Galloping tips

[moonmarker02]

Hi, so I was wondering how you would teach a horse to gallop? Do they naturally gallop or would you need to teach them? Asking about a Highland Pony I am interested in galloping on hacks but not sure how to go about it with a 7 year old who's never been galloped on before!
Thank you

 

[Auslander]

Hi, so I was wondering how you would teach a horse to gallop? Do they naturally gallop or would you need to teach them? Asking about a Highland Pony I am interested in galloping on hacks but not sure how to go about it with a 7 year old who's never been galloped on before!
Thank you

Horses know how to gallop. No need to worry about it - just get on and go!

 

[moonmarker02]

Thank you!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

If the pony has never galloped with a rider on before then don't just throw the reins at them and flap them on. They will become unbalanced. Set off at a nice canter keeping a contact on the mouth, stand up out of your seat and squeeze them on. As you go up the gears let your reins out little by little so the pony can stretch it's head and neck out into a true long and low gallop stride.

Once the pony has learnt to balance itself with a rider on then by all means throw the reins and have fun. Some need more encouragement than others.

 

[wingedhorse]

I think it depends on the horse, and their background and how they grew up.

My ex-race horse came with 5 gears of balanced gallop installed.

My 17 warmblood didn’t really know how to gallop and got very heavy and on the forehand, and then unbalanced. I had to keep doing as much as he could stay in balance and stop, rebalanced, repeat until he learnt.

My little warmblood gallops naturally (and had evented before I bought him). And is super balanced and sure footed.

I would suggest test the water, on good ground, slightly uphill, when horse is slightly tired (e.g. after several long canters) in a location horse is familiar with.

If go to new location to gallop, suggest trot and canter up and down area until horse settled in area.

 

[GirlFriday]

Also, think about company. You or horse may prefer to follow someone (you may find your HP will copy another moving up the paces if you follow and that could be an easy way to do it) or you may have one with a racing mentality who is better off in front/alone to start with. You can test this in solo/in company canter type situations.

 

[Mule]

It's a good idea to make sure he responds easily when you ask him to come back to a canter. You could do some transitions within the canter (fast canter to slow canter) before you ask him to gallop. Then when you do gallop, transition back to a canter and up to a gallop again instead of letting him gallop on. You'll know then if he's listening to you. It will help with balance too.