We’ve all learned throughout our riding journeys that the quality of a horse’s canter directly affects the quality of a horse’s jump. But it can be more complicated to put this theory into practice.
I found a great short video from Amelia Newcomb Dressage full of advice on improving your horse’s canter. This is something that can always use some attention, and I typically find Amelia’s style to work really well in terms of understanding the concepts she’s demonstrating.
“In this week’s video we are talking about the shape of your canter stride,” Amelia writes in the video description. “As the well known hunter jumper rider and coach Archie Cox says, ‘the shape of your canter determines the shape of your jump. If you have a long, strung out canter, you will have a long strung out jump. If you have a nice round canter, you will have a nice round jump and it will be easier to achieve your distance.’ The same is true if you ride dressage! If you don’t have a quality canter, you won’t be able to achieve a quality movement.”
“We want our horses to have a nice uphill, jumping canter. This is achieved by adding more energy without allowing the horse to cover more ground in the canter. Whether you’re jumping or riding dressage and teaching the flying changes, the basic quality of the canter is of utmost importance.”
You can learn more from Amelia here — and stay tuned for a collaboration between EN and Amelia coming your way this offseason!
