Advice on a trotter/pacer please.

[Troyseph]

Ok so were making more progress now, we've found that a happy mouth Dutch gag he goes well in, we have brakes and he works nicely, he's obviously never going to be a dobbin, but the gag seems to be his favourite bit so far.

So I need help now, I don't have a school, we just school to the best of our ability in a field...
He's good in walk trot/but then because he's an ex pacer he trots very very fast before breaking into canter(if u can call it canter) because he tends to break into fast trot then you push him on a bit more and he gets over excited and ends up almost galloping.

However when lunging him he can canter slow-ish albeit a bit unbalanced!

Can anyone give me a bit of advice please thank you, x

 

[Imogen Rose]

When training a young horse i pop a very small jump, as that encourges a balanced natural canter on landing.
After retraining thouroughbreds iv found that turning in a very small circle when they pick up the pace is very effective! the horse cant 'run' in a circle so has to slow down, rather than being pulled to a stop. I dont mean tuen to stop, just turn to slow then let them continue on... then ask to slow... if your ignored turn to slow....etc.
I hope that is remotely helpful! just a few things iv found useful good luck!

 

[monkeybum13]

Troyseph yours sounds just like my standie.

The main things that improved my standie's canter was to ask for canter over a raised pole in the corner, no fast trot just straight from trot to canter. Once you've got the canter only canter for a short distance, just up the long side is plenty and then come back to trot. If the trot is rushed come back down to walk fairly quickly, establish the walk and then back up to trot. A few times doing this and you won't need to come back down to walk.

To be honest I think this would work better in a field rather than a school, you can canter for longer in a straight line Personally I like to keep the canter straight to start with, when you start to include bending if their balance isn't great it fries their little standardbred brains

Good Luck!

 

[Sherbie]

Totally with MB13!
I share an ex trotter with my sister and he is currently going being trained to be a riding horse. At the moment we are still at the walking, walking,walking stage. Also teaching him to stand still. When the canter stage comes, depending on how he does ( he canters up the field but also seen him trot up the field at speed! dont think I could sit to that ). We have a very experienced friend riding him as hes very calm and thats what is best for our boy atm. Take things slowly and use poles, short straights to let your horse know its ok to canter, then work on the balance.
Keep us updated with your progress and any tips you have please pass them on

 

[Gucci_b]

I found the best way to start the canter in a standard bred is on a hack, little and often to begin with, with lots of praise too. I never worked mine in the school for many months as they can be quite unbalanced and become disunited if you push them to hard to soon. I have found the standard bred to be very loyal and try hard for you and have a fab temperament, and when you get there a fab jumper too

 

[Sherbie]

Our boy goes out on a walking hack just now and is not phased by a thing. Hes is happy as long as he is going forwards. Balance in the canter I think can take some time and practice, but can be done. Standies are fab, very trainable,focused and the ones Ive met are so kind and very well mannered.

I dont want to hyjack the OP but any advice on how you have got your trotters/pacers to stand to be mounted would be very much appreciated

 

[wildcard]

I had an ex trotter and I found been very firm when it came to the canter any break into trot and I would pull straight up and restart and just repeat repeat.until.it.clicks.for them Make a very clear divide between aids I found helped and using voice aids used.while.lunging. I also fou.d that while out hacking to use a rising canter to help slow and steady the canter. Using ur seat helps maintain rythem for them. Great horses with amazing temps and not sure about anybody else's but one I had was built.on springs amazing jump on it and very foot sure never touched a fence. Good luck xx