How to strengthen horse for good canter

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eatonbraynat

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My horse is 8 but has a weak canter, he is very babyish with this gait as we havent done a lot in canter. What can i do to strengthen him up to be able to hold his canter he really rushes round and finds it quite difficult. He has all things checked, back teeth, saddle etc and all are regularly checked. Any ideas gratefully recieved!!!
 
This really depends on the horse. I always think that transitions are the key to everything - sometimes combining transition with a bit of lateral work. How good is his trot?

Blitz
 
Hi, a couple of methods I used:

1. I asked for canter transition and she went maybe 5 stride before falling into trot so I then prepared her and asked for canter again. I let her fall into trot rather than keeping an unbalanced canter. Because she was asked to pick it up again almost immediately, she soon found her balance and gradually managed more strides.

2. I put her on a circle and really had her concentrating in trot. Then I asked for canter and went a quarter way round before asking for downward transition. Every quarter ask for canter, next quarter ask for trot. and so on. Again, this kept her from rushing because she was on the circle and thinking about what she was doing and also keeping them short and gradually building up.

Hopefully, this isn't too rambled. Ps. My horse is also 8 and now doing balanced walk - canter (or she was before having winter off). Back to the 2 exercises above to get her balanced again. :)
 
When he is working well and in an outline, his trot is good but not brilliant, could be better. He rushes alot so i am always working on doing everything slooooooowwww. To most of my schooling problems people say transitions, so i will try more of these!!!

Mishaspey - Good ideas too will also incorporate these into a session. Thanks guys!!
 
OK, try riding shoulder in down the long side and when you get to the corner ask for canter whilst holding a slightly shoulder in position. This encourages the horse to step under with its inside hind leg and engages the hind quarters more. Do a few paces and come back to trot.

Also once you've got a little bit of canter going try altering the pace of the canter, so you extend slightly down the long side and half halt back to a slow, collected canter on the short side before pushing on again on the long side. This seriously helps the quality of your canter but the horse has to be able to canter round the whole arena for 2 to 3 laps and needs to understand a half halt before you start this exercise.

Blitz
 
If he's also not great in trot maybe go back to basics and try some lungeing? It can work wonders with getting them to balance themselves etc :) Just remember to let him walk and give him breaks because it is hard work!
Agree with the above, also try lateral work to strengthen and make his muscles more supple. Try first with a turn on the forehand, then move into leg yielding and shoulder in :)
Also, when just doing regular riding, if he feels unbalanced, get him to trot and ask to canter again in the corner. Then after only a few strides, praise and end. Take it slowly and build up gradually, making sure he's really listening and well warmed up with plenty of transitions - a common thing I've heard is to aim to do 100 transitions in a session! :p Also pole and hill work is great for balance and strength!
Good luck xx
 
100 transitions OMG!! I think i will be riding all day at that rate!! Is that really possible? But if so i will defo give it a go!!:) In fact i will now make it my mission!!
 
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