Dressage Fundamentals Retreat

By Susanne Currie, RPC MPCC, + travelling yogi

Ann Wallin of Copper Hills Equestrian Centre hosted an entire weekend that truly integrated horse and rider at her beautiful facility located in Kamloops BC. It was more than that though; it was the awareness and connection that grew throughout the weekend that warmed my heart.

Lisa Bukowski, an International Grand Prix Rider riding CDI Level, led the weekend with theory, demonstrations, and individual lessons which concluded with test rides on the last day. The more the riders brought awareness to their physical, mental and emotional states, the more connected they became to their horses.

The riders focused on the fluency and lightness of all the transitions. There was never a hind leg out of place that wasn’t noted. The riders were continually reminded to keep their horse straight and in perfect balance.

“All horses are different. I want each rider to understand their horse and give them the chance to realize its maximum potential – to find that button to bring out its special talent and personality,” stated Lisa. She quoted from many of her peers and mentors - honouring the tried and true principles of dressage. Each day the skills taught were built further on the next with finally putting all the pieces together in riding their respective tests.

In the evenings, after the horses were tucked in, the riders were able to relax, first with a yoga flow, followed by the most amazing healthy meals. The yoga sessions focused on the vagus nerve to teach the riders to increase their emotional and physical resiliency. Tuning into breath and heartbeat creates a profound shift within that allows one to approach situations with more emotional balance, compassion, clarity, and personal confidence. This profound shift readily transfers to horse and rider. When our horses interact with us, they tend to synchronize to our energy as well; as a result they can sense the slight adjustments in our energy. It’s not our fault if we feel anxious, sad, or guilty, but we are the only ones who can shift that emotional experience to something more helpful. No one else can do it for us.

There are many reasons that an event such as this one is important. They help us to remove ourselves from the familiarity of our usual patterns or surroundings. Pulling away on purpose to retreat from life’s pressure is a healthy way to balance priorities and learn new skills to put things into a proper perspective.

However, it would be remiss not to mention the bonds of these memories with the other riders, who have walked along a similar journey. This is powerful and long lasting.

Life is good!

But before I get into this in further detail, I should let you know that we have an entire course that takes you step-by-step through every phase of developing your horse in the canter: from preparing your horse for canter work in the walk and trot, all the way to counter-canter and ready to begin the Flying Changes. If you would like to be first to know when we open the doors for the next round of the Canter Transformation Course, visit our website.

The Biomechanics Of The Canter

It is the outside hind leg that lifts horse and rider into the canter. The more it steps under the body and flexes its joints before the canter depart, the more uphill the canter will be.

The more the outside hind leg lags behind or the more it escapes to the side, the flatter, faster, and more downhill the canter will be. Consequently, to improve the canter depart, the rider’s task consists of transferring the body weight onto the hind leg which will be the outside one in the canter.

This can be achieved by:

-

Crossing over with the inside hind leg

- 2 half halts when the outside hind leg is on the ground

- Turns (especially corners, voltes, turns on the haunches)

You can combine these elements in any number of ways to increase their effectiveness. Their effect can be further enhanced by bringing the hind leg that is going to be the outside one in the canter more under the body first. Shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in, and turns on the forehand in motion are especially suitable for this.

Enlarging The Circle

An exercise that is as simple as it is effective is enlarging the circle. Ask your horse to enlarge the circle for 2 strides on the open side, which transfers the weight to the outside hind leg. The horse should move over one horse’s width. What is important is that the front legs and hind legs move out the same amount. Otherwise, the horse gets crooked and falls onto the forehand. Immediately after the enlarging, apply two half halts when the outside hind leg is on the ground (you can support the half halts with a stirrup pressure into the outside stirrup). This increases the weight shift to the outside hind leg. The aids for enlarging the circle, the half halts, and the canter aid are all applied then the outside hind leg is on the ground and the inside hind leg is in the air. This makes it easy for the rider to get the timing of the aids right.

COUNTER SHOULDER-IN ON THE CIRCLE

Another highly effective exercise is the counter shoulder-in on the circle. Ask the hindquarters to move one hoof’s width into the circle for a few strides, while the horse is slightly counter bending. This brings the original outside hind leg more underneath the body. After a few strides let the hind legs return to the outside track and restore the normal bend to the inside. This transfers the weight to the outside hind leg.

Immediately afterwards, flex this hind leg with two half halts and ask for the canter, so that the canter depart is a consequence of the flexion of the outside hind leg and the horse sees it as a relief.

Tips:

The aids for sidestepping are always applied when the crossing hind leg is in the air.

Half halts are always applied when the targeted hind leg is on the ground since you want to flex it with the help of the body mass.

The canter aid is applied when the inside hind leg lifts off.

SHOULDER-IN THEN TURN ON THE HAUNCHES

A third exercise that works very reliably consists of a shoulder-in, followed by a turn on the haunches and an immediate canter depart. How does it work?

The shoulder-in brings the inside hind leg under the body. The turn on the haunches transfers the body mass onto the inside hind leg and makes the old inside hind leg into the new outside hind leg. The new outside hind leg can now lift the horse into the canter right after the turn on the haunches.

Tips:

If you were riding the shoulder-in at the trot, you have to transition down to walk or halt for the turn on the haunches.

This exercise is even more effective if you start a volte immediately upon completion of the turn on the haunches, and ask for the canter depart in the beginning of the volte.

The sooner the horse transitions into the canter after the turn on the haunches, the more the effects of the shoulder-in and turn on the haunches will still be present.

I would love to hear from you how these exercises work for you and your horse if you decide to try them out.

And, if you are ready to transform your horse's canter, please join us for the next round of the Canter Transformation Course.