This first part of this video of Sezuan as a young horse with Emma Ahlberg makes it easy to see her following seat with elbows connected to hips. I don’t think you’ll find a bigger canter than this or a nicer connection. I wish I could ride like that.
I am a low level rider so not in a position to give expert advice, but this “following hands” thing is a problem I have too. My coach has me focus not on moving my hands forward and back, because that results in inconsistent contact and my horse bouncing around. She asks me instead to keep my hands fairly still and focus on my elbows acting like a hinge, opening and closing to keep my hands in place. The video the previous poster put above shows these “following” elbows beautifully
[QUOTE=LarkspurCO;8580349]
This first part of this video of Sezuan as a young horse with Emma Ahlberg makes it easy to see her following seat with elbows connected to hips. I don’t think you’ll find a bigger canter than this or a nicer connection. I wish I could ride like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyOG-T9Xt84[/QUOTE]
Question, what is the difference between following, and chasing with the seat?
Wow, lots of great advice! I also disagree with whomever compared lunging in side reins at the canter to riding at the canter. In fact, we do not lunge in side reins that are fixed, only balancing reins, Vienna reins, neck stretcher etc for this reason.
I do not have any problem following (or feeling the difference between following/not following) at the walk, just at the canter. After seeing your responses I definitely can see how tightness/stiffness somewhere else can affect being able to follow, and I’m sure it’s the cause in my case. It likely stems from prior defensive riding, and the sooner I can fix that the better our rides will be!
I tend to ride with shorter reins to begin with, but we are definitely not as collected as the pros mentioned above. I have a lesson tomorrow, so I’m going to see if my trainer can video me at the canter so I have a visual reference. I’ll also mention some of the suggestions you guys gave me!
[QUOTE=csaper58;8580526]
Question, what is the difference between following, and chasing with the seat?[/QUOTE]
If you mean driving with the seat, one example I can think of might be seen in the sliding stops here:
[QUOTE=Countrywood;8580322]
I think with shorter reins and esp the way Charlotte and Karl hold their hands so far in front, with elbows at side, that they actually have to move thier hands very little to stay in contanct with the mouth (aka “follow”)…look how short a distance the reins are from bit to hand compared to the way many of us ride[/QUOTE]
The reins are shorter because the horses are highly collected. The major point, though, is that their elbows are at their sides. That is where our elbows should be, regardless of rein length, which is more than anything a result of the horse’s head position due to the degree of collection.
[QUOTE=SillyHorse;8584804]
The reins are shorter because the horses are highly collected. The major point, though, is that their elbows are at their sides. That is where our elbows should be, regardless of rein length, which is more than anything a result of the horse’s head position due to the degree of collection.[/QUOTE]
Elbows are by their sides? Certainly not Charlotte’s! She does follow, and makes up for her less than perfectly classical position with excellent suppleness, stability, timing, athleticism, etc. But her elbows are most definitely not always by her sides.
These are the first 5 pictures of Charlotte riding when I did an image search on her name.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02305/Charlotte-Dujardin_2305202b.jpg
http://www.equisearch.com/content/content/28116/olympic-individual-dressage-no.-3195-charlotte-dujardin-valegro-300dpi.jpg
http://dressage-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Charlotte-Dujardin-Valegro-IMG_1549.jpg
http://www.dehoefslag.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Charlotte-Dujardin-Valegro.jpg
http://ekladata.com/tnveTTTFOE4MA_IaikzbPKsEjUE.jpg
Worth noting is that most are in extended trot, and her elbows are more forward there than in collected trot - she allows some lengthening of the neck, despite routinely getting criticized by those who think she doesn’t.
Charlotte, and to a degree CH, have a specific rein and hand position (hands more forward than most riders in international competition). It works well for them but for us mere mortals, we might benefit from more stability of elbows closer to our bodies. Their hands almost remind me of saddleseat riders, and that is a compliment because many saddle seat riders are far more accomplished than we give them credit for, but IMO thier hand/arm position is almost that exaggerated.
Seems to benefit the horse more as riders hands more visibly allows freedom in neck but is not as elegant or quiet as the more conventional hand position.
Omo, two of the best quiet, elegant and sympathetic hand positions of major riders are Debbie Macdonald and Ed Gal. Of course having impeccable seat and leg position allows the hands/arms to be so quiet in the first place
[QUOTE=netg;8584826]
Elbows are by their sides? Certainly not Charlotte’s! She does follow, and makes up for her less than perfectly classical position with excellent suppleness, stability, timing, athleticism, etc. But her elbows are most definitely not always by her sides.
These are the first 5 pictures of Charlotte riding when I did an image search on her name.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02305/Charlotte-Dujardin_2305202b.jpg
http://www.equisearch.com/content/content/28116/olympic-individual-dressage-no.-3195-charlotte-dujardin-valegro-300dpi.jpg
http://dressage-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Charlotte-Dujardin-Valegro-IMG_1549.jpg
http://www.dehoefslag.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Charlotte-Dujardin-Valegro.jpg
http://ekladata.com/tnveTTTFOE4MA_IaikzbPKsEjUE.jpg
Worth noting is that most are in extended trot, and her elbows are more forward there than in collected trot - she allows some lengthening of the neck, despite routinely getting criticized by those who think she doesn’t.[/QUOTE]
We’re talking about the canter. Every photo you posted is of the trot. You’ll need to post some canter photos if you want to make your case.
[QUOTE=SillyHorse;8585042]
We’re talking about the canter. Every photo you posted is of the trot. You’ll need to post some canter photos if you want to make your case.[/QUOTE]
You didn’t qualify your statement. But sure.
Extended canter:
http://www.dressage-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Charlotte-Dujardin-Valegro-canter-IMG_7080.jpg
Super collected (pirouette) canter:
http://www.dehoefslag.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Charlotte-Dujarin-Valegro.jpg
Flying change (I suspect):
http://www.psdressage.com/content/photos/80482.jpg
Just kind of flying
https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQBPUW_FnabKRcHF&w=470&h=246&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkeyassets.timeincuk.net%2Finspirewp%2Flive%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F14%2F2015%2F09%2Fcentral-park-show-charlotte-d-master-class-d700-nj-no.-7270-airs-above-the-ground-300dpi.jpg&cfs=1&upscale=1
(Translation for anyone who takes themselves too seriously: The last one was a joke, and her seat is impressive.)
I don’t think these are making your case very well. Except the last one, of course. 
This video shows clearly that the elbows move very little, staying at the sides and moving only with the hips. The arms and hands do not follow independently of the elbows.
http://dressagetoday.com/video/george-williams-counter-canter-exercises-28549
Here are my 2 cents take with a grain of salt because I am not a professional.
My trainer said that you follow with your stomache and your hands should follow that. Your hands should not move more than your seat does.
And about Carl and Charlotte. Carl seems to have his elbows by his side most of the time and Charlotte does not, this may be because Charlotte has shorter arms…but that is just my guess.
Just as an aside:
Yes, you follow at both canter and walk…
however, in walk the elbows move opposite the swing of the pelvis, while in canter they move in unison with the pelvic swing 
I tried the upside down / driving rein thing and the very cool. Not sure it helps me follow more or fiddle less but I do feel a much more direct connection wth my horse’s mouth and think he’s steadier in the contact as a result
In my opinion the biggest thing is that you don’t have a “holding” hand. To me a following hand is not overtly busy or moving but gently communicating and half halting and receiving the horse.
For us to properly balance in the collected canter I need to be constantly rebalancing (his shoulders, the connection, the longitudinal flexion, the lateral flexion). I am literally never trying to be rock solid but I am stable and still with his mouth. That means I am consistently there and not dropping the connection by pumping the reins but not holding and tight. Sometimes I give a rein and test my self carriage. But generally I have a soft, what I would call following hand but within a dictated range of motion. I try not to pull back, I try not to drop him. If he raises his head, I follow so there is no slack in the reins. If he dives behind the contact, I keep a connection but drive him forward and up.
My elbows are not anchors as that would create a hard forearm and hand. My elbows are beside me but allow a softness in my forearms, not holding and tight.
I find that I actively have to remind myself sometimes to soften sometimes, especially if my horse is tight and holding. Breaking it up (lateral work, flexing in and out, moving his haunches/shoulders) helps him loosen and reminds me to loosen. It’s never good to be too static in my opinion. There always has to be adjustments but with softness.
While I think looking at videos can be helpful, I’d suggest asking your trainer to ‘be the horse’ and practice with you standing still. If the trainer stands right at the horse’s head and takes the reins (in such a way that the horse isn’t bothered–a loop between his/her hands and the bit) and then moves the reins as though s/he is the horse cantering, then you work on getting the feel of maintaining the contact through the oscillations of the horse’s neck. The first thing is to just maintain a consistent, neutral contact no matter where the horse’s head goes. Can you keep it consistent and increase the amount of contact? Shift to lighter contact, but still make it consistent?
Once you can do that, then you are competent to make a correction. Someone explained this process: You can’t do something if you can’t do nothing.
(Might have been Denny Emerson? I can’t remember at the moment.)
I would ask the trainer to help me from the ground. Then you are can isolate just your arms, learn the feel, find where it is that you are tight, without also dealing with the actual canter and get real time feedback from your coach. It’s good to not look at the reins/hands when you are doing this, because it’s about feel and the visual can get in the way.
I found this to be the clearest, fastest way to help people get a feel for contact. You can also practice corrections this way–for example learning the difference between a blocking rein and pulling (a common problem).
