Hi,
To answer to this intervention...
please keep in mind that we learn our horse to canter as much as possible flat, almost in a 4times canter, without too much (the lesser the better)... grrr.. i don't know the word in english (bascule in french)and have to dictionary here... oh google can help ... I mean when the back is rocking... we noticed that this time of the canter is reduced... that means that this "chair seat" is not as stressfull as described.
I'm not sure I'm making me understandable.
I can just tell you that our horses start performing like that after hours and hours of canter training. It can be like a natural way of adapting to the requirement. We do not train them to canter 'the dressage way' obviously, because this is in no way an economical gait. We want our horse to be relaxed, no tension in the neck or in the back, we have almost no contact in the mouth, but the hindquarter are taking long strides (that's what makes the champions : to be able to canter faster without increasing the number of strides per minute). We want our horses to 'sleep and canter' at the same time
well, I will not reveal all our secrets actually :-) You will have to buy my book:-)
Leonard, www.endurance-belgium.com
To get into chair seat
#1 Lengthen stirrups
#2 Lock knees into standing position (or close to)
#3 Attempt to absorb all motion of the horse through the spine (ouch!). You
might even see the riders elbows flapping away from the torso like
wings...this is a desperate attempt to be a shock absorber because the
bigger joints are locked down and aren't working for them. As the horse
canters, the rider will make a long sweep with their entire body over the
saddle. Depending on the quality of the horse's natural canter, there will
probably be a disuniting on the vertical plane of the stride, as well.
