If you’re struggling to find the right show-jumping canter, the beat of Nellie The Elephant is just about perfect for most horses, it really helps to get the canter in the correct tempo!
This canter looks powerful, uphill, forward, balanced, and skipping off the ground, exactly what you want on the way to a show-jump. From this sort of canter ‘seeing a stride’ is much easier, you can FEEL the stride and both you and the horse gain confidence from the quality of the canter.
Photo by kind permission of Juan Luis Cabrera.
Genius! – I read this yesterday, and was humming it while schooling last night and it was brilliant for me to keep my fizzy mare who can get quite tense relaxed and in an even rhythm. Just don’t hum too loudly or people will start to talk!