Walk-Canter Straightness Diagonals

Here is an exercise for developing your transitions between walk and canter. In a walk to canter transition the horse needs to load the back legs for springing up into the canter. This is useful for developing a balanced transition preventing the horse from being able to move faster and fall into the canter from a trot. Balance of the rider is also important to help the horse manage this transition which may be difficult at first. Visualise having weight to the back (without leaning back) and becoming light in the seat (think of your head being pulled upwards to the sky and stretching your spine upwards) to help the horse engage their hind and lift themselves up at the front.

To strike off on the correct lead, the horse needs to start pushing with the hind leg on the diagonal from the front canter lead. The order of footfalls for a left lead canter is:

1. right hind.
2. left hind/right front.
3. left front.

The rider position for the aids are generally given as:

Leg on the same side as the canter lead (typically inside leg if not a counter canter) at the girth.

Other leg slightly behind the girth. This is to keep the quarters from drifting out and the horse bending around the leg on the side of the canter lead, which helps the horse strike off on the correct lead.

The aid is typically given from the inside leg between the time the outside hind is leaving the ground and before it returns to the ground (i.e. when the barrel of the horse swings to the outside). A half-halt on the outside rein may also be given prior to the aid for canter.

Sometimes the horse needs more help loading the outside hind leg that will push into the start of the canter gait. You can also try to slow down the pushing hind leg (diagonal hind from the canter lead), with either one or two half-halts on the outside rein in the walk strides preceding the aid to canter, or a weight shift at the hips or in the stirrup during the walk strides before the aid is given. Note that during the aid to canter the rider seat bones should be in horizontal balance or very slightly weighted to the side of the bend (this is done without leaning over to the inside, so if muscle isolation around the hips is not easy for you to do then it’s better to stick with the even balance in the seat).

You may have a few steps of trot as you are learning this exercise, but keep the trot part short or you will lose the effect of the hind-weighted balance in the transition up to canter. Similarly, in the downwards transition, you want to encourage engagement of the hind, so visualise that as you transition to the walk, sitting deep to slow the steps, allowing a few steps of trot if necessary to balance the transition.

How to ride this exercise

The solid lines are canter, dotted lines are walk, bending lines with arrows are 1/4 or 1/3 turns with the front end (pirouette style). Every 2nd turn is a canter transition.
The play of a walk turn and then a walk/canter turn develops the horse in this exercise.
For a warm up you can do the exercise in walk only with quarter turns in each corner and then build to trot for the canter part until you are ready to do the walk canter (or walk trot canter) exercise.
The transitions to walk are to be done on a straight line with enough time to be in a steady balanced walk before the turns in the corners. Keep getting ready early and ride the canter lines with straightness.

FOLLOWING THE GREEN LINES, START FROM A AT WALK ON THE LEFT REIN

1. AT THE FIRST CORNER TRANSITION TO CANTER LEFT LEAD AND CANTER THE LONG SIDE.

BETWEEN B AND M TRANSITION TO WALK.

WALK THE SHORT SIDE 

2. AT THE NEXT CORNER TRANSITION TO CANTER LEFT LEAD AND CANTER THE LONG SIDE

BETWEEN E AND K TRANSITION TO WALK

WALK THE SHORT SIDE

3. AT THE NEXT CORNER TRANSITION TO CANTER LEFT LEAD AND CANTER THE DIAGONAL LINE

BETWEEN X AND THE CORNER TRANSITION TO WALK.

CHANGE THE REIN TO THE RIGHT

(NOW FOLLOWING THE BLUE LINES)

WALK THE SHORT SIDE 

4. AT THE NEXT CORNER TRANSITION TO CANTER RIGHT LEAD AND CANTER THE LONG SIDE.

BETWEEN B AND F TRANSITION TO WALK

WALK THE SHORT SIDE 

5. AT THE NEXT CORNER TRANSITION TO CANTER RIGHT LEAD AND CANTER THE LONG SIDE.

BETWEEN E AND H TRANSITION TO WALK

WALK THE SHORT SIDE 

6. AT THE NEXT CORNER TRANSITION TO CANTER RIGHT LEAD AND CANTER THE DIAGONAL LINE

BETWEEN X AND THE CORNER TRANSITION TO WALK.

CHANGE THE REIN TO THE LEFT.

REPEAT FROM THE GREEN LINES.

Ridden Example

Thanks to Donna Anderson for providing us with this example of riding the exercise.