Asking Your Horse to Lengthen their Stride in the Canter, Part 1

So you turn the corner and ask your horse lengthen the stride in canter a little but instead of covering more ground with each passing stride, it feels like his legs have begun to move nineteen to the dozen. Flash backs to pony riding are flying through your brain, the rushing and racing gets more intense with each passing stride…

The result is that, yes sure, you are definitely covering more ground however you also have less control, less energy and a lot more tension in each stride, which can be a problem particularly when there are obstacles in the way on a jumping track!

Being able to effectively lengthen the stride in canter is important in both flatwork and jumping. The key is the lengthen throughout the whole body, covering more ground, however without losing the energy, connection, balance and rhythm that is necessary to keep engagement during the movement.

The stronger and more developed and agile your horse is, the easier he will find it to lengthen and shorten his stride to greater degrees which, particularly in jumping, is often the difference between a successful exercise or not. It will also allow him to make changes faster with less transition time in between and without sacrificing balance and rhythm.

Your horse most remain relaxed throughout the lengthening because any shortening will result in the strides actually becoming more ‘choppy’, shorter and quicker rather than longer, flowing and connected.

To lengthen the stride is often confused with an increase in speed by many riders, however a simple exercise which riders can do on the ground is often enough to allow riders to see the differences between lengthening the rushing.

Begin by ‘cantering’ on your own two legs on the ground. Yes, you might look like a little silly, but bear with me here. So, as you are there, merrily skipping along, begin by seeing how little distance you can cover with each ‘stride’ of your skip. Now, start experimenting with how much distance you can cover with each ‘stride’ of your skip. Notice how the longer the stride or distance, the more ‘stretching you are having to do? Also notice how you have to bring your initial foot that is pushing off on each ‘stride’ underneath you in order to achieve any forwardness in your skip? Each stride sets the next up.

Well, it is a similar principle for your horse and rather than the hind end being left behind as he works to lengthen the stride in canter, rather think about the hind quarters stretching forward, more underneath him, with each stride so it can propel him further along in the stride itself.

So in order for your horse to correctly be able to lengthen the stride, his body must be straight throughout the canter to begin with. If his hind quarter tend to drift one way or the other, it stands to reason that the ‘propulsion’ will not be equal through the body and, therefore, unable to create the energy required to truly lengthen the stride.

Begin by working on straightness. Having mirrors in the arena are a great help for this as they allow you to assess your horse is truly correct and straight through his body while working. Or you can also ask someone on the ground or take some photographs or videos – head on – to see if there is any tendency to carry the hind quarters a little more to the inside or outside.

Make sure that you are symmetric through your body and carrying yourself equally on both sides. Also assess any tendencies you might have to be a little stronger with one leg over the other, or a little crooked through your hips, which will almost always affect the quality and straightness of the canter.

The reason your balance and straightness is so important when cantering and particularly when asking your horse to lengthen the stride is because a lot of the ‘asking’ is with your seat. When we canter, our seat moves with the horse in an almost circular, rolling motion. Being able to identify this movement in your body and then adjust it as you want is key to making transitions up and down within the canter itself. It is often described as a ‘scoop’ action and I think this is a good description because a scoop comes ‘up’ and this up part of the movement is necessary to allow the energy to connect through your horses back from the hind quarters to the front end.

Spend time working on isolating the particular muscles in your core that are responsible for this movement in your body and then begin experimenting with your horse how modifying the movement translates across to your horse in the canter.

Also make sure that you are able to follow with your pelvis and lower torso, while making sure your upper body remains balanced and as still as possible. A lot of riders make the mistake of cantering with their shoulders and chest. Rather see your shoulders as being responsible for maintaining a consistent, following and elastic contact with your elbows, which have the same connection to your horse’s mouth. This is pretty much impossible if your shoulders are shaking and twisting around in the saddle, while your pelvis is locked and stiff.

Stay tuned for part 2!

Happy Riding!