 entering the speeds within the canter is a really important skill. And in today's exercise we're going to be talking about how the seat functions in order to help the horse understand what pace they should be in. The canter is very much like a wave and it's a three-beat gate so one two three one two three one two three one two three and when I'm when I'm just going along so I would say this canter right here for my horse is probably an ordinary canter maybe like a five or so. If I wanted to speed him up I would ride with a little more energy into the motion and if I wanted to slow him down I would sit against the motion. All the while though I'm keeping this rolling rhythm through my body and that's really important so when I slow him down I don't just quit riding I just ride that wave back back back back back back back so it's important you keep that canter rhythm and then same thing when I ride him forward. I'm keeping the rhythm I roll it roll it roll it forward forward four forward so there's a rhythm that I'm doing this with it and then when he's in the canter that I'd like him to be in then I'm going to just maintain and I'm going to harmonize with that so I'm quietly riding that wave in rhythm in unity with him. So now let me take a hold of my reins and we're going to talk about the canter so I'm going to bring him back and I'm going to ride the slower canter but I'm maintaining the rhythm. Now you notice we had a little moment where we weren't in unity because he ran into my reins a little bit. My leg as I'm doing this my leg also maintains the canter rhythm. When I'm doing this slow canter I'm thinking about almost like if you've ever dribbled a basketball and as you're dribbling dribbling the basketball you've got that option to bounce the ball underneath you right so you can bounce it and stand in one spot and just bounce it bounce it bounce it bounce it so that's how it feels in my body. I bounce my ball up and down. Now if I wanted to have him open up his canter I take my ball and I start bouncing it out in front and you can see he opens up his canter as I bounce the ball out in front and then once I'm at that pace I just keep bouncing that ball there and then if I want to bring it back I get over the top of my ball and I start bouncing it in place right bounce it bounce it bounce it bounce it now the harmony is important so when my horse hits on the right answer and I'm actually going to walk here and take a little break when my horse hits on the right answer it's really important that I'm in unity with his feet and I think this is something riders struggle with a little bit and that is they think of unity being almost like nothing or almost like they just quit riding that they think that that might be unity unity is having the body feel of whatever the speed of that particular gate that you want so the body feel it incorporates the rhythm so in the canter it's the 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 so I'm still maintaining that rhythm it also the body feel incorporates the energy within that rhythm so is it lively are we really moving or is it slow and contained and collected the body feel also incorporates how far out are you pushing that in front of you right are you taking that basketball down the court or are you just dribbling it right up and down here at the walk so when you're in unity with your horse or when you're harmonizing and the harmony is letting them know they're doing the correct thing it's not about quitting riding and just sitting there and looking pretty what it is about is having that body feel of that canter and then when your horse comes off of that canter so let's say we were at like a regular canter just an ordinary working canter if my horse came off of that ordinary canter and slowed down then I would I would this is my ball right and they came back here so I would say to my ball get out in front and then the minute they came back up to that ordinary canter that number five canter I would start bouncing it straight up and down and harmonize and be like yes this is our rhythm now if they started speeding up I would need to sit against the motion a little bit and I'd need to start bouncing that ball back underneath me to bring them back and then the minute that they were at that five canter again I'm going to bounce it straight up and down right there in place