Success as an FEI Junior and Young Rider developed into a senior career that saw Chris von Martels on the Canadian Dressage Team shortlist in 2011. At the 2014 CDIO Nations’ Cup in Wellington, FL, this February, Chris and his horse, Zilverstar, were members of Canada’s silver medal-winning team. A long-time student of Canadian Olympian Ashley Holzer, Chris has also trained in Europe with Dutch super-star Anky Van Grunsven. Chris and his wife, Lisa, run Von Martels Dressage Inc., a training and sales facility in Ridgetown, ON, and divide their time between there and Wellington, FL.
No matter which discipline you ride, transitions represent an essential component. “From the moment I get on a horse to the moment I get off, I incorporate transitions,”says Chris von Martels. While true for all riders, Chris stresses the role that transitions play, from the first lessons in submission for a young horse, to developing the strength that a grand prix horse needs in order to perform a canter pirouette. Transitions also account for a large proportion of the marks in competition: of the 14 movements in training level test 1, eight of them contain transitions between gaits; in the grand prix special, more than a third of the marks are based wholly or in part on transitions.
As a trainer, Chris focuses primarily on the basics, rather than schooling movements or using specific geometric figures. “I’m obsessed with the basic work,” he says. “I believe if your basics are good, you can execute all the movements well. You don’t improve the half-pass by doing 50 half-passes.” There are some transitions that he uses more frequently than others, such as trot-canter. Of all the downward transitions between gaits, only one is found at both training level and grand prix: the transition from canter to trot. “I believe this is one of the most difficult transitions, which is why it’s in the FEI tests,” says Chris, who incorporates frequent canter-trot transitions into his daily work with every horse he rides. Chris also uses transitions forward-and-back within the gait, which serves multiple purposes, including building the strength and endurance that the horse needs for more advanced work.
Canter-Trot: A useful tool
I use many transitions from trot-to-canter and canter-to-trot, whether it’s a young horse or a grand prix horse. Going into canter loosens up the horse’s back in the warmup, and the mechanics of the horse striking off into canter is the same that he will use in his flying change. Of all downward transitions, I believe the trickiest mechanically is going from the three-beat of canter to the two-beat of trot. In the tests, the transition from canter to trot is usually on a straight line, so it’s important to be able to perform it on a straight line.
When people are training older, more developed horses, the canter work is often more focused on making the canter smaller – for example, for canter pirouettes or canter-to-halt transitions. If riders fail to keep the canter-trot transitions part of their daily riding, it can become a hole in the horse’s training. The horse should always be able to change its rhythm seamlessly from a three-beat canter to a two-beat trot without having first to come back to the walk or to go sideways.
Riding trot-canter-trot transitions on a 20-metre circle can be useful with horses that are reluctant or struggling to go from canter to trot. If you ride the transition on the open side of the circle, you are able to move the haunches in or out a little bit to help the horse make that first step in trot. But in the intermediaire I and grand prix tests, where the transition is on the short side at C on a straight line, you can’t move the horse’s haunches without risk of hitting the fence right in front of the judge. Even more important, riding a canter-trot transition by moving the shoulder or haunch is not an absolutely correct way to execute the transition. The reason a leg yield or shoulder-in makes the transition easier is because you are pushing the horse a little off-balance and forcing him to “fall” into the trot. Ideally, you should be able to ride the transition straight, without having to manipulate his body. One of the most important tools to ensuring that the canter-trot transition is always available is to use aids that help the horse know that it is being asked to trot, not walk or halt.
Sit light, not tight
When I school transitions from canter-to-trot, I often use my voice so that the horse recognizes that aid as different from canter-to-halt or walk. Use of the voice (while not permitted in competition) is a very simple way to help the horse understand what is being asked of him. I also differentiate my aids for the transition from canter-to-trot with my seat. Of course, there are small half-halts in preparation for the transition, but at the moment I ask for the trot, I sit a bit more lightly in the saddle. When I want the horse to go from canter-to-walk or halt, I sit more deeply, as I ask the horse to collect and put more weight on his hindquarters for the transition. By lightening my seat – not by going to an actual forward seat, but by taking a bit of weight out of the saddle – I’m telling the horse that we will be making a transition to trot. As soon as the horse takes that first step of trot I will sit a little more strongly again, as I apply the driving aids to create a forward, energetic trot.
Two problems, same correction
Horses can present two different issues in canter-trot transitions. The first is when the horse gets behind the aids and just makes the canter smaller, not accepting the contact. The second is when the horse falls onto the forehand in the transition – which means he was already on the forehand in the canter. It’s the responsibility of the rider to prepare the horse for every transition as successfully as possible, and that means having a balanced gait in front of the leg beforehand. If the horse is on the forehand, don’t ride the transition. Instead, ride several half-halts within the canter until the horse has sufficient weight on his hindquarters and is waiting there, remaining balanced. Likewise, if you ask the horse to come back to trot and he shrinks away instead of going into trot, ride forward in the canter and do some strides forward-and-back within the canter until you know the horse is in front of your aids before attempting the transition again.
The ability to ride a transition is a test of the horse’s submission. Transitions create rideability; transitions also test the rideability and adjustability of the horse to your aids. The very first thing you need to look for when you sit on a horse is that when you touch him with the leg he goes – no compromises, no discussions. I believe most training problems are the result of a horse being behind the rider’s leg. And an important component to training a horse to be obedient to both the driving and restraining aids is the rider’s timing with the aids. When I ask for an upward or downward transition, the moment I get the desired response, I stop using the aid. The instant I achieve the reaction to an aid to go forward or come back, that aid is finished.
Forward-and-back within the gait
The goal in training is to create a horse that is 100 per cent adjustable: in the tempo, the frame, the length of stride. I like to do a lot of shortening and lengthening of the strides within one tempo – a “half-transition” or an “adjustment” – going forward and then bringing the horse back, sometimes almost to a transition down from canter-to-trot or trot-to-walk. Making adjustments within the gait creates more flexibility.
You have to be careful not to ask for more than a horse is physically strong enough to give. Transitions within the gait are more valuable for this purpose than schooling trot- or canter-to-walk or halt. I use transitions within the gait that correspond to the horse’s strength, slowly building up his strength and my demands over time. Both on circles and straight lines, I will ask the horse for a bigger stride for a few strides, then bring him back to a more collected gait, and then forward again. Gradually, the horse should find it easier and easier to go in and out, not only because he knows what he’s being asked to do, but also because he has developed the physical strength to be able to do it.
Just as timing is important with the success of training the canter-trot transitions, so it is equally in transitions within the gait. If I ask for the horse to make a bigger or smaller stride, as soon as the horse gives me the response I want, I immediately become neutral with my aids while the horse carries his balance at the pace I have asked for. For example, I may ask the horse for a collected canter from which he might do a canter pirouette. Once he is making those very small strides, I want to know I can take my aids away and the horse keeps tempo, rhythm, and posture until I ask him to either turn in a pirouette, or go forward again into a bigger canter. The ability to make the stride bigger or smaller and have the horse continue on his own with no change is proof of self-carriage, and of the adjustability that I believe is the goal of all my training.”
