Finding 4th Gear - Galloping

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Nikki N

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7 February 2003
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Dumb question maybe... but whats the aid for galloping? I have taught mine to gallop on voice command, which works great on the lunge, but when on his back if I use the voice command, he just speeds up in canter... doesn't gallop - frustrating when in a jump off that he saunters along (kicking ends up in bucking hissy fits which lose us more time as he does them on the spot rather than bounding forwards bucking).

In all my years its not been a problem.. in canter, kick on and they gallop... now embarrassed to find I don't know the aid.
 
Concerned you have taught your horse to gallop on the lunge....
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Im not too sure either
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All horses I have ridden have been fighting to gallop so I just let them have their head and yee haa them abit!!( One springs to mind, have never done a halt to gallop before)

What he like if you try it in company?
 
galloping on the lunge sounds a bit dangerous to me esp if your ground isnt great . actually either way ... I wouldnt recommend galloping on a lunge .

Theres no benefit from galloping on a lunge line :S


I just chuck the reins at a horse and shout " yee haaa " !! :P
 
Pickle to gallop you have to at first get him steady, then push him into a slightly faster canter then allow a bit of slack in the reins and he is off (I cant just let him gallop straight away or he is un stoppable)

One thing I would like to know is how the hell can you gallop the horse on the lunge. Surely even if you were to you would need a very long lunge line and a HUGE school. Even so there isnt much use to gallop on the lunge!
 
You shouldn't be galloping on the lunge as it is really dangerous, risking serious injury to the horse.
You just need to push them faster in the canter and they should open up into gallop
 
with hector its a bit too easy for my liking
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if you have got a good hold of him when his feet touch grass in canter then he automatically steps up to gallop (as i found out very quickly on our first ever hack out, never learnt my lesson so fast
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ETS: would never gallop a horse on the lunge, sounds near impossible and downright dangerous
 
The "lunge" is actually loose in a round very large breaking pen which is completely rubber padded - and on river sand (firm but still soft) so don't worry about the ground condition (his legs are a priority of mine). Only ever gallop him if he's naked (ie no training aids/lunge line).

I didn't actually want him to gallop - it all came about by accident but now he does it and seems to enjoy it, I let him do it - sometimes I'll ask him to gallop because he's being full of Sh*t and needs to burn off steam but its not a general training exercise at all. However, I do see some benefit of galloping like this - it's a safe way of getting him to have a real pipe opener and not having to worry about rabbit holes, spooking, not stopping, or poor ground harming his legs.

Just a shame that he is so willing to gallop on command from the ground but won't under saddle. With other horses he goes scatty - bronco bucks on the spot till I'm off and then gallops off on his own - doesn't even stay with others.
 
Not done galloping on the lunge (well not intentionally), usually just let go to be honest, old boy is always up for it and knows in a jump off "go go go"!!!
 
I would be interested to hear how old you horse is?

My big boy took a long time to grow up and he just didn't seem to have the co-ordination nor the confidence to do much more than a pacey canter until he was 6.

I took him Hunting one day and he quickly cottoned on
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Perhaps you could ride along next to a sensible horse to kind of gee him along a bit?

I can't see how you would want to or can teach a horse to gallop on the lunge so I would imagine that was a bit of a typing error
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Or you have a blooming long lunge rein
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I haven't got any other suugestions as out of all the horses I have owned it has only been him with the "ridden gallop" mental block.
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I had this problem with 2 babies - they had to be taught to gallop. And even one now, isnt good at it! I cant even go XC yet because he'd get so many time faults. He HAS galloped twice but that was losing the plot galloping....!! He gallops with other horses (ie. racing them!) but I find it hell on his own. He just doesnt go out of canter!

I think some horses are more natural than others.
 
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