Canter pirouette might sound like a highly advanced movement, and indeed, the completed pirouette as shown in competition requires a great deal of strength and balance that will take many years of schooling to achieve.
However, in its earlier incarnations, the canter pirouette is an ideal exercise for developing the horse’s ability to lower the croup and carry more weight on the hind quarters – in other words, to collect.
Pre-requisites
Before attempting this work, a horse must be:
- working correctly through over his topline
- have a reasonably balanced canter
- with a clear jump (moment of suspension)
- a fair degree of engagment
- and an understanding of the correct response to the half halt
In other words, he needs to already have a small degree of collection, and enough strength in his hindquarters to manage this exercise without the quality of the canter becoming compromised. This pattern, along with other collecting exercises, can then be used to build his strength for weight carriage.
How to:
- Ride a 20m square.
- Approaching the corner leaving the track, ask for a little more collection by reducing the size of your seat action, keeping your legs active to maintain the energy, and if necessary, very small half halts with your fingers.
- Close your outside leg to keep his haunches wrapped round behind you as you turn the forehand with your outside rein. Keep your weight central in the saddle.
- Before the quarter turn is complete, apply your inside leg to ride forward onto the straight line heading for the opposite track.
- If he has lost energy, sat down too far, or lost jump in the canter, ride more energetically forward for a few steps to confirm to him this is how he should leave the pirouette (i.e. pushing with his hind legs, following the effort of sitting more).
- Ride normally around the next corner onto the track without asking for pirouette steps.
- Repeat.
For more detail, see exercise #101 in my text book, 100+ School Exercises for Dressage.
In the above video, you will see that my horse still needs to learn to lower his croup more, and to better maintain the energy. He does, however, demonstrate the pattern very clearly, displaying a clear understanding of the start of collection, and a fair balance in the quarter pirouettes.
After the first quarter turn, in which he loses energy, you can see me ride him more energetically forward for a few steps, as described above.
The second turn keeps the energy better, but is less clearly defined as a pirouette (the turn is a little large).
The third turn shows a clear indication of collecting beforehand, and a better turn.
He has learned from the repetitive nature of the exercise.
The purpose of pirouette
is to teach the horse to lower the croup by increasing the bend in the hind leg joints.
Don’t leave it too late in his education to start this work, but always remember this is a strenuous exercise, so don’t overdo it either.
Debby Lush Equestrian 