Cantering young horses in a school.

debsflo

debsflo

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Just after some thoughts pls,i have recently bought a just 5 young horse who had a foal last yr so was backed then hacked and sold as a sensible hack with potential.
She had never seen a school and only done a very short amount of schooling in a field but thats fine by me.
She will hack out in heavy traffic ,go in front or behind and is hacking really well and canters in straight lines on our hacks.
She is very gangly and i think has lots of growing and filling out to do ,is v on the forehand and balances herself with her neck but is a tryer and is now having short schooling sessions and to my mind starting to balance and use herself a bit more.
I have not cantered her in the school as i feel she will struggle and want her to be more established in walk and trot and can canter out on hacks ,i feel she is still v weak behind and have also been advised by some people that this is correct.
Other people however feel im being too soft i think and tell me to work her in canter as this will be beneficial.
She is my first young horse although i have had horses for many years and feel im doing the right thing would welcome advise.
She has been with me 2 months and has had poor feet and bad teeth sorted and is progressing all be it gradually.
 
Your horse, your call. My 5yo has been happily cantering in the school since the week he was first sat on, but you know your horse best and if you don't feel it's time yet to be cantering in the school then don't.

While the weather is still lovely, the ground isn't a muddy bog and it's not dark by 3.30 it's so nice to take the opportunity to be out and about hacking, learning about the world and working on different surfaces. We're all much more confined to the school in winter so you'll have plenty of enforced opportunity to work on it then! And in the meantime you can easily enough work on the walk and trot and her strength behind out hacking. No hills in our school!
 
Yes i know it is up to me, i do see some youngsters who are younger and doing more schooling wize but shes is quite rangy and a bit like Bambi with her back legs even without a rider. We are lucky to have quite a few hills to hack and i agree when the clocks change i will end up doing more. im just starting to feel that everyone has an opinion on what you should do and need confidence to follow my gut.
 
Cantering an unbalanced young horse may help her become more balanced but it may make her become tense, tight, resistant and spoil what you are achieving in walk and trot, continue to make life easy for her by cantering out hacking and start to introduce it in the school when you are ready, she is your horse not everyone else's, I think doing something for the sake of it never works long term, stick with your instincts she doesn't sound as if she will benefit from being pushed yet, as long as she is doing some canter work she will soon build up the strength and be able to do more.
 
I would not push the cantering in the school ridden .
I would train the voice command on the lunge .
I would introduce cantering very large circles in a good flat field as soon as I could .
Of course it depends on your school if it's a magnificent 120m by 80 m I might take a different view .
 
My large 8 yr old can barely canter around a school. He's big and gangly and not always sure where his legs are. It doesn't bother me. I'm in it for the long haul, and have no desire to rush him *(was broken late, and has had a few breaks).
 
She is good with voice commands on the lunge and i plan to do some work over poles ridden and on the lunge, we dont have any fields on the yard but i will try and find somewhere to do some big circles out hacking. She is the sort that still feels a bit unstable picking up her hinds and manages to come in with little knocks as i dont think she knows where to put her legs.
I am on a yard for the first time in 20 yrs and everyone does have an opinion which i think makes me doubt myself and i am v keen not to cause her issues. I think i would rather take things slowly for the long haul as at only 5 shes a superstar to hack.
 
debsflo said:
She is good with voice commands on the lunge and i plan to do some work over poles ridden and on the lunge, we dont have any fields on the yard but i will try and find somewhere to do some big circles out hacking. She is the sort that still feels a bit unstable picking up her hinds and manages to come in with little knocks as i dont think she knows where to put her legs.
I am on a yard for the first time in 20 yrs and everyone does have an opinion which i think makes me doubt myself and i am v keen not to cause her issues. I think i would rather take things slowly for the long haul as at only 5 shes a superstar to hack.
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She would probably benefit from doing some polework, it really helps them to think about where there feet are, once she is confident with them on the ground used raised ones, they don't have to be set up in straight lines just a random selection to use in walk and trot can really help.
 
Just smile, nod, say, "you might be right" and carry on doing what you think is best. Fwiw, i think that you are doing the right thing but she is your horse, so you get to decide what she does.
 
You can on a hack start to collect and extend the trot and canter length, not true collection just enabling the horse to listen to and for changes. This will start to balance, also you can start leg yielding, but just keep at what you are doing its a long winter for going round.
 
I would also be doing what you are lots of hacking with plenty of variety in paces & terrain is the best for fittening & strenghting IMO
 
Your horse your rules!

I'm doing exactly the same with my lad. He is ten and is a Clydesdale, seems never to have done much in the school, very, very green. I've introduced canter out on hacks and am building from there. I've just added a little canter on the long side of a large school. I'm not cornering yet, I've no wish to be a smear up the wall! ;) By taking it slowly and establishing walk and trot the canter is really taking care of itself. I think you are doing a lot right and people should mind their manners!!
 
While I completely understand the problems of a big gangly baby, if you never canter then you can never improve. The transitions into and out of canter are the most beneficial to build strength and balance at this stage, long stretches of canter less so (although good later on).
 
I bought two unbroken four year olds two years ago and have trained them both myself since. One is well on with cracking flying changes and has a good canter half pass and counter canter. The other barely canters a 25m circle right and struggles to canter a circle left at all. They are all individuals. Do what you feel is right.
 
OP yours sounds similar to my green 7 year old, broken a year ago, bought as a safe hack, massive and gangly and not quite sure what all her legs are doing. I rarely canter in the school atm, she has a huuuuge long canter but tends to panic and motorbike a bit which I'm not keen on, plenty for us to work on walk and trot wise first. I'm the same in that I see 4/5 years olds out jumping decent tracks and looking grown up and I panic a bit, but then I give myself a talking to.
Saying that, when I got her 2 months ago she could only maintain canter for maybe half a lap of the school at best and now she can go for 4/5 laps if you ask, so little improvements all the time.
 
Do most out hacking and when in the school there's no harm in having a little canter to see how things are progressing. My Welsh D went from not being able to canter (very good at trotting at high speed!!) to cantering a reasonable 20m circle in only a few weeks and that was how I did it. I don't have a school so most stuff is done out hacking or in the field (although I don't ride her in the field as she finds that a bit mind blowing just now).
 
irishdraft said:
I would also be doing what you are lots of hacking with plenty of variety in paces & terrain is the best for fittening & strenghting IMO
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This ^^ My rising 5 year old is terribly unbalanced and cantering in the school he rushes and can career around corners! BUT he is a totally different horse cantering out in fields as it's a straight line and he can balance himself much better. In the school we stick with walk and trot, some pole work but try and do lots of hacking to build up fitness and most importantly variety to make it fun!
 
You do need to canter in the school to progress but a transition to canter on each reins and three strides is a start do that in every session and soon your doing six then seven then a long side and so on .
It's not good to be forcing an unbalanced horse to canter round and round the school but it's not good to let the horse get to six unable to canter a twenty meter circle .
 
Do you do any groundwork? If so, can you book the school so you have it to yourself and encourage her to canter and let her work out the balance she needs to canter in a small arena for herself?
 
debsflo said:
Just after some thoughts pls,i have recently bought a just 5 young horse who had a foal last yr so was backed then hacked and sold as a sensible hack with potential.
She had never seen a school and only done a very short amount of schooling in a field but thats fine by me.
She will hack out in heavy traffic ,go in front or behind and is hacking really well and canters in straight lines on our hacks.
She is very gangly and i think has lots of growing and filling out to do ,is v on the forehand and balances herself with her neck but is a tryer and is now having short schooling sessions and to my mind starting to balance and use herself a bit more.
I have not cantered her in the school as i feel she will struggle and want her to be more established in walk and trot and can canter out on hacks ,i feel she is still v weak behind and have also been advised by some people that this is correct.
Other people however feel im being too soft i think and tell me to work her in canter as this will be beneficial.
She is my first young horse although i have had horses for many years and feel im doing the right thing would welcome advise.
She has been with me 2 months and has had poor feet and bad teeth sorted and is progressing all be it gradually.
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You are doing the right thing by waiting, you can canter on hacks but cantering in the school takes a lot more suppleness and balance.

Keep on with the trot schooling working on lateral suppleness on circles, loops, serpentines and changes of rein, and for longitudinal suppleness work on transitions between halt, walk & Trot and within the paces too. keep changing the subject all the time - my coach many years ago said never go around the arena more than once without doing something different.

As she become fitter, more supple & stronger she will find canter in the school easy.
 
I would carry on what you doing with the cantering out on hacks.

Last year I got a 6 year old who hadn't done much and my trainer said not to worry about cantering in the school till he knew where his legs were and got a bit stronger and more balanced. He is 16.2 and his legs were all over the place. We did lots of cantering up on the Downs in straight lines till he figured it out. We can now canter in the school but a 20 m circle is still a work in progress. ;)

Just go with your gut and don't worry about other people. I know what you mean about seeing other peoples youngsters doing way more than your own. But if you aren't in a hurry, why worry. As long as you are making progress, taking it at yours and your horse's pace.

I am taking mine to water treadmill once a week for a few months as chiro recommended it. Good for their core strength and helps give them 'a leg in each corner' according to her.
 
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