Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.
This week’s question posed is: How can you help a rider who equates speed with stride length learn to differentiate between them and learn to control both?
Here are their answers:
“When a rider equates speed with stride length, I like to start by showing them the difference in their own body—walking faster with short, quick steps versus slower with longer reaching steps.
Then we transfer that concept to the horse through exercises like transitions within the gait and pole work, which really highlight that stride length is about covering more ground, not rushing the rhythm. I remind them that speed is controlled with the seat and half-halts, while stride length comes from the leg, encouraging the horse to reach. Once they feel the difference, they gain the tools to influence both independently.” –Tiffani Donahue
“For my riders who have learned to ride fast instead of lengthening, I start in the walk and trot, letting them feel on a very well-schooled horse what lengthening and shortening is.
Sometimes the horses they have been on or currently ride also need assistance to slow and relax to lengthen, and learning together is a challenge, so I separate and teach the horse and rider separately.
Once the rider understands the lengthening at walk and trot, we apply it to canter with flat work between poles/cavaletti, usually 7 strides apart, so they are able to step in and easily lengthen for 6 or compress for 8 and then come back to medium canter for 7. Allowing a rider to feel what a true extension of the horse’s step can feel like will often help them stop kicking for speed and start supporting for stretching the horse’s step longer.” –Brittany Massey
“To help my riders who have a problem differentiating between speed and stride length, I teach them how to keep a good rhythmic canter. To do that, I give them exercises that involve them keeping the canter stride to their count. I set poles, small jumps, or even sometimes just give them a few focal points around the ring or field, and have them count to 4 repeatedly.
I have them count out loud so that I and everyone in the lesson can hear them. The rider doing the exercise can hear if they are counting to keep up with the horse’s stride or if the horse is cantering to their count. Counting to 4 helps them keep a good cadence and not change the speed of their words, which in turn keeps the canter stride from speeding up. The ones watching also can participate by listening to the rider counting and watching the horse’s stride.” -Lizzie Fisch
“First, we discuss the differences between Great Danes and Chihuahuas, and how both could be running the same speed, yet it takes a Chihuahua 10 times as many steps to get there as the Great Dane. Imagine how fast that little Chihuahua’s legs look as they’re running, even though they’re going the same speed as the Great Dane! It’s a silly visual, but everyone understands it.
Then I have students count their strides between two sets of standards with no poles or jumps…just for them to have as a visual starting and stopping point. We’ll do it once to figure out the normal number of steps for their horse, and then try to do it in 1/2 stride more or less (Hence the reason for no poles or jumps). While they go through, we count the rhythm. They usually begin to see that their rhythm stayed the same, so it wasn’t faster or slower, just more or fewer steps. I found you can do this at the canter or the trot, depending on the level of the rider.
Some people equate the bigger stride of the Great Dane with why they’re going fast. Some equate the short leg movement of the Chihuahua as why they’re going fast–demonstrating that length of stride doesn’t necessarily correlate with speed!” –Maureen Myers
“Speed and stride are not close to the same, as all horses have different lengths of stride, and how fast they go all vary.
The biggest tool we use is counting. Counting nonstop and out loud helps riders realize where they actually are and if they are counting fast—then that tells them something.
We also do the add and leave out game a lot in the same line until they can feel what stride feeling gives you 5 vs 6 vs 7 in the same line.
Usually, if you practice these things frequently, it gets a rider’s brain to compute the speed and length of stride.” -Dana Hart-Callanan
Read more from Dana here.
“I would use an exercise like cantering poles on the ground. Place the horse’s front end over the first pole as if going over a jump, and then continue with 2-3 poles on the ground in designated striding. Then change the designated striding to one less, and then one more.
As the rider and horse start communicating better, the exercise can be one more to one less or vice versa in both directions, so a rider develops an outside rein, which is dominantly responsible for straightening and slowing a horse.
After the horse and rider have a good idea of poles, I go to the trot-in-canter-out line with a vertical to an oxer.
As the oxer gets wider and higher, the rider’s “watching” of the second jump to place the horse correctly improves. For the advanced riders, the oxer should get wider to the inside.
Impulsion vs. speed is a constant lesson through all levels of riding and horse training.” -Diane Carney
Read more from Diane and listen to her on The Plaidcast here.
“You cannot, unless you begin at the beginning with teaching the tenants of classical dressage.” – McKrell Baier
“Speed is when you are cantering and have no control. It feels like your horse is wiggling and falling all over the place. Stride length is when you are cantering and have complete control. Like you could ask your horse to stop and it would immediately. Or ask your horse to turn right or left, and it would easily. You can have both.” -Jessica Forliano
