Developing the Canter through Counter Canter.
Since one of the secrets to a great canter is through “balance” it should come as no surprise that the best way to improve your canter is through the counter canter. One can’t just start riding 20m counter canter circles though, and expect their horse to stay balanced, rhythmic etc. The counter canter needs to be systematically developed through a series of gymnastic exercises.
There are many counter canter exercises out there and every trainer will have a preference as to which ones they use, and which horses to use each one on.
I prefer to use counter pattern exercises whenever possible. I find that riding school patterns in a counter fashion allows me to utilize the natural barrier boundaries of the school better thereby enabling the rider to use less hand and more seat and leg for steering.
So how do you ride a counter counter canter pattern? That is a mouthful on its own! And isn’t counter counter redundant? Semantics aside, here is a great exercise that you can use in a counter fashion that systematically develops counter canter from a simple loop to a 20m circle.
Start with the simple counter canter loop in a counter pattern.
The counter canter loop is first found in 1st level tests. We are going to ride it in a counter pattern though, that is instead of from the track to X and back to the track, we are going to ride it on the right rein from the centerline to E and back to the centerline as shown in the illustration below.
Counter Canter Loop
Starting on the right lead in the corner by H make a 10m demi circle right and ride back to the track towards E and then ride back towards a point on the center line approximately 5m in front of A and make a 10m demi circle in the corner by K. Go large to H and repeat.
Try it on the left lead now, starting in the corner by M, make a 10m demi circle left and ride back to the track towards B, then ride towards a point on the centerline approx. 5m in front of A and make a 10m demi circle in the corner by F, At F go large to M and repeat.
Once you have this counter counter canter loop nicely balanced, it is time to up the difficulty a little.
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