How Is My Mares Canter?

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Honeysrider

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Im new to riding, this her being lunged, if you disagree with a pessoa please dont comment that's for another thread.
i want to know what people think of her canter? is she stepping big or small is she stiff what strikes you about the canter first of all? what you look to improve if it was your horse? (she is slightly misaligned in her pelvis, needs stretching in the right side of her pelvis however it inst severe and we are working on with a vet and physical therapist)


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thank you :)
 
She's lovely but using a lunge line would enable you to slow her canter and help her work more evenly through her back to greater benefit.

Also, if she was mine, I might be a bit worried that she could get tangled up in those ropes if she put in a buck! :)
 
Whatever one thinks of the horsey bondage it is hard to tell what 'her' canter is like as obviously if it is doing anything at all it will be effecting her way of going to an extent.

That doesn't look like a calm steady canter to me. Her ears are back in every picture and she looks unhappy (being chased round?) rather than excited and over doing it to me.

Do you have any stills/footage of her cantering in the field or in a calmer environment?
 
I would also use a lunge line. Start off by walking and trotting until she is obedient and relaxed and can go round the circle with her head carried to the inside, and you can control her speed by your voice. She needs to be able to do this before she canters to avoid damage to her joints and ligaments. When she can trot circles happily then introduce the pessoa - I wouldn't use it in canter.
 
These are snapshots not videos - but to me it does not look like the pessoa is not fitted correctly. It looks a bit too low - although I accept my pet hate is people who use them too tight and sock the horse in the mouth. This just looks like she is actually at risk from the loose lines. But that could be just the effect of the single images.

Why are you using a pessoa to free school though? She looks like she is on the forehand, not flexing and somewhat shut down. But I absolutely accept that stand alone images do not give a full picture and that could be entirely wrong.
 
I never mentioned anything about a video.DO you think her being shut down and not flexing is caused by the improper pessoa use? Is the pessoa too tight or too loose i cant tell which you mean, thank you
 
Hi I have viewed your photos and my question is what are you expecting the Pessoa to do for your horse?

You ask what we would do to improve this horse?

I would not bother with canter at this stage, if the mare has hip issues I would focus on pole work and simple suppling exercises in hand in walk to start with - yes walk. Working the horse in hand; using circles, poles etc is an excellent and sound way to develop a horse's way of going and to help the horse to use itself and prepare for the trot and later canter.

If you do use the Pessoa I suggest walking and short periods of trot are more beneficial at this stage.

All the best.
 
this is an old video from a few months before i learnt of her issues, however shes currently out of work so it was the most recent canter footage i had. Im hoping to use the pessoa to engage her hind more and get her off the forehand. Yes a few people seem to have said no canter, i realize now that was too much for her.

You mention walking in hand, i never considered in hand exercise, do you have any links so i get a more specific idea of what exercise you mean? Do you think 20m circles would be too much or shall i incorporate them when i do our circle work?

thank you :)
 
I would imagine because its difficult to tell anything much from those photos and it would have been better to post the video. But the whole thread is a bit odd tbh................................
 
The reference to them being snapshots not videos is entirely my fault - I spent a long time clicking on them wondering why they wouldn't play. Sorry OP - my lack of technical know how, not yours!

OP - its difficult to answer your questions precisely from a series of static images. The Pessoa looks too low behind which suggests the 2 rear lines are not adjusted correctly. That does not necessarily equate to it being too loose. but it certainly is not too tight. The lack of flex and the fact she appears to be shut down will not be from incorrect use of a pessoa alone - that will be a combination of handling / training issues, probably over some time. But as I said in my initial response this is a series of static images so the impression they give could be entirely misleading.

Having now read your other posts - perhaps the best thing to do is to get an experienced instructor to help you? Your posts suggest you are relatively inexperienced (and I don't intend that to sound mean or anything - its just an observation. And like anything based on static images is only a perception from a small window in time). You are clearly trying to do the best you can by your mare which is wonderful - but understandably getting bogged down a bit in all the opinions. If you put 3 horse people in a room you will have at least 4 opinions. But they are just that - opinions. It is great to learn from others and there are always new ways of looking at stuff. But at this stage you might gain more from finding one instructor who just really makes good sense to you and clicks with both you and your mare.
 
Thank you! Thats very sound advice �� I have an instructor but never thought to ask her about mY non ridden work, will do ��
 
There are many exercises to do in hand and I can PM some links if you like and you can then talk through these with your instructor.
 
Shay said:
The reference to them being snapshots not videos is entirely my fault - I spent a long time clicking on them wondering why they wouldn't play. Sorry OP - my lack of technical know how, not yours!

OP - its difficult to answer your questions precisely from a series of static images. The Pessoa looks too low behind which suggests the 2 rear lines are not adjusted correctly. That does not necessarily equate to it being too loose. but it certainly is not too tight. The lack of flex and the fact she appears to be shut down will not be from incorrect use of a pessoa alone - that will be a combination of handling / training issues, probably over some time. But as I said in my initial response this is a series of static images so the impression they give could be entirely misleading.

Having now read your other posts - perhaps the best thing to do is to get an experienced instructor to help you? Your posts suggest you are relatively inexperienced (and I don't intend that to sound mean or anything - its just an observation. And like anything based on static images is only a perception from a small window in time). You are clearly trying to do the best you can by your mare which is wonderful - but understandably getting bogged down a bit in all the opinions. If you put 3 horse people in a room you will have at least 4 opinions. But they are just that - opinions. It is great to learn from others and there are always new ways of looking at stuff. But at this stage you might gain more from finding one instructor who just really makes good sense to you and clicks with both you and your mare.
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Agree. Thats also waaayyyy too loose. And if your not overly experience, I don't in all honesty think you should be using a complex peice of equipment like this.
 
It's hard to tell what her underlying canter is like....but in those photos she's on the forehand and unbalanced to the point of extreme motorbiking. She either doesn't have the strength to hold herself up properly in the canter, or is being pushed off balance by what she's being asked to do.

If she were mine I would not be using a Pessoa as generally it is very hard to use one without pushing a horse onto its forehand, and what this horse needs is to lighten her front end, steady up and become more deliberate and controlled in her stride rather than frantically moving legs in an irregular way. To be honest I wouldn't be doing much canter with her at all at the moment, just 3-4 strides at a time to get the transitions in and out as good as they can be.

Other than that, hill work in walk and trot, polework working on getting even rhythm with deliberate steps, lateral work in walk and trot gradually incorporating canter transitions coming off a lateral movement.
 
DabDab said:
It's hard to tell what her underlying canter is like....but in those photos she's on the forehand and unbalanced to the point of extreme motorbiking. She either doesn't have the strength to hold herself up properly in the canter, or is being pushed off balance by what she's being asked to do.

If she were mine I would not be using a Pessoa as generally it is very hard to use one without pushing a horse onto its forehand, and what this horse needs is to lighten her front end, steady up and become more deliberate and controlled in her stride rather than frantically moving legs in an irregular way. To be honest I wouldn't be doing much canter with her at all at the moment, just 3-4 strides at a time to get the transitions in and out as good as they can be.

Other than that, hill work in walk and trot, polework working on getting even rhythm with deliberate steps, lateral work in walk and trot gradually incorporating canter transitions coming off a lateral movement.
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very helpful thank you ! didnt know that about the pessoa good note
 
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