Helping to balance the canter

[Jericho]

I have a feeling I might be referring to the HHo knowledge base quite a lot in the next few months .. (we are of course having regular fortnightly lessons but it doesn't hurt to get opinions from others )

Our new 5 yr old ex racer, having a few contact issues at the moment but already helped by some lessons and advice on here by switching to bomber happy tongue bit and a well fitting flash and going forward. Next issue is the canter on the lunge - he is bum high and very powerful, and fine on a straight line but clearly struggles on left rein to strike off and stay balanced on the lunge. Under saddle he is better and seemingly prefers the support of the rider which isn't ideal. Left to his own devices on a circle he is all over the place and struggling to stay balanced, particularly with bringing inside hind underneath and launches into canter usually with a buck. He was vetted so am hoping that nothing pain related.. and am aware that ex racer swill naturally favour the right rein as thats the way they usually train race. Any suggestions to help him balance the canter on the lunge...

 

[JillA]

I find lots of canter transitions works well to get the hind engaged. Several strides of canter, back to trot and then canter again for 10 or so strides, and so on. The longer they stay in canter the more likely they are to go on the forehand, both on the lunge and ridden

 

[DabDab]

It sounds like he is just lacking a bit of strength and suppleness at the moment. Generally, ime, a poor canter transition and resulting canter that is worse on the lunge than ridden is indication of the underlying trot quality being very poor.
Generally they don't have a trot that they can transition to canter very well from, and when on board you're holding, supporting and generally glossing over for them. So, as above, use the canter transitions to improve the quality of the trot that you have to transition out of - trot to canter to trot, and then focus on what trot you are getting when returning from canter, it should be better, but the improvement may only last a few strides. Gradually you should be able to lengthen the time you get a better quality trot for, and then you can add walk in after the trot-canter-trot transitions, aiming to get the same quality trot from walk as you do from canter.

Sorry that is written as a bit of a brain dump, hope it makes sense.

 

[Farma]

what do you use to lunge him in?

 

[Jericho]

what do you use to lunge him in?

A bungee - the ones that go between front legs and over withers. Don't think he has ever been lunged in one before but he got the idea very quickly and excellent in trot. in hindsight he might have been better without it to canter on the lunge the first few times.

 

[Dizzydancer]

Cantering on the lunge is very strenuous, in fact I now don't canter on lunge at all now since spending time with equine Physio- it's often counter productive (especially on young/imbalanced horses) as it's incredibly hard to keep them Balanced/straight when cantering on lunge and can teach them to fall out through outside shoulder.
My new horse is an 17.2 8yo but green sports horse who is weak behind as he has mainly just been hacking Recently so lost a lot of topline prior to me having him!
he is doing lots of Pole work (currently flat poles will start to raise in next few weeks) in the school we only walk/trot and I'm playing with the canter in the fields/gallops where he doesn't have to worry about balancing for the corners once he is stronger behind we will add short bursts of canter on the arena under saddle, he won't ever be asked to canter on the lunge.

 

[LadySam]

It sounds like he is just lacking a bit of strength and suppleness at the moment. Generally, ime, a poor canter transition and resulting canter that is worse on the lunge than ridden is indication of the underlying trot quality being very poor.

Pretty much what I came to say. How is his trot? Can he step under himself nicely with his hind legs at trot?

With ours, we start with small circle work at walk in-hand to get them to step under and balance. We get them to flex to the inside, short inside rein but not 'holding' as such, establishing a contact on the outside rein, tapping inside hind leg with a whip if necessary to encourage them to step under. Once established, this progresses to lunged (with side reins) and ridden walk and trot work. Outside side rein is loose, encouraging the horse to seek contact. At ridden walk, we concentrate on riding up to the contact with the emphasis on the outside rein, and lots of change in direction. In the early stages in particular the changes in direction encourage the horse to be seeking the outside contact while stepping across with the inside hind leg. Step forward sideways into the outside rein... change direction, and the other side... and the other side.

Stepping it up to the ridden trot work, a little trick we use sometimes is rising on the incorrect diagonal. This encourages the horse to step toward the outside contact with the inside hind leg. He has to, to balance himself. Once he understands that he will keep doing it on the correct diagonal.

You need to establish all this well - remember, you're not starting at 0 with an ex-racer, you're starting at -10 or worse, so you can't skimp on solidifying the basics of balance at walk and trot. (My boss is adamant that if your trot is right your canter will be too.) That said, struggling to strike off on the right lead (esp. on the left) and bucking when launching into canter is still really common. Some pole work can be useful on the lunge, it helps remind which leg should be leading. If you're not happy with the canter, transition down and try again. Other than that it's really just practice, transitions and repetition. I have one little chap at the moment who was a basket case 6 months ago, but he's finally got it - though you can still see the wheels turning in his head when he has to strike off on the left. Right strike off is fine, smooth and instant but on the left he needs a few extra strides while he's thinking "ok, on this side it's this leg and and and UNGH! there we go". It used to be a buck transition, now it's just clunky. But getting much better now.