[timberline]

Ok, one of the barn kids is having troubles with her horse's canter and is hoping to get some advice. I thought I'd refer this you you guys since this is such a great place to get all kinds of opinions and tips. Here's what she had to say:

I am trying to improve Beau's canter, it is very strung out and requires alot of effort on both our parts. It seems I can't get good contact. Alot of the time he will get on the forhand and lean on the bit and zoom around, when I half halt him or pick up my hands to try to gethim off the forehand he comes back so much that i have to squeeze really hard or a little bump to get him moving again then my contact is gone and my reins are in loops. When he isn't on the forehand..if I manage to get him off it...any bit of contact and he will either break into a trot or resist...or get heavy on the bit. Now, it isn't as bad as I make it sound...but his canter just isn't that nice and I'd like to improve it. Does anyone have any ideas? I would lunge but I don't really have anywhere TO lunge. At the canter anyways...

Do you think this problem could be solved by lunging? Or should I change something in my riding? Should I be doing more trot-canter canter-trot transitions???

Any advice would be appreciated!!!

[Shotgun93]

I would suggest lunging, and lots and lots of cantering. It takes some horses a while to figure out what the canter is all about. Believe it or not, the canter isn't really natural gate for a horse in the wild. They have short bursts of speed when they are galloping away from a predator or another horse, but they mostly walk and trot. Because of that, it can take them a while to figure it out.
I would try lunging on the ground until your horse can get good smooth transitions from different gates, when he gets this, then try riding him and ask him to canter, let him go where he wants at what speed he wants. Right now it sounds like he is just flustered by the whole thing, which causes you to get flustered and a pattern emerges. After a while, he will start to figure out what kind of canter you want and he will listen to you better.
When he gets to that point, then try doing patterns with him, like fugure 8's and clover leafs.

[Shotgun93]

Oh- and if you are looking for a round pen to lunge in, try setting up your own with cones, barrels, or whatever you can come across. If you feel that you have a lot of control with your horse, you don't need a full-fledged round pen. When I am in the indoor, I just use whatever is there to make my "walls". Usually it's a couple of barrels, and some cones with a rope in between (I wouldn't recomend that for a green or young horse). Horses tend to form their own circle when they are being lunged.

[timberline]

Thanks!
Anyone else have any tips?

[Super_Trooper]

Yes, lots of lunging, they need to feel balanced, and this can take some time...when cantering on his back, get on a circle and get a nice comfortable trot going and ask for the canter, if he takes off, bring him back to the trot and try again until you get a relaxed canter out of him....stay on the circle where you have more control.

[luvs2ride79]

Sounds like he's seriously unbalanced. She needs to go back to trot work. Work him on spiral cricles, figure eights, and serpintines. Make sure he is NOT leaning, even in tight turns and circles. Have her pick him up with her inside leg and rein while sinking more weight into her outside stirrup. That will help get him balanced.

Work on the canter on the lunge line. Have her trainer help show her how to properly use side reins. Have the inside rein shorter (1-3 holes) to get a nice position to the inside of his frame. Use the whip to drive him forward and the side reins should keep him off his forehand (if positioned correctly).

Under saddle, work on a 20 meter circle, NO STRAIGHT LINES! Use the inside leg and rein to lift him up and off his inside front leg. Sink weight into the outside stirrup. Just do a half the circle, then trot. Re-organize and canter again. Do NOT let him fall apart. Go down to the trot BEFORE he falls apart. Use seat and reins to half halt. KEEP him on full contact! Wear gloves and hold those reins tight. Do NOT let him pull the reins out of her hands. If he wants to break to a trot, that means she half-halted to hard or didn't use enough leg. Half halt with inside leg to outside rein when he speed up. If he's leaning and out of frame, half-halt from inside leg to inside rein.

Once he's going well and can do a few circles at a time without falling apart, do spiral circles at the canter. Also do true bend to counter bend (work this at the trot first!) on the 20 meter circle. Only try straight lines at the canter until he can accomplish 3-5 circles at the canter without falling apart.

Also, this horse MUST be in a good round frame before he can learn to properly balance at the canter. His rear should be tucked, neck round, back up and round, and head vertical. If he can't hold this frame at a trot, more work should be done with this before ANY canter work.

Have her get some lessons from a qualified dressage trainer.

~Barb