The Four Beat Canter Increasingly Common

In recent months our clinic giving experiences have provided much food for thought in regard to how the current dressage training and showing world seems to be developing.

 

Rarely do you see a 4 beat canter during a victory lap

As many of you know, my husband Paul and I work as a duo in training and at clinics often work with one horse/rider combination together. A symposium style without the rehearsal and advance edit. During our teaching time we have both noticed an increasingly common issue in the canter work of new students, that of the four beat canter gait.

Paul and Nikki Alvin-Smith

 

Back in the day Dr. Klimke used to talk about the canter having 'pop' in order to achieve good quality flying changes. And ultimately the goal is to accomplish balanced, 'unswinging' tempi changes. This advice is so true and something to always remember as you train horses up the levels. 

A four beat canter has no place in dressage work. All canter work, including counter canter through the pinnacle movement of pirouette will be almost impossible to achieve if the canter is slowed down to a four beat gait.

Interesting to note is that you'll rarely see a four beat canter during a victory lap. Why do you think that is?

 

The warm up area at showgrounds showcases a lot

As a clinician coaching at showgrounds it is hard not to cast your eye across a warm up space or an arena and make internal notes or comments on what you see. There is always good work as well as the questionable techniques from both professionals and amateur riders alike. The showcase of riding at a showground always offers a good indication of where the present trends in rewards from judges and scores is heading. And also how training for competition is currently being formulated at home.

Once you have mastered the basics of canter work with your horse, meaning you can easily change the stride while maintaining the same cadence, the work of counter canter for second level dressage tests (in the U.S.A., medium level in Europe),will become part of the training process. Or it should. 

When teaching students that are in the process of retraining horses that have issues from past poor habits and workmanship from their riders we may suggest that the counter canter work not be showcased in the ring. This is based on our perspective and experience of building confidence in the ring for the horse where and individual horse exhibits a hesitant or 'balking' attitude to the difficulty involved in executing the movement. Particularly where the horse's stiffness or conformation makes long periods of work in the counter canter. These horses will take longer to properly master the gymnastic effort involved and in our opinion in such instances there are other kinder ways to improve the horse together with the counter canter work through lateral movements at Third level. Instead we advocate the rider wait out the second level by schooling the horses to third level before showing. 

This advice does not mean we are saying that counter canter work not be completed for it is essential to development of true balance in the horse and to minimize one-sided tendencies. We are simply suggesting that the pressure for horse and rider of executing quality counter canter for long periods in a show ring, test after test, can negatively affect the partnership's confidence in the canter in certain horses and that the lateral work that is part of basics at Third level can aid the horse in completing more balanced work.

The movements trained in dressage are all stepping stones to the ultimate 'finished' horse. The same way that the turn of the forehand is not a classical move, but is one that can be taught to benefit at a certain point in time. Or the leg yield can be trained to help implement understanding in the horse and rider of lateral movement but should not be labored over once the compliance and quality of balance is there. The counter canter is a tool toward improving balance. It is not an end to a means, it is a means to an end.

It is in the counter canter that the rider may begin to encourage the horse to slow down with the wrong assumption that a slow canter is an obedient canter. The notion that the horse will find the counter canter easier if he is moving so slowly. But of course his steps become earthbound steps and the quality of the gait is lost. The idea that the half step toward the four beat canter helps the horse to balance himself and as such is permissible is not a good track to follow.

The more correctly forward and elevated the horse is in its canter and the more confident the rider is that the cadence in the gait can easily adjust the stride and elevation of the canter being executed, then the easier it will be to accomplish a quality counter canter. 

I have often written about the importance of addressing the horse as an individual and making smart decisions on how a horse is schooled based on the individual equine's conformation and temperament. 

Working a big warmblood (especially one that may be aging up or one that already has slight medical issues in the hocks) in small counter canter circles can be detrimental to its well-being and confidence. Similarly, young horses with upright hind ends and a lack of hip angle may become undone if counter canter work is allowed to become laborious and is over-schooled.

The horse's mind and body must always be refreshed frequently during schooling. It is the change from one direction, good transition within or between gaits or switching from one movement to another that builds the horse up gymnastically. This is true also for the rider. How many of us have sat on a circle with the teacher standing in the center working on a sitting trot or other lesson with a locked up hip on one side from too much time trying hard to achieve one thing? 

The four beat canter has no place in dressage and as a horse breeder for over 20 years I am very cognizant of the reality that certain bloodlines carry more likelihood of a four beat canter becoming an issue. Sometimes this is due to conformation, sometimes due to temperament. But innate issues can be overcome. Many riders have heard professionals talk about loving a particular young equine dressage prospect because of its quick hind leg. This is what they are talking about. But whatever the horse demonstrates in natural ability to move easily for the tasks of dressage this inherent talent can be quickly undone by poor training. There are no guarantees.

As a trainer it is imperative that you have eyes on the ground. Someone that knows more than you do and can easily ascertain the four beat canter creeping into the work in advance of its arrival.

Refreshing the canter is always best completed outside of the confines of the ring. One of my early riding teachers in England used to dispatch myself and her daughter off to the bridle trails in the woods or across the fields after a lesson, with firm instructions to 'give the horse a blow'. This meant taking the horse or pony to a full gallop to 'clear the windpipes' as she put it. 

A full gallop is obviously not helpful for the purpose of refreshing the canter except to get the horse thinking truly forward. A good in hand canter however, especially up a small incline, can be very beneficial for encouraging the horse to step more quickly from behind.

Refresh your horse's canter outside the ring-

Paul Alvin-Smith practicing what he teaches.

 

One of my favorite expressions that I share with students that inevitably all try too hard, is, 

"As long as you keep making mistakes in the right direction you will be O.K." ... Nikki Alvin-Smith

It is by making mistakes that we learn not by being perfect in the first place. There is no perfect training and there is no perfect horse or rider. But that shouldn't stop us trying, giving ourselves credit for what we have achieved and staying determined to improve.

If you are guilty of working your horse in a four beat canter, don't despair. Fix it. There are many methods that work well to do so and the help of a knowledgeable trainer will help guide you along the way.

The first step toward resolving the issue of the four beat canter is to be aware that it is happening. 

Grand Prix Clinicians Paul and Nikki Alvin-Smith in Comporte, Portugal following a clinic tour.