Help please

[MiCsarah]

I'm currently teaching a girl on my yard who is 12 and just brought a nf 6yr old mare. Lovely little mare but is sooo lazy. We managed to get some nice work out of her today doing lost of transitions and had a lovely forward trot but she just won't canter!! We tried getting her to canter over a pole but she just kept trotting faster. We ended on finally getting a canter but she can't hold it for long. I know she's not very fit so I'm not expecting her to canter for long. Any ideas much appreciated. Also any fun things I can do with her aswell

 

[highlandponygirl]

I would probably check the saddle fits properly first, as an ill fitting one can interfere with their movement and can make them reluctunt to move forward. If its not that then it might just be lack of education on the horses part. Have you tried free schooling with the pony? Its a good way to see what they can do without the interference of a rider.

 

[MiCsarah]

Apparently pony was schooled before they brought it. Unfortunatly we only have a small section of field to ride in so notso easy to free school until they build the ménage. Might get on it myself next time to see, I was in shorts today as I spied abit of sun!

 

[Miss L Toe]

Probably a mix of lack of fitness and lack of schooling,
The pony needs to be balanced to canter, it may never have done it before, and extra leg action mean, "go faster"
I have had my instructor ride my boy a few times, and she really got him going, but at the moment he is too unfit to canter, so has to get a little lunge sessions to build fitness and muscles without the weight of a rider, he has to learn to respond to voice commands, and as you are on the ground, I suggest you use your voice aids for all transition at first, it may be too much to expect a young rider to school a young pony, if you can get a more experience lightweight to help you , I woud try it, otherwise you are going to have to put in quite a bit of pony education.
When you have your rider up, make sure she does loads of transitions, walk trot walk halt, using poles and such like to help her and the pony, I mean maybe three or four transitions down the long side and one or two on the short side.
After four weeks of walk and trot she might be ready for the canter, try lines of trot poles, little cross poles to jump from the trot.
What about hacking, you can get on your bike and take her out, it is often easier to find a little hill or something where they have to put a bit of effort in
Can you take her for group lessons or pony club in a riding school situation, I used to love "going on a course"
To be honest, I would not try to persevere with something they are both finding difficult but once the pony is fitter and more responsive to the ridden aids, it will all come together, a long as they are going forwards, you can slip a little cross pole jump on a corner and see what happens.