A Show Jumper's Perspective on Developing the Canter

I've been flashing back to last year, when Leo and I went to Aiken to work with Sally for a few weeks. I remember we showed up and Sally wanted to know what I was doing to prepare for my first competition. Specifically, she wanted to know what my jump schools were like. At the time, I was doing gymnastic work. She pointed out that I had to change my game plan whenever I was a couple weeks out from my first competition of the year.

Flash forward to now. I want to start the season off at the Maryland Start Trials on March 24. I'm three weeks out. Leo's been in and out of work all winter, and far from jumping regularly. Courtney and I have been doing a lot of gymnastic work to improve Leo's straightness and my position. But as usual, I don't know how to break out of the gymnastic mold or where to focus my attention once I do. There are always so many things to work on.

Yesterday, I asked Kristy for her advice. Kristy boards at AOPF and is a show jumper by trade. She regularly rides in the Amateur Owner Jumper divisions and has competed through the Grand Prix level. Since show jumping is my ultimate nemesis, I wanted to get her perspective on what we needed to work on. Under her supervision, we cantered poles, cantered a course of poles and trotted some small fences.

After watching us go, Kristy focused on one main concept for me to work on: I have develop the quality of Leo's canter.

• Problem #1: Leo is lazy at the canter and doesn't want to accept contact with the bit. By lazy, I mean that he doesn't want to work to use his body properly and only wants to go forward when he wants to, but not necessarily when I ask him too. 
• Solution #1: Leo has to be ridden really forward at the canter and into the rein contact, even though it feels counter-intuitive for a hot horse. As soon as I pick up the canter, I need to send him forward strongly and ride this forward canter until I trot again.  
• Problem #2: Leo makes a bid for the fence (or in this case a pole) in the last 2-3 strides. His stride gets longer and his rhythm changes. I take my leg off which means I lose the energy and quality of the canter. 
• Solution #2: I need to canter lots of poles and small 18" fences and focus simply on maintaining the same length of stride and same rhythm all the time. I have to concentrate on keeping my leg active to energize the canter step all the way to the jump, and use the contact with the bridle to prevent Leo from driving forward on a longer stride. This takes a lot of strength from both me and Leo, but its something I can practice a little bit every time I ride because it's not a jump school. It's also challenging because Leo does not like rider input when he has his eye on a fence, but over time this exercise will help him accept my contact a bit more.  

Once he accepts the bit and leg, I'll be able to move onto exercises that challenge his adjustability - like shortening his stride.

I rode Leo today and practiced riding him really forward into the contact at the canter. Kristy pointed out that I tend to drop the contact when he resists. So I have to be disciplined and just ride thru his resistance. We did really well! And his balance is much improved when I ride him like this. I didn't ride long because Leo gets stressed when he gets tired and this new canter work is challenging for him. Kristy also pointed out that I constantly drop my left hand when I'm riding and will only make Leo more fussy in the bridle. It was hard work keeping that damn left hand where it should be, but at least when it's top of mind I can correct it. 

Sometimes it takes a village to train a horse.