The single changes are next, with Debbie cautioning her to keep the canter steady and on the aids for the changes. In the trot work they apply the same principles to creating a steady connection. When there is a loss of connection in the half pass, they return to the shoulder in, then go to leg y...

As they warm up, Debbie encourages this rider to feel what her horse is doing with his mouth, and to bring him back and steady him in her hand when his mouth is really active and not steady. They reward him and let him go forward when he becomes steady. When they go to the caner, they work on mak...

Lateral work to engage the hind leg with Rafael Soto

Lena talks about the canter, a three-beat gait followed by a moment of suspension. She discusses the order of footfalls in the canter and the timing needed to properly ask for the upward canter transition. She talks about some common position problems she sees in riders and how to correct them.

Olivia LaGoy-Weltz helps a rider on a stallion. In the warmup, they work on the best way to get the horse engaged and using himself properly. She suggests that when the rider lets go, the horse wants to take the rein down and push the back up. They work on alignment in the canter, and Olivia says...

They do the same exercises on the right lead. She stresses that the horse needs to respond promptly and not to take too long to get the horse organized. They continue with shoulder-fore in canter, which (once good) shifts into half pass.

After focusing on canter work, they go to trot work. Regardless of tempo, the trot needs to flow so that the rider feels like he being carried. The horse needs the energy to recycle, but the rider still needs to feel loft in the horse stride and if there power in that loft.

The final part of the ride continues with trot work. While still focusing on proper alignment, they ask the horse to push into the reach in the trot to build even more power. They ask for just a few steps at a time to maintain the quality. Then they finish with a stretchy trot to release the musc...

Prior to asking for canter, Laura first wants to make sure the horse has a quality walk and position. She wants to support the horse to help him stay in balance. As he canters, she starts to bring him up more and then alternates between that and going more forward before asking for a single flyin...

Laura talks about how she focuses on a little bit of high-quality work instead of working the horse for too long and making the horse stressed. With this horse, she must work on the canter lateral work more than the trot and asks for a small amount of good quality. If a horse has tension, he wont...

With this particular horse, the canter work is more advanced than the trot work. They start with canter leg yield making sure the horse doesnt surge forward, even if it means going less sideways. This exercise will help move the horse more into the outside rein and engage the hindlegs. This is th...

From the canter leg yield, they move into some counter canter. Counter canter should have the same balance as true canter. Typically a long horse wants to pull himself along with his front legs so he has to learn to make the hindlegs quicker. Meanwhile, the rider needs to make sure she is riding ...

They take the same concepts from the trot lengthening to the canter lengthening. The length of the horse is controlled by the outside hind, and the rider closes her leg into a steady contact to come back. Using the same basic ideas, they also work on the beginnings of collected canter.

They move on to canter work, focusing on walk/canter canter/walk transitions. Doing these transitions correctly becomes beneficial when doing flying changes because whatever the horse does in the walk/canter it will usually do in the change. When you close the leg, the horse should go forward and...

Before asking for canter, Laura first makes sure the horse is straight and marching in the walk. She asks for slightly forward on the long side and collecting and balancing in the corner. When the horse loses balance in the canter, she comes to walk, regroups and then goes back to canter.

Shannon helps a rider focus on establishing a consistent forward tempo with her mare. The tempo and the hind leg are important before trying to have the horse on the bit. They also canter right away to help establish the forward feeling. Once the mare is forward, they can focus on getting her to ...

After a walk break, they work on right lead canter, again focusing on immediately going forward and not worrying about the horse being on the bit. They work on rider position in both canter and trot to help with the horse suppleness. The rider cant just use the hands. The shoulder is as important...

They begin to work on a very collected canter. Laura says that the horse is responsible for maintaining the collected canter. The rider shouldnt drive the horse forward. If the horse breaks to trot then the rider needs to make a correction. The rider shouldnt fuss or pick at the horse to keep him...

They continue the collected canter work. Laura says that the rider legs need to be loose even while riding the collected canter. Keeping the outside leg in canter position should be enough. If the horse breaks, that on him. Then the moment the horse rhythm goes from canter to trot is the time to ...

They work on the horse's stiffer side in canter. It is important that the rider not carry the horse. The horse must maintain the energy herself, and if not then the rider needs to let her know. Laura suggests being stricter with the horse but do less. Instead of doing 15 mediocre flying changes, ...

FEI 5* Judge Janet Foy helps a rider warm up her upper-level horse. In trot, she wants the horse to have more bend in his body and engagement of the hind leg to improve reach. In canter, she encourages the horse to be up in the neck and shoulders and be more forward first and then collect the can...

Grand Prix trainer and competitor Lauren Sprieser rides her new, 6-year-old gelding Eddie to demonstrate how to compress a young horse big gaits. She emphasizes that the horse needs to learn to compress from fairly light aids. She demonstrates exercises that help make the gaits sMoller without us...

Laura watches this pair warm up and suggests that the rider occasionally give in the rein because they have had issues with being heavy.  In the canter they work on keeping her straight on the left rein, pointing out that she must become independent of the bend and not rely on it to keep the cant...

How to ride the counter canter, gain balance and prepare counter canter test movements. She discusses the issues one can encounter within the counter canter and how to counteract those issues.