Help please!Trouble Cantering in the school. How to unlock his canter?

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chocolate86

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My 14.2hh Haflinger pony had real problems with getting the correct leg in canter on one rein, i tried doing tight circles putting a pole on the corner. Doing tight circles he sometimes got it right but couldnt do more than 3/4 strides without changing to the incorrect leg or doing a fast trot. He would do the pole in trot and sometimes break into canter on the correct/or incorrect leg after it but sometimes he would just keeps trotting. I think its all related to his balance. I take him out hacking and he has a good controlled canter. Although sometimes he nose dives a bit, which makes me think its his balance thats causing the canter problems in the school.
I started lunging him 3 weeks ago to try and build up muscle and take away the rider factor. He has been doing really well
and has a fab walk and trot now working in an outline!! (Never thought a Haffy with such a thick neck would do it!) Now when I ask him to canter on the lunge he's really struggling to figure out his legs and he keeps trying but changes leg on the lunge so he gets upset and stops. His back and tack fit perfectly (saddler and physio have checked him over).
I had an instructor sit on him and ive never seen him act up before but he started bucking allover the school and he refused to try to canter for her, she declared he will never canter as he was driven but I know he can its just unlocking the canter!
Sorry for such a long post...has anyone got any ideas as to how I can get him to canter in the school? or if it might not be his balance (no he isnt being stubborn, i know when he's playing up and when he's thinking about something). I've also decided never to use that instructor again as she did something to upset him!
 
Hi
My think this must be a haffy thing ! my friends mare is exactly the same and our instructor found her really hard work too-said she must have been driven in a pair she was so one sided.The problem has nt been solve with this mare as her owner has decided to stick to hacking,but there was a big improvement when one of the other girls rode her for a bit.What happened was mare was riden for ages firstly in walk, then trot(she s a nervy type) till she settled and got really engaged instead of going in that typical short choppy haffy stride-lots of leg yeilding ,shoulder in,lengthening & shortening in walk anything to get her up off the floor,engaged and working through her back-then when the canter was re introduced it was much lighter,off her forehand(which Haffy s tend to be) an kind of freed her up to organise the strike off rather than falling forward. Hope this makes sense ! Sorry for the ramble and good luck!!
 
How old is he?

My HW cob could not canter without falling over when I got him and due to the size of the school that we had at the time (15 X30) it was just too difficult to balance. He also had (and still has) issues striking off correctly but I am discovering that it is often due to my own balance as I often ride with my weight slightly to the outside especially on the right rein. I now find that if I really exaggerate my weight to the inside he strikes off correctly every time and by keeping what I percieve to be slighly more weight to the inside (although I'm actually almost straight) he is able to maintain canter on that leg.
 
Hes 7 and apparently had only hunted before and was a child's pet, i dont think anyones asked this of him before. our school is 20x 40, sometimes i go and school in a field instead which is probably about an acre, as there are hills to try and help him build strength. I have been told im quite a balanced rider (also several other people have sat on him and its been no better or worse than what I get from him) I will give you leaning in idea a go as he may need the extra help.
 
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Hes 7 and apparently had only hunted before and was a child's pet, i dont think anyones asked this of him before. our school is 20x 40, sometimes i go and school in a field instead which is probably about an acre, as there are hills to try and help him build strength. I have been told im quite a balanced rider (also several other people have sat on him and its been no better or worse than what I get from him) I will give you leaning in idea a go as he may need the extra help.

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Another thing that seemed to really help my boy during the winter was hacking on the roads - even just in walk - it seemed to build up the muscles to help him find his own balance.
 
My TB x ID is exactly the same. She has old stifle injuries which consequently makes her very stiff through her back. She is better in canter with me on board, but legs go all over the place on the lunge. I've had her 4 years now and she's always been like it. No matter what I've tried it's never improved. So we try not to do circles and prefer to canter in straight lines!!!
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can you go behind another pony in the school and literally follow them, my youngster will canter if the horse in front does in the school - very unsure about it otherwise.
 
hes not much of a follow the leader pony, hes happier listening to me than following another horse, out doing cross country jumps he does it all at his own pace and wont follow another horse (even out hacking if hes ever unsure, the other horses spook but if i stay calm hes fine, if i panic he stops dead and worries)
 
Hi there! Just because he drives does not mean he can't canter! We have a 5yo Haflinger that my OH drives and I ride. We also had some issues over cantering in the school last year but this was mainly due to balance and "youngster" issues. He always managed on the correct leg but would either rush of or fall back into trot when cantering ridden
(still does sometimes, more due to numpty rider though now).
Lunging about 1x or 2x a week in the Equi Ami has made the biggest difference I found. He's built up the right muscles and can carry himself nicely.
When I first started cantering him in the school, my instructor got me to ride in a light/forward seat off his back. We now aim for balanced/engaged canter strides but come back down to trot after a few good ones rather than letting him run away/ fall into trot.
 
There is no reason why driving should make any difference to your his ability to canter, it probably just means that his canter experience is way behind his walk and trot.

Does he manage to canter on both legs if you ride him out in an open space?

Can he canter down the long side on the lunge?

I agree that getting up off his back at this stage will probably help when ridden but I think that lunging and longreining is a good place to start.

A good exercise I used when I was teaching my pony to canter on the lunge was to spiral in in trot then spiral out again only asking for canter when he got back to the 20m circle.

Only ask for a few strides to start with.

It may take some time but I think you are on the right trck with teaching him.
 
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