[*Buffy*]

Well for your first question last summer i worked with a standard bred off the track. and boy ill tell ya it wasnt easy, we worked on trot mostly and finally got that worked.. but for canter... i had a struggle too.... i think the best answer would be a professional trainer...but otherswise... good luck! its hard
And for the rolling part... i no this is mean... but kick em up till he doesnt think bout rolling.... like hit them.. cuz that is soooo bad manners lol
Good luck with both!!!
Lesley =]

[Toutie]

Ahhh standardbreds...very awesome, versitile horses. We have tons here in Maine as it is one of the few states that is totally into standardbred racing...there are some trotters, but Im guessing you have a pacer, much more commen. Most standredbreds pace naturally, it's bred into them..the "hobbles" the other poster mentioned do not stop them from breaking into a canter, but does help to give them the idea and a reminder to stay in stride. These horses are used for anything and everything after being retired, from english or wester pleasure, gaming, dressage, reining, team penning and jumping. You name it these horses can do it. We have a top retrainer of standardbreds here in Maine, Robyn Cuffey, who is the co-author of Retraining the Harness Racehorse. She trains these horses off the track for new jobs. Her book is extremly informitive and you may want to buy it. I will also put here a link here to a good webpage about retraining the standardbred. You may also want to go to the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization (SPHO), webpage. It's an organization devoted to promoting second careers for harness racehorses and Robyn is the founder of the Maine Chapter. They have a forum you could ask questions on about this horse. The website for that is:
http://www.sphomaine.net/ On the left hand side of the page is a place you can click to get into the forum called Available Horses & Standardbred Discussions

The website for the article I mentioned is here:
http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-ex...ed-canter.aspx

Enjoy, they really are remarkable creatures!

As for the one that lays down and rolls, I'd give the same advice you have already gotten here from others...he just needs to learn that it is unaccepatable behaviour and that all behaviours have consequences rather they be good or bad. Good luck!

Originally Posted by d_dancer721

Hello, I am riding a horse at my job and we found out he's some kind of pacing horse, like a Standardbred or something (he trots like the horses that race with the carts attached to them) uhm yea I forgot what its called, anyway. First problem is getting him to CANTER he doesnt like to canter, he likes to just trot faster and faster, way way beyond posting ability. When turned out he canters when he plays and if you push him enough or he's excited to go back to the barn he will canter, however I dont want it to always be that way. Is there a way to retrain him to canter?
Second question, same horse (his name is Cody by the way) he's an avid fan of rolling while people are on him or not, doesnt matter to him. I can get him to go but I dont want to be constantly worrying he's going to try to go down and roll all the time. Is there any way to train that horrible vice out of him?
He's a good horse but most of his life he's been a trail horse at a place that doesnt really train their dealership horses (they get them from a dealer and know nothing about them before they get to the barn) Im hoping if I ride him on my days off (at the moment thats 3/week) I can slowly turn him into an even better horse.
If you have any advice or comments please post below and let me know.

Christy