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Proper canter depart aides help!

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  disastercupcake 
#1 ·
I am in the IHSA with my first show tomorrow! I'm nervous about canter departs. We all know outside leg back inside leg on girth but what about the hands? Should the head be tilted to the inside or outside? I've been taught to have the head to the wall and been told to bend to the inside and been told to hold outside rein open inside rein. So which one is it!?
confused!
 
#2 ·
I am in the IHSA with my first show tomorrow! I'm nervous about canter departs. We all know outside leg back inside leg on girth but what about the hands? Should the head be tilted to the inside or outside? I've been taught to have the head to the wall and been told to bend to the inside and been told to hold outside rein open inside rein. So which one is it!?
confused!
Let's say you want to cue your horse for the left lead.

You slightly move your right leg back to apply the leg cue. Depending on your horse and how your horse is trained, you may or may not give an inside leg cue at the girth. (Personally, I don't.)

Then you use your hand to tip the horse's nose to the inside (in this example, that would be the left).

You NEVER tip your horse's nose away from the direction you want to go. That just puts their shoulder out of position.
 
#4 ·
The canter is a lateral gait, and the horse should be slightly bent when performing the canter correctly.

When the horse is bent, from nose to tail, the rider should also be bent, with hips in the same alignment as the horse's and shoulders in the same alignment as the horse's.

So then the canter depart become exceedingly simple, especially if you are posting the trot. Bend your horse slightly to whatever lead you need to pick up. Sit, and cue with the outside leg. Posting, you will naturally sit and cue just as the outside hind is landing, and is the perfect take-off position for the horse to strike in canter on the opposite front.
 
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