Loan horse cantering off and won't trot

[sophieperry]

Recently started riding a 17.2hh Shire X Clydesdale 7 year old gelding as his owner is pregnant and we were in the process of putting a loan contract together. I rode the horse 4 times and for a horse that hadn't been ridden since May he was relatively good, but a little bit strong at times and he did tend to pull on the bit even in walk. He would listen to me and go on the bit in walk and most of the time in trot with a lot of effort trying to soften him up and get him to relax. I started to notice that as I approached corners in the menage, he would try to do a few canter strides without being told to. I tried my best to only let him canter when asked and his owner advised me to work on 10m, 15m circles and figure of eights as she thought he was bored. But it gradually got worse until my second to last ride on him where he started cantering off on me and tried to buck once, not listening but eventually I slowed him down using half halts, and using my weight to slow him down plus a lot of effort . The last time I rode him however, he did the exact same but wouldn't stop at all, meaning that I did about 6 laps of the menage before he threw in multiple bucks, I lost my stirrups after more laps/uneven circles and held onto his mane until I eventually fell off. Being such a powerful horse, it was impossible for me to stop him once I had lost my stirrups.

He is perfectly fine to lunge in walk, trot and canter with or without his saddle so I don't really think its a problem with his saddle. He's ridden in a snaffle and I always tried my best to ride on the correct diagonal, not lean forward etc whilst cantering. Could this be a health or behaviour problem with the horse or is there something I did wrong? The owner and I came to a mutual agreement that he was too strong for me and I don't have the time on my hands or the experience to re-school him. No nasty comments please, I'm by no means an extremely experienced rider!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I think its just a case of being over horsed, it sounds as though you really don't have your riding at the stage you can cope with anything out of the ordinary, by which I mean the sort of tolerant type used in riding schools.
More lessons ............ you need to get to the stage where you can ride different horses and appreciate that they all need a confident and capable rider with an independent seat if they are going to perform well.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

I agree it does sound like you overhorsed yourself a little. These things happen. I'd continue with lessons and if you're set on loaning or sharing maybe look for a been there and done it type rather than something younger and greener.

 

[Tnavas]

Definitely over horses, sounds like you need something smaller and better schooled.

 

[gnubee]

Agree you are overhorsed. Once he realised you couldnt stop the few strides of canter he has escallated the behaviour. If you want to keep riding this horse you need to be having lessons on him from a good instructor - every time you ride until you can st least keep him in the correct gait.

Given how long he has been unriddden he may also have a lot of excess energy. If mine have had time off I will usually lunge to get them settled for me on the ground before mounting the first couple of times.