Developing Your Eye: Canter Pirouettes

Developing Your Eye: Canter Pirouettes
This one is hard! In this video we look at four of the top riders in the world performing center line canter pirouettes at Aachen. Sonke Rothenberger, Judy Reynolds, Catherine Dufour and one mystery rider just to peak your interest. None of the pirouettes are perfect but can you tell what needs to be improved?
The canter pirouette is a turn on the haunches in canter around the inside hindleg , with the horse bent and flexed in the direction of the turn. The radius is equal to the length of the horse .

Sounds simple right? Now lets make it a bit more complicated.

Positive Points Rhythm: Rhythm should be clear, steady and in a genuine three beat before, after and during the pirouette. Bending: Bend and flexion is shown in a uniform way to the inside with a supple contact and the head slightly in front of the vertical Collection: The horse bends the haunches, flexes the hind leg joints and really takes weight behind. Lowering of the croup and clear self-carriage. Size: On a small radius and controlled. Execution: Executed in the correct place with a straight approach and depart. Correct number of strides – single pirouette 6-8 strides, half pirouette at least 3-4 strides. The outside hind foot should engage and track forward under the body of the horse without any deviation to the outside. The inside hind leg and outside front leg are not touching the ground simultaneously . The pirouette should be centered and the horse should not step out or sideways and not be on a small circle. As a general principle the judge should assess the overall potential of the pirouette to develop into the best quality. Evaluation and smaller faults For top marks of 9 or 10 the pirouette must be almost on the spot. Up to 1 meter is allowed but any larger than this cannot be considered a high quality pirouette. The movement becomes a working pirouette if bigger than 2 meters and would not score higher than 5 or even less depending on size.