Horse will canter only on lunge line

[nikikollar]

My horse limps on and off and sometimes she canters easily and at other times she won’t canter no matter what. She seems to always canter easily on lunge, even when I’m on her, but she won’t canter without. Is there anything I can do about this?

 

[ycbm]

What has been done to find out why she is limping?

.

 

[be positive]

When you say she limps on and off do you mean she is intermittently lame? have you found out why and is cantering advisable if she is not sound.
There may be many reasons she finds cantering difficult at times, on the lunge she is probably being pushed on by the handler, the whip and able to maintain her balance better than when you are asking her yourself, you may give confusing aids, ask when she is not ready, be losing balance on the turns and there are other things to consider such as saddle fit, do you canter on hacks to allow her to go forward in straight lines?
The first thing is to find out why she is lame, deal with that and then she may well canter with no problem.

 

[nikikollar]

What has been done to find out why she is limping?

.

I had a vet check her not long ago and she said it was likely an inflammation and I received a medicine for it and rested her for a while, which I did but her lameness has started to worsen again since I’ve been riding again more regularly.

 

[nikikollar]

When you say she limps on and off do you mean she is intermittently lame? have you found out why and is cantering advisable if she is not sound.
There may be many reasons she finds cantering difficult at times, on the lunge she is probably being pushed on by the handler, the whip and able to maintain her balance better than when you are asking her yourself, you may give confusing aids, ask when she is not ready, be losing balance on the turns and there are other things to consider such as saddle fit, do you canter on hacks to allow her to go forward in straight lines?
The first thing is to find out why she is lame, deal with that and then she may well canter with no problem.

Yes, some days she seems to be very lame while on other days not so much or not at all. I recently got a new saddle fitted so that’s not an issue, it could be something to do with my aids. I usually try to canter her in circles in the arena but she often doesn’t want to. I’ll try and get someone to check her legs again. Thank you

 

[be positive]

I had a vet check her not long ago and she said it was likely an inflammation and I received a medicine for it and rested her for a while, which I did but her lameness has started to worsen again since I’ve been riding again more regularly.

He needs to come back to do a full work up and you need a proper diagnosis, you should not be riding a horse that is lame and getting worse, be prepared for nerve blocks, xrays, scans until you get an answer, the problem with the canter is that she should not be cantering, she should not be doing anything if she is lame.

 

[MissTyc]

It's unlikely to be a problem with your aids; it's most likely to be pain-related i.e. the limping. It hurts this horse to move.

If this is a genuine post, please do not ride your horse at all when she is lame.

Find out why she is lame, treat the cause, give it the necessary time, then follow the vet's advice for riding. For some lamenesses, ridden exercise in a very controlled way (unlikely to be in an arena, on circles, or anything other than a straight line walk) is beneficial, but for many many lamenesses you will just make things worse.

 

[ester]

The horse needs diagnostics.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

You definitely need to get a vet soon. Do not ride the horse until you know what is making her lame and have treated the cause.

 

[ForeverBroke_]