggling, my pelvis has anteriorly tilted. I fix the seat, add leg and steady hand and he will come back to me. I don’t particularly find 10m circles easy as that’s when he likes to disengage.
My younger mare is not yet close to upper level collection. The bascule of the head and neck in canter means she naturally shortens more than her neck in trot at some points, and reaches beyond that at times. She also holds her head higher which corresponds to overall shorter rein length when cantering to help herself balance more. Like Blue Heron, I use shorter reins in canter work. When doing rapid fire transitions, she sits more and shortens her own neck more in the trot - which is not sustainable around the arena, so yes I keep the reins the shorter length in that situation, but I do not have as short a rein for trot work such as I would do in a test. As horses get more mature and hold themselves in greater collection, my reins stay the same length more. For a greener horse, that would block the hind legs.
I’ll try this one. I’m always looking for more exercises to help lateral flexibility, especially with changes of bend.
This is what I was trying to say, in more words. Thank you. I have a short bodied horse with a pretty vertical neck (Iberian breeds). Her body and neck shorten even more in the canter to maintain the collection and balance. Part of this is tension which is a common issue with this breed. The exercise then becomes to go out to the bit, which is why the Arthur Kottas tidbit has always stuck out to me. If my horse can’t go out to the bit, then my reins are too long. To pretend we are always riding the ideal is useless.
my coach calls that exercise: Snowman
Change the flexion on the snowman to outside and inside and that is a staple warm up move to get your horse’s neck loose and then op you will have easy peasy short reins.
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