Question # 41: It's easy to tell when Henry is round and balanced at the dressage canter. How do I learn to tell when he's balanced and forward at the gallop however? It's hard to know if he's just "going faster" than I'm used to, or is flat and "running"
I've had two suggestions for this - one is having someone watch and tell me when it's right or wrong, but that means I can't practice on my own. The other is that "if the jump felt good" he was balanced and if he wasn't the jump will be awkward. But, I'd like to practice without jumping all the time too. If he's adjustable (coming back and going forward again), does that mean he's balanced by definition, or can a horse speed up and slow down responsively, but still not be "balanced" at the gallop? (Briana)
Hi Briana!
Both of the ideas that you mention are good, but I see your point in not wanting to jump him all of the time. Remember that the way you learn how to "feel" the quality of any movement is to guess at what you think you feel, and have educated eyes on the ground (or via video critique) tell you whether you are right or not. So if you want to judge the quality of your gallop without being in a lesson, you can always get someone to video you and send it to me.
To answer your general question on how to tell if a horse is balanced in the gallop, here are the things you will usually notice when your horse is galloping in balance: (Click on Question Title above (in blue) to read full answer)
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