Controlling a canter?

C

Cakey Face

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Hi been thinking about this one all morning.
My lovely Loan pony is very safe around the roads etc. im losing a bit of confidence when out hackinf for 2 reasons.

1. She no longer does a controlled canter. It is straight into full pelt mode. She doesnt bolt and only takes off when asked of her.

2. When she stops, she stops. Like a dead stop to the point 9 out of 10 times you would end up over her shoulders and on the floor.

Now i know its not just me as she does this with the owner too. I used to loan her back last year and had to take a break. During that period she was loaned by someone else. Now ive got her back im noticing the change. Could this be a habit she has developed from a rider?
Id love to work on this with her as shes a great little pony. Any advice on how to go about this would be great. As at the moment im only doing roadwork and bridlepaths where i can see a gate so i know she cant pick up too much speed.:o
Many Thank
 
Do you have access to a school? I'd be trying transitions - canter a few strides only. She needs to learn cantering isn't just an excuse to tank off and that it's on your terms. Re the stopping, I'd be slow to trot then legs straight on and make her work properly in trot. Defo sounds like she needs some schooling and if you don't have access to a school, you can still do these out hacking :-)
 
It does sound like a bad habit she may have picked up from a different rider. I'm not sure what the best approach would be but if my mare did this I would forget canter for a while and work on trot walk halt transitions, absolutely loads of them. I'd also do a lot of changing the pace of the gait. Once I'd done that for a while and felt a bit more confident, I'd ask for a short canter (in a safe place!) and try and slow the pace as I'd been doing in the trot. Someone else will probably have a better idea though so it'd be interesting to see what people say. Good luck!
 
Similar to what the posters above have said. I'd forget cantering out hacking for now, especially if it's starting to worry you. Concentrate on having nice walk and trot including transitions (and halt) and maybe try a bit of leg yield if you want to give her something to think about.

Work on the canter in a school if possible, or somewhere else you feel contained and safe. As mentioned above, start with short bits of "nice" canter, then back to trot and praise. Once that's coming together do longer canters and see if you can can adjust the canter - ask for a bit more down a long side, get her back to you again etc. Make sure you work on the downward transitions too, so she doesn't come to a screeching halt when you actually meant trot.

Hopefully after a while you'll be able apply all of that to canters out hacking and feel confident with her. Enjoy!
 
What do you do when asking her to canter, are you holding onto her face in anticipation of a fast take off? If so, try asking her to canter with loose reins
 
Where do you canter? Do you have 'canter tracks'? Good advice above but make sure that when you do reintroduce canter on your hacks you always vary where you canter, sometimes only have very short canters of a few strides and canter uphill so that you can stop/slow more easily. I would also get yourself some lessons, possibly on a mechanical horse, to improve your balance and seat, you should not be thrown forward when the horse stops.
 
Thank you so much, that's fab advice as always. I dont have a school at my yard but I can hack down the road and hire the menage. I think I would really benefit from a canter in a controlled safe area. Shes very good with vocal commands too.
 
If she's good at voice commands reinforce these when you're doing your transition work. I hack with a pony who will tank off full blast because she's been allowed to in the past but I hate being out of control my Welsh Sect D knows that we'll follow in a controlled canter all the time I'm repeating steady to her, then may end with a bit of a blast but ONLY EVER on my terms. I've always found Welshies to be very good with voice commands. Good luck!
 
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