hey there in this video I am teaching my student Sylvia on Mercurio and we are going
to do the Snowman. The Snowman is seriously the best exercise to improve your canter
trot canter transitions. This is only Sylvia's third time riding Mercurio she's doing such a
good job but it's definitely interesting, you'll see a difference between the transition into the
left lead and the right lead canter and what's really great about Sylvia she did such a good job
when there was any miscommunication she just stayed quiet kept her hands down, kept focused,
and breathing, reorganized, and then asked again. So, I hope you like this video give me a thumbs
up subscribe to my channel and also check out in the description box I have a free PDF to help you
with your canter. The canter is the most fun, and also the most difficult gate to ride so if you
need more help with your canter after this video, check that out. Okay, so for the canter, you're going
to use the snowman to do the canter so what I want you to do is we'll do left lead canter first
so you're going to be doing a 20 meter circle left and a 10 meter circle to the trot right [Music]
connected easy easy yeah make one full circle around good now what you'll feel in the canter
is he wants to go down and up and all over the place and you've got to think about getting him
on your seat yes there canter good and then you're going to prepare a trot transition and into a 10
meter circle right so make a 10 meter circle to the right touch and give on the right rein look
back between those cones yeah push him off your left leg think of a soft canter transition yes
like that so you want to feel like he keeps the weight on his hind legs into the canter
Connection in the right rein supple and soft on the left that's right good and transitioning to
the trot round round 10 meter circle inner leg at the girth outer leg behind the girth
good rotating your shoulders. Supple and soft on that right make another 10 meter circle
see if you can keep your right hand a little more up and use your wrist more than yes just your
wrist on the right. Supple and soft good and then to the left good and half halt, nice, good Sylvia
good Supple and soft on the left rein connected in the right rein good job nice that's right super
good so your downward transition I know those are hard on him and that's because in the downward he
doesn't really stay stepping through behind so like when his hind legs stop coming then
his back drops and then that's why you feel like you lose the connection nice good good
job yep inside leg to outside rein good steady in the outer rein yeah good think about keeping
him connected from inside leg to outside rein better good just stay in the trot good good
nice go posting and see if you can let him stretch just a little down yeah and the nose a little out
good yeah and the strides a little longer not faster so you squeeze it that's it good Sylvia
good nice good and then just from your seat forward to the walk and then we'll do the snowman
the other way after you take a little break that was good really good so just go up to trot first
Sylvia and then when you get to the center line you'll start your 10 meter circle to the left
good nice transition good so a 10 meter circle to the left try to get perpendicular between
those cones turn and give left turn and give left reins could be a little shorter yeah do another
10 meter circle yeah good turn and give left a little more inside leg inside leg his ribs are
falling in there good good and then move him off your right leg into the left rein half halt half
halt half halt half halt it's okay good connection connection yeah one full circle in canter keeping
the connection that's it good keeping him round good that's it little bending to the right
that's it good nice yeah good good Sylvia and then after the rail preparing your trot transition
that's right and trot oh good and 10 meter circle left half all bend half halt inside leg outside
leg behind the girth yes and make sure to ride a half halt before you oh gosh another 10 meter
Circle doesn't matter outside rain turns the shoulder inside leg keeps them from falling in
good good move him off your right leg into the left rein half halt what happened to your half
halt don't chase him don't chase him don't chase him bring him back and just repeat your 10 meter
circle and ask again at the same place it's okay it's just a little bit of a miscommunication and
with a young horse okay you'd just be like okay go canter but he knows how to do a good
transition and he's you know he's not a lazy horse so in his case I would say okay let's
yeah good so make sure to get him off your right leg half halt yeah good that was better
is it connected right rein a little shorter so that you can use more of your wrist
good yes that was correct to get them a little more up in front there get them on
your seat good so sometimes Mecurio he doesn't want to stay on his hind leg so his
head goes up and down and up and down and you've got to think on my seat on my seat
on my seat half halt move them off the right leg half halt yeah good Sylvia not too low okay so I
thought that was really cool the snowman exercise because when you're riding a new horse the canter
aid is a little bit different on every horse that you ride and so it takes some time to figure out
what works for that particular horse like for all horses the canter aid is inside leg at the girth
outside leg behind the girth but every horse that requires a different amount of pressure a
different amount of a half halt and every horse is a little bit different left and right so you
could see with Mercurio and Sylvia the transition up into left lead canter was super natural and easy
for them to figure out on the right lead canter she wasn't coming through enough with the half
halt and he just wasn't understanding so he was going faster in the trot instead of picking up
the right lead canter so it's just important when you're on a new horse or when something doesn't
work out especially the canter transition is to just take that moment to reorganize
half halt and then ask again yes like that supple and soft good not bigger supple and soft
good that's right good Sylvia now Rhythm relax relax get him into the outside rein
make two circles and take the energy out a little bit just say I just I want you to trot calm
and quiet yes like that outside leg behind the girth inner leg Yeah good Sylvia good job good
and then you push them off that inside leg half halt that's okay good job that's it better
nice good there you go super and transition to trot yeah 10 meter circle easy easy Mercurio
is a horse who the more you ride in the hotter he gets so you gotta then think
about just steady relaxed rhythmic ride your half halt half halt yeah that's it good job
good and then just stay in the canter good stay in the canter focus that it's on your
seat this balance is good this poll position is good nice yes good job that's right on
your seat Supple and soft good good and then when you're ready transitioning to the trot
good easy that's right now just focus on like a boring trot yeah so sometimes Mecurio
after a lot of transitions and canter or we're easy that's too much half halt and soft yes yeah find
that in between so you feel how either he wants to stop or go super fast you own the tempo not
bigger not bigger can you soften your inside hand yeah there steady tempo steady contact
yeah it's fun to ride a horse that's sensitive and it's hard because he's wiggly there it is
there's a sweet spot where he's not too high he's not too low he's not too fast he's not too slow
good job there it is and then you've got to just be able to stay there
yeah good Sylvia good nice there you're getting a little suspension in your trot
good for you not too low there that's right good good and then a little transition to the walk easy
from your seat yeah pull your tummy in and use a little voice oh good good job it's just important
when you're on a new horse or when something doesn't work out especially the canter transition
is to just take that moment to reorganize half halt and then ask again and especially a horse
like Mercurio he's sensitive and he's a little bit hot so you wouldn't want to just like kick him or
punish him because he hasn't really done anything wrong he just didn't understand what she was
asking he didn't understand that she was asking for the canter and the other thing about Mercurio
is that he's a horse who gets a little bit hot the more you work him so sometimes he starts out
feeling lazy and then when you start doing a bunch of transitions he gets really zippy and that's
where you have to really focus on steady tempo and steady contact to help calm him down so when
he starts getting a little frantic like I told Sylvia's just focus on a steady tempo a steady
contact kind of tone the energy down a little bit until you feel him relax again and that's
really important that relaxation and suppleness is the bottom of the training scale and if you don't
have your horse supple and relaxed then you can't really train them because they just get
too anxious I hope you enjoyed this video don't forget to give my channel a thumbs up click the
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