Having covered the upward and downward transitions between the walk and canter, it’s now time to put it all together in a simple change.
First of all, if you want to see a simple change ridden well, go and watch some FEI Pony classes. The canter work in the Pony tests emphasises balance and collection, and the simple changes themselves are a double mark. This means that pony riders get really good at nailing them!
The trick to establishing a smooth, secure simple change is not to rush it. Many riders find it too tempting to focus on the transitions, and they forgot about the walk in between. We may only need to show 3-5 steps of walk in a test, but if we do that too often in training, the horse learns to anticipate the upward transition and the quality of the walk is lost. Instead, it’s more beneficial to ride the canter-walk transition then wait until you are happy that the walk is settled, straight and on the aids. Only then should you pick up the canter transition. Riding the exercise in this way makes it much easier to keep the walk quality when the number of steps is reduced.
When putting the simple change together for the first time, I find it useful to ride it on two half ten metre circles. The first half circle sets up the collection and helps the horse find its balance for the first transition. Once on the centre line and in the walk, it’s much easier to focus on the straightness than if you were on the diagonal. The start of the second half circle then helps give the little bit of inside flexion needed for a clean strike-off. Again, don’t rush it – it doesn’t matter how much time of spent on the centre line in walk, as long as the horse learns to settle into the rhythm.
Once the horse is starting to find the exercise one the half circles more straightforward, the rider can progress to turning across the middle of the school on a serpentine loop. Again, the turn helps support the horse, but doesn’t do quite as much collecting work as the half circle. Eventually, once the horse has the idea of staying straight and achieving the two transitions calmly and in balance, it should be possible to ride the simple change anywhere in the arena.