Canter on the lunge

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thegreenergrass

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Hi!

Just looking for some suggestions/advice/experience etc.

I am re-starting my pony, I won't go into the details but had to spend alot of time on the ground gaining trust etc etc before he was rideable. Now I have a nicely fitted saddle for him and am starting ridden work starting very slow and basic.

I've been watching arttoride and used his techniques with lungeing and pony is active and working in walk and is able to work over his back in trot maybe 60% of the time, he has a nice relaxed fluid trot and I can increase and decrease his stride etc. so trot work is ok and getting there.

Problem is when I am asking him to canter. He immediately throws his head up and I can see that he is panicking, he starts trotting faster and the lovely slack line and perfect circle he was doing in trot is now tight and hes pulling to the outside of the circle and (exaggerated for understanding) his ribs/barrel comes in to the circle and his head/neck goes to the outside. That image is exaggerated but hopefully you can see what I mean.

When he does canter he will canter on the correct lead on the right rein but 9/10 times will get the wrong lead on the left rein. Not too fussed about that ATM I just want him to relax into canter. Anyway so if I then continue he eventually will canter but there will be tension on the line and if I give any he just takes that canters a bigger circle and we are back to tension again.

I'm sort of out of ideas at the moment, I have tried being specific and direct with the instruction and the same thing happens and I have tried asking with small ques with them getting bigger until he canters. I've tried giving completely as soon as he canters and asking for trot again straight away and giving lots of praise when he does canter, I've also tried keeping him in the canter so he finds his own rythmn (which he doesn't - he relaxes maybe about 10% if he canters for a little bit but not really how I'd expect). I have to use alot of myself to keep him going in canter and it's just not that nice for either of us really.

Any suggestions?

(P.S. He is not being "naughty" if anyone is going to say that - all he ever wants to do is please and do the right thing so any suggestion alluding to him being naughty will be ignored)

I'm also not expecting his canter to be perfect whatsoever I just dont understand the panic rushy trot beforehand pulling on the line ahh i cant do it im gonna do it for a minute for you but im really panicking about it... etc. hmm. anyway i'll see what ideas you have as i'm out atm.

And just an FYI I have no training aids on him literally just headcollar and lungeline

Thanks in advance :)
 
Some find cantering in a circle, or anywhere restrictive, difficult, they panic and rush so it becomes worse, whenever I have had one in that struggles I completely forget it and move on in another direction, this may be more ridden work, going hacking and trying the odd canter in straight lines, using small x poles to help the transition or sometimes not even thinking about canter until they are more established.

I often have mine jumping small grids before they can really do a decent canter transition, they learn to pop into canter through the grid and gain confidence, every horse is different in how it progresses, how it learns and a sympathetic trainer will always be prepared to change direction and work with what the horse can do comfortably and confidently, most catch up if not pushed too early with something they find genuinely difficult.
 
Mine has taken ages to get his canter right on a circle, be it on the lunge or ridden.

Persevere, don’t do circles on end. Just get a few canter steps at a time, maybe a couple of rounds and back to trot. Lots of transitions, poles etc. It will come.
 
It can take ages to get canter on the lunge .
I tend to just send the horses forwards until it breaks to canter then I say canter and when the horse falls back to trot I just let him then get the horse calm and relaxed and then start again .
Three strides is enough once you have them going calmly into canter just gradually increase .
Get moving yourself so the circle is as big as possible the bigger circle or oval the better .
 
As BP says, poles/tiny jumps can really help -they are so focused on this new exciting thing they forget to panic about canter - and just accept a few 'natural' strides of canter and then let him trot again, until he gains strength enough to hold his balance.

And using the whole school, moving him around with you, so that you can calmly move all the way down the long sides with him, so the he has fewer turns to try to balance on, also helps.
 
You say that he's on a loose line in trot, if that's a standard lunge line that's quite a small canter circle to ask for of a horse who it sounds like hasn't done a lot since being restarted. I'd agree with BP and say take the pressure off achieving the canter and do something totally different, as mentioned on here poles are a great way to build strength (if you don't want to do them ridden long-reining over poles has been a great help for the beast) and after taking advice on here I'm working over poles 3-4 times a week now and will add variety to the lunge work you're doing. Equine Tuition on instagram posts some interesting pole exercises or there are loads on Pinterest!

I've only just managed to ask Denzel to canter successfully on the lunge without panicking and tanking off in the last two months and I've had him well over a year now. He sounds very much like your boy in that he's great on the lunge walk and trot, but canter seemed to really stress him out. After him pulling away from me a number of times I completely changed my approach so it wasn't about 'getting canter' it was about fittening him off the lunge, cantering in straight lines on hacks or down the long side of the school slowly incorporating corners and then circles. We can now sustain a circle or two but even so he finds it quite difficult - and so do I as I give him the whole bottom end of the school so I'm jogging round like a loon!
 
i`ve just started work on a three year old rescue, only playing mind! he can walk trot and canter on both reins all i do is give voice commands, he is forward thinking and desperate to do something cause he loves the attention, he will be 4 years in the spring, some are just natural, i only do a bit once a week, others look upon lunging as very boring.

most of the time i lunge in squares or triangles at the mo, to get impulsion between the turns and more forwardness, if i had one like yours, i would loose lunge him over a little jump, cross poles to start,then little jumps then a double, i would be very relaxed about it, and make it fun, you could start on the lunge if he does not jump yet, just a little pop, and build on it, jumping seems to light up most horses, so instead of chasing them into doing canter on circle, which is restrictive, they can open up with mind and body, go forward more, learn to pick up canter leads and get fitter, the three things go together nicely/

you need to think about making everything bigger, not smaller, teaching him turn on the quarters and forehand inhand will help him to curve slightly in to the direction he is going which is how he should be to pick up canter and stretch the deeper parts of his body and leg muscles.

it takes a little practice to keep in the right place when loose lunging, but its not difficult, it would greatly help in his work schedule and can be done on none riding days, or before riding
 
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