How to improve a young horses canter?

[texansunrise]

How would you go about improving a young horses canter? My youngster is finally starting to relax and accept the bit working nicely in a trot but when i ask for a canter he is very hollow and long and feels awful.He is also a bit unbalanced and finds circles in a canter difficult. What are the best excercises for teaching him to round his back,balance and collect in a canter? I appreciate this will take time to achieve but i would really like to know of any schooling tips
Thank you for all your advice

 

[kirstie]

How old is the horse? size? breed?

 

[Kenzo]

Transitions...always a good for most problems but try to keep your circles large, nothing smaller than 20m, and don't get carried away going round and round, do a circle, go back into trot, let the horse collect again and work in trot then back to a circle again, so your keeping those circles short but with energy and large enough for the horse to get to grips with a faster pace, but short enough before the drop to heavy on the forhand, every so often go back onto the outside track an let them have nice stretch in caster along the long side of the school. Lateral work is also very good.

 

[BFG]

I would work him on the lunge for a while first, personally i would use a passoa this will give him the balance and the muscles to be able to do it with a rider on board.

I was told not to leave them in canter too long because the longer they are in it the flatter and more unbalanced they become.

I don’t know how old he is but maybe try canter poles this will keep his canter the same length and encourage his back end to work.

Other than that transitions and plenty of strengthening work so that he has to tools to carry himself.

My lad it 18hh and could canter down the ménage is about 3 strides now i can canter a 5 meter circle if i want to and would say his canter is by far his best pace.

Maybe try taking him out for canters on straight lines to allow him to stay forward and enjoy the pace before it becomes difficult.

 

[Alimac19]

Mine didn't hollow but he was VERY unbalanced and kept breaking out of canter as he found it difficult but after a lot of practice, practice, pracitce he is now great. I used a pessoa a few times in the beginnng but only for a short time and then basically you can't expect things to get better until the muscles have built up so stick with it and it will come eventually.

 

[texansunrise]

Thanks for that .. he has just turned five but fairly green. He is 16 hh american quater horse x american tb .. i have been doing some pessoa work with him but did not know how much canter work i should be asking for. He has dropped his nose a couple of times and felt a lot more balanced for a stride or two , but the biggest problem is he hollows and really fights any contact. I guess i will get there as he was the same in trot and now the penny has droped ! Thanks x

 

[KatB]

I personally wouldnt use a pessoa to canter a young horse in until they have done more strengthening work. The reason why is they punish a horse if they stumble or cant balance themselves. Keep to trot in a pessoa, lunge work will help build up muscles, and then the strength developed will help with canter under saddle.

 

[Bert&Maud]

Time & patience! I've had a year of struggling with my horse (he was 5 when I got him) and I can finally canter for as long as I want. I found that once I was able to do lots of transitions and turns, small circles and leg yields in walk & trot, he started to come off his forehand which then made cantering easier. I didn't manage to come up with any magic tricks to make the process any quicker! It's great once you get there though, and I have to keep reminding myself how far I have come.

 

[BFG]

Different people have different views my lad was 6 and i used a pessoa in canter and it worked no end. Also my fiend used it on her 5 year old 17.2 TB also in canter and it really really helped him with his balance and strength behind.

 

[diggerbez]

i think i agree that time and hard work on the walk and trot will make him stronger and more able to deal with cantering. for the mean time i would spend time cantering him outside on hacks (up hill if possible) and i would try to get off his back- if you stand in XC position and then rest your hands on the base of the horses neck- keeping a consistent contact and keep him jumping forward in canter using your lower leg. you can then sort of roll your hands forwards and backwards and this really encourages them to round down...i probably haven't explained it very well but find it works a treat- esp with babies!

 

[scribble]

go forward into a jumping position until his back is stronger for you to sit on it, canter down long sides and do lots of transitions and slowly build up cantering round the bends after the long side ie down the short sides.