Canter advice?!

[Danzatore]

I have an ex-race horse who has started canter work, but she's only knows how to canter on one leg and so far my attempts to school her have not come to much. My instructor has had us working in short bursts of canter, focusing on the transition.
Does anyone have any suggestions for excercises we can try at home?

 

[Mbronze]

Have you tried lunging her?

 

[skye123]

my friend had that problem with her ex-racer and she had the back person out and apparenty it did the world of good

 

[Paint it Lucky]

Have you tried asking her for canter on a small curve, ie coming off a ten metre circle?

 

[mickey]

If you are having problems getting the correct lead I would suggest taking outside bend prior to transition or using a placing pole to help. If the canter is just not balanced then I guess it will take time to build up strength in the hindquarters. There are lots of exercises you can do to help that, but I would work on lots of transitions, even in the lower paces. I agree that canter work on the lunge may be beneficial.

Can you tell us more about what exactly the problem that you are having is???

 

[nippytoady]

As an AI i have dealt with quite a lot of horse's unable to canter either all together or on one leg, the best thing is to get her teeth,back,saddle checked for any problems first. if none show up then the problem is normally unlevelness due to stiffness. The stiffness is normally more predominant in one side of the body than the other as most horses have a strong side and a weak side. A horse we have has come right with 6 months work, and he was a dream of dressage horse on the right rein and owefull on the left rein. with patience and laterl work he has come right and is now a pleasure to ride no matter which rein your on. Also try different variations of the canter aid as some horse's are tought slightly differently. pole work can also help with engagement of he hind quarters which is ofen the problem with canter work.
Hope that helps, kate X