Summary: Often the strides of a horse's gait must be lengthened to cover the line. Learn to lengthen gaits with tips from an experienced riding instructor in this free video series on horse gaits.
Mara Keith-Hunter is a lifelong equestrian and head coach for the Hampshire College equestrian team. She rode in the Intercollegiate National Horse Show for both the University of...read more
"We're now going to work on lengthening your horse's gait. And this can be done at the walk, trot, and canter. I'm going to first demonstrate it at the trot. So what you want to see happen is that your horse's length of stride becomes longer, so we'll start with a regular trot, and I'm going to add my leg. And you want to keep your rein contact, it's okay if they break into the canter. Sometimes they're not sure what you what when you add your leg. We'll try again. Have both legs come on. Good. And then we'll try a little bit of a lengthening at the canter. This time I'm going to stay sitting. Simply applying pressure with both legs to lengthen the stride of the canter."
eHow Article: Lengthening the Different Horse Gaits