Canter Pirouettes

I once heard that a canter pirouette feels and looks like you're trying to ride a dinosaur out of a tar pit. I think that's a pretty accurate description.

Come on, dinosaur, don't give up!

Pirouettes were probably the toughest movement for Rico and I, other than the one tempis. We never really did get the hang of one tempis. But I know that was primarily his front feet- his coffin joints couldn't really handle the pounding that the ones create. In the ones, the horse has to really grab the ground with their front feet and pull themselves forward, so coffin problems are never welcome when training those.

But pirouettes, pirouettes plagued both of us for no real reason other than that they were HARD. I feared the pirouette apocalypse and Rico didn't help by figuring that if we were already going that slow, we may as well be walking.

Ever since working with Rico, I'm starting to re-prioritize when I put movements on. I plan on introducing TC to very basic piaffe training within the next year, and starting clinics with Alfredo Hernandez when he is six years old to get piaffe and passage on him. I also want to get pirouettes on when he's at early Third level, despite them not having to do them until mid-Fourth level. Why? Because they fucking suck to put on and I want to take my time. So let me go through what my steps are to create this:

Full pirouettes on centerline at Grand Prix

*as always, my theoretical posts are based on my experience as a dressage trainer/rider and the lessons I've taken. They are not designed to be the end all, be all of dressage training, just a way for me to share what I've learned. Please take this post with the largest boulder of salt. 

Types of Canter Pirouettes

Alright so what are pirouettes? There are a few different types that show up in dressage tests, so let's go easiest to most difficult, as if any of this is easy:

School Canter (aka "very collected canter" in the test)
The first inkling of a pirouette starts at 4-1. In this test, you ride a 20 meter circle at C, then collect the canter more than normal for a few steps over centerline. They're primarily looking for a difference between the collected canter and the very collected canter, as well as increased sitting while maintaining connection, rhythm, energy, blah blah blah.

Quarter Working Pirouette (kinda)
This is new in 4-2. I think I like it, but I haven't ridden it yet. I last rode 4-2 in 2013 and it's new this year. I've used quarter pirouettes in training (and actually find that they're harder than half pirouettes!). They take 2-3 strides, maybe a bit more. See why below.

Half Working Pirouette
This is now only at 4-3, they used to have them at 4-2 but they changed that out for the easier quarter working pirouette. Working pirouette means that they are not on the spot, regular pirouettes are as much on the spot as possible, the hind feet hopefully land in an area no bigger than a dinner plate. But working pirouettes are bigger, I believe you get about a square meter to work in. This is why they actually take more steps than a regular half pirouette. The number of steps usually varies by the horse and how educated they are.

Half working pirouette at 4-2... Definitely a dinosaur in a tar pit

Half Pirouette
This begins and only exists at Prix St George. The half pirouette is 3-4 strides. Again, the half and full pirouettes (not working) are quite tight, the hind feet need to stay under the body and in a very small place, think the size of a dinner plate, maybe slightly bigger.

Full Pirouette
This begins in Intermediare I and continues through Grand Prix. A full pirouette is 6-8 strides. Again, very tight. These things seem to go on forever. Seriously time stands still while you're piaffing and while you're pirouetting, at least on Rico.


A few random facts:
- The pirouette canter is actually often 4 beated with no moment of suspension, that is to say that the rhythm breaks down.
- The pirouette should maintain activity in the hind legs, when the hind legs either swap out or stay on the ground (sticking), the pirouette is not considered correct.
- Pirouettes are hard

Full pirouette warm up at Intermediare I

Training a Pirouette

Heidi broke the pirouette down into incredibly digestible chunks. There are three steps:

First, canter.
Second, collect.
Third, turn.

That's it! Okay post over, have fun pirouetting!

Our last big school at home after earning my Gold Medal

It sucks that dressage isn't so simple, but Heidi had a point.

Canter

The canter refers to having a very rideable, quality canter. Can I go forward and back on seat and leg alone? When I go from medium to collected canter, does the horse bend their hocks or slam on the brakes, lowering the front end? Do I have the horse even on both reins? Can I ride shoulder-in, haunches-in, and half pass easily? Can I do those three movements on a circle? Can I counter canter? Can I do simple changes through the walk? Are all of those things very easy?

The canter needs to be high quality and the horse needs to find the regular collected canter is easy. The horse needs to stay in front of the leg, even in the collected canter, without the threat of breaking. Transitions forward and back need to be seamlessly uphill, while lateral suppleness and maneuverability need to be just as easy.

Full pirouette at Intermediare I

If I were to pick two things that I want 100% in a horse's collected canter (assuming that the horse already meets the requirements for a collected canter- uphill, collected, balanced, and through) before we start working pirouettes, it's these two:

Lateral Suppleness
Shoulder-in, haunches-in, and half pass on a circle. Those are the big three exercises I want to be easy and seamless. I want to be able to go from shoulder-in to haunches-in, spiral in using half pass, spiral out within haunches-in, transition seamlessly to shoulder-in, and back again. Over and over. Maintaining the quality of canter, the uphill balance, and the longitudinal suppleness.

Longitudinal Suppleness
Before we can even think about the school canter, the canter required for pirouettes, the transitions within the canter at the *easier* canters need to be easy. I want to be able to seamlessly ride from medium to collected canter without a change in balance or thoroughness. Forward and back is really the only exercise I have for this, but it's really important. I'd also throw canter to walk transitions in here too. If you can't do those while maintaining an uphill balance, the pirouette isn't going to happen. Why? Because the canter you need for pirouettes is even more collected and requires more control than the canter you need to do a canter to walk- so those better be damn good.


Needless to say that during these two let's say types of exercises, the quality of the canter and of the collection, thoroughness, and connection, need to stay the same and the work needs to remain easy. Just because you can wrestle a horse through these exercises, Megan, does not mean that they are ready for pirouettes. Doing half pass, haunches-in, and shoulder-in will be easy for a horse who has the coordination to do a canter pirouette. Riding medium to collection will be easy for a horse with the strength to do a canter pirouette.

Full pirouettes on centerline at Grand Prix

Collect (School canter)

Collection in this sense means school canter. The school canter, or very collected canter, or pirouette canter, is the gait that is used within the pirouette. Like I said above, this isn't as canter-like as you'd think. The rhythm breaks down, there is a loss of suspension to an extent, and it becomes four-beated. People always talk about "maintaining the rhythm" in the pirouettes... that's not quite correct.

I work on three things when working the school canter: the in, the out, and the school canter itself.

The downward transition (the in) from the collected canter into the school canter should be rideable. The biggest thing for me is to be able to make this transition off of the seat and leg alone (or close to it). The rein causes the hind legs to shut down and the wither to drop, so too much rein in a downward transition does not translate to balance and collection, both of which are necessary for pirouettes.

Schooling full pirouettes before Intermediare I

The upward transition out of the school canter should also be rideable. You don't want to rocket out of the pirouette like I always wanted to. We'd be close to being done and all of a sudden ABORT THE MISSION, LEAVE THE PIROUETTE and we're half galloping out. Ideally, at the end of the pirouette, you'll finish on the spot, then go one step forward and straight within the school canter before seamlessly transitioning out. This means that while schooling the pirouette canter, working on being patient while leaving is important.

The school canter itself should feel rideable (theme, much?) and forward. You're going to eventually be turning this boat around, so you need to feel like you're able to turn that shit. You also need to feel like you can maintain the school canter, but not for long. The thing about pirouettes is that they only take a few steps. So you only technically need to hold the school canter for ten strides at the most. One coming in, eight at the most to do a full turn, one leaving.

Half pirouette at Prix St George

Turn

Then you just turn around! Hahahaha.

Remember the shoulder-in and half pass at the canter that we played with earlier? This is where that pays off. The set up for any pirouette (even walk pirouettes) is a bit of shoulder-fore, and being able to isolate the shoulder is important as the turn starts.

Once again I like breaking the turn down into three steps. The start of the turn, the end of the turn, and the pirouette itself.

The start of the turn is probably the hardest part, for me at least. Getting that first step sideways is hard. A lot of horses and/or people want to push the haunches to the inside first, then pull the shoulders around and this is incorrect (ask me how I know). First, it means you're off your line, and second, your pirouette will then be bigger and therefore take more steps.

So being able to get that first step is a tricky one, and one that I really worked the most in the walk with Rico, since the mechanic is similar. If the walk pirouettes start with haunches in, there's no way the canter pirouettes are going to start correctly.

Half pirouette at Prix St George

Continuing the turn is probably the easiest part, if you could call any part of a pirouette easy. The biggest thing with Rico, and with most other horses I've worked with, is controlling the step. Some horses have a lot of resistance to the turn, so it takes them longer, others figure out what you want (Rico) and try to get shit done and turn way too fast. Control, or if you'd prefer the nicer term "influence," is the name of the game. Always school only as many steps as you have complete control over, then GTFO.

The major takeaways for the end that I got from most of my education on these are that you need to maintain that control coming out and be patient. Rico would sometimes swap out or become labored or get crooked. Control the step and be patient. Two things that took me a long time to really understand.


So there you go, three simple steps to full pirouettes! Uhhh yeah.

Full pirouettes on centerline at Grand Prix

Overall

The canter pirouette itself takes a few years to put on, but I find that working on ladder to get to the pirouette, even if you're on the lowest rungs, will help the quality of the canter for any horse. This is why I start putting pirouette canter on ASAP, why I really push the lateral and longitudinal suppleness... because a pirouette isn't going to happen without a good quality canter, but even if you don't make it to the actual turns, thinking pirouette while riding is extremely helpful.


Hopefully one day I'll be able to reference this post for TC! For now we're at the very very beginning. Just figuring out how to canter on the bit. But every single horse who went to Grand Prix was, at some point, at the level we are at right now. That knowledge makes me feel better sometimes.

Because at 4-1, this was our school canter! Not... quite.