Pushing on in canter.

Lintel

Lintel

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I am in the process of getting Bailey fit, well trying anyway.
And in walk and trot he is perfect! Will walk and trot for hours, due to him being a Highland really, it's *his* gaits:rolleyes:
But in canter keeping the little fella going is grueling, if he picks up a beautiful strong canter he will only keep this for about 2 seconds and drop back into trot.
If he picks up an *average canter* he will drop back in about 30 seconds.
When he is out hacking with his buddy he would much rather trot at break neck speed than pick up canter?
No matter how much you push him, he just won't keep it going- he is better in spurs but I feel he will become dead to them too in time.
A smack does no good either- he is ignorant and completely ignores this.

His teeth are fine, as is his back, saddle has just been done.
He has no problems the gait either as when his hacking buddy (who has a tendency to b*gger of at times) does b*gger off he happily follows him in a beautiful controlled canter. He is not overly *un-fit* either.
Any ideas accepted!

*sigh*:rolleyes:
I offer Bendicks mint chocolates! ;):p
 
Ooo haven't had a benedicts in ages thanks :p

In answer to your question, transitions and lots of them. Trot - canter, canter - trot. Walk - canter, canter - walk etc will be your friend.

My boy was exactly the same and the only thing to improve his canter is transitions, he is much better now.

I wouldn't let him canter to for long periods of time as this will just make the canter flatter so loads and loads of transitions, you could also use poles to give it a bit of variety.

Good luck :)
 
olop said:
Ooo haven't had a benedicts in ages thanks :p

In answer to your question, transitions and lots of them. Trot - canter, canter - trot. Walk - canter, canter - walk etc will be your friend.

My boy was exactly the same and the only thing to improve his canter is transitions, he is much better now.

I wouldn't let him canter to for long periods of time as this will just make the canter flatter so loads and loads of transitions, you could also use poles to give it a bit of variety.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

Thank you! - No poles sadly, somebody broke them all as a baby..:rolleyes::p..or school :rolleyes:
Lovely field and paddock though :D x
 
Ah the dreaded canter, my mare would quite happily just trot around than canter & she's 3/4 TB! I also had a pony when I was younger that could do a spectacular extended trot when he was supposed to be cantering :rolleyes::p

I would work on canter is specific schooling sessions. Where spurs & if he doesn't go in to canter when you ask, re-balance him & ask again using the spurs. Try & recognise when he's going to drop back into trot & give another squeeze or a smack with a schooling whip.
Oh & if he speeds up trot when you ask for canter make sure you slow back down to a suitable speed before you ask again.

You may find that you have to go with the "average" canter until he learns that when you ask for canter you mean go until I ask you to stop.
I had to do this with my mare who has a habit of dropping back to trot & leans heavily on the forehand, once I'd got her into the mode of "keep going" (& I think actually built up her strength a bit) I could then work on getting her off the forehand / into something resembling a contact (it's still a work in progress mind!)
 
jenki13 said:
Ah the dreaded canter, my mare would quite happily just trot around than canter & she's 3/4 TB! I also had a pony when I was younger that could do a spectacular extended trot when he was supposed to be cantering :rolleyes::p

I would work on canter is specific schooling sessions. Where spurs & if he doesn't go in to canter when you ask, re-balance him & ask again using the spurs. Try & recognise when he's going to drop back into trot & give another squeeze or a smack with a schooling whip.
Oh & if he speeds up trot when you ask for canter make sure you slow back down to a suitable speed before you ask again.

You may find that you have to go with the "average" canter until he learns that when you ask for canter you mean go until I ask you to stop.
I had to do this with my mare who has a habit of dropping back to trot & leans heavily on the forehand, once I'd got her into the mode of "keep going" (& I think actually built up her strength a bit) I could then work on getting her off the forehand / into something resembling a contact (it's still a work in progress mind!)
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As soon as he picks it up he wants to drop back out of it, it's a misery of squeeze and smacking :rolleyes::p
 
Bit too late now & not exactly the bhs way,but I think a days hunting gets a horse thinking forward a lot easier than schooling, is there maybe a busy fun ride that might spark him up? Or find local teens to hack with, usually tend to be lively enough to wake up anything.
 
littlelegs said:
Bit too late now & not exactly the bhs way,but I think a days hunting gets a horse thinking forward a lot easier than schooling, is there maybe a busy fun ride that might spark him up? Or find local teens to hack with, usually tend to be lively enough to wake up anything.
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Oh heavens no, 17 myself- cannot stand teenagers, I hack out with a 20 year old. :D
Teenagers mean stupidity and trouble normal (no offence to any teenagers!) but generally, bitchiness is included! :p
Good idea but oh heavens.. could not think of anything worse :D:rolleyes:
 
Agree they quite often do, but younger teens generally travel everywhere at canter, except when they gallop, most horses wake up enough to join in.
 
Lintel said:
As soon as he picks it up he wants to drop back out of it, it's a misery of squeeze and smacking :rolleyes::p
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Hmm not good.. the only other thing I can suggest is that if he drops back to trot immediately ask for canter... if you do this for say half an hour he might realise that going in canter is an easier route!

Luckily if I give my mare a smack with a schooling whip she takes notice, I might get head down tank for a few strides but I bring her back to trot ask for canter and she (generally) goes into canter immediately & realises that if she doesn't drop she doesn't get a smack.
 
Fwiw I agree with littlelegs - find a 'sparky' hacking buddy - normally the one everyone else is scared of and ride out with them...

And now, to make myself even more unpopular, when you smack him, do you... Ehem... 'mean it'? One really good whack is more effective than tapping away...
 
Sniggers at JFTD :D

you need a friend that will keep cantering for a long time so that he cant keep up in trot or catch up when they go back to trot and when you use your whip mean it! Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard :)
 
instead of letting him drop back to trot of his own accord try to keep him going long enough that you are the one asking to go back to trot - difficult if he will only canter for 2 seconds i know... start really small and only ask for a few of strides of canter before bringing him back to trot, then you can gradually make the canters longer. if he comes back to trot of his own accord you will have to make him canter again immediately so he knows it is your decision to go back to trot, not his.
 
The clue to me is in the title 'pushing on'

If you push with your seat in canter, ie seat shovel, you depress the horses back therefore it cannot come up so it cant canter. A horse that is unbalanced, inexperienced or very sensitive to weight aids will find it nigh on impossible to canter like that.

You could try walk to canter transitions as this gives you less opportunity to be pressing down and is easy for a lot of horses to do as they bounce up into it rather than running faster and faster very uncollected etc.

Also make sure you are not putting a lot of tension down the reins and giving confusing messages.

Try smacking the whip on your boot for a noise effect rather than hitting him with it.
 
I'm having the same problem with my young and green new forest, it is really just a case of transitions and when you get canter, ask him to trot BEFORE he collapses, then try again. Throwing all your toys out the pram works quite well too but best when there's no one around ;) :D

Just like to add- I'm a teenager and don't go careering around the countryside in massive 'mobs' of teens, in fact I hardly ever ride with company or move at speed...a nice gentle 3 hour hack by myself or with one of the lovely women from the yard is more than suffice! :)
 
I was a 19 yr old careering around with my 50yr old best mate lol
But after all confidence was lost I am a bit saner now.

Something that help me and Samba was cantering home. OK not PC but she had a fear of cantering which took a lot to get over (ex gypsy driving pony, say no more).

But I just threw my reins away and told her to get on. I still cant get her cantering in the school unless shes very hotted up. Just waiting on getting her away for a bit of schooling now.

How about a sponsered ride? Might hot him up a bit, you dont have to jump if you dont want to.
 
My horse can be like this too, she hates cantering in the school...even worse on a circle! My instructor helped me by making sure the trot is nice and balanced so she can bring her back up properly to jump into canter, easier than running from trot into canter with her weight on the forehand.

So we trot and use lots of half-halts and transitions to get the trot nice and round, then come down the 3/4 line into a leg yield to the outside track, asking for canter as we meet the track. I find this exercise really improves the trot to canter transition, which then gives her a much better chance of carrying herself more easily in the canter, and therefore more willing to keep going! Preferably without the usual special effects of ears back, bucking and kicking out at my whip :D
 
JFTD said:
Fwiw I agree with littlelegs - find a 'sparky' hacking buddy - normally the one everyone else is scared of and ride out with them...

And now, to make myself even more unpopular, when you smack him, do you... Ehem... 'mean it'? One really good whack is more effective than tapping away...
Click to expand...

Lol, yes it is meant :P
No tapping about her. He get the full abusive one that comes red arse out the blue :p
 
My highland was the same. The good news is that it gets easier as they fitted up.
My instructor got me to click as a warning and if he didn't respond to follow it up immediately with a whip whop rope on the shoulders, then a good boy when he shoots forward. After a few goes they soon learn to keep going.
Walk canter transitions can help as can changes within the pace.
Look on it as an opportunity to practice a canter transition and you'll soon feel better about it.
 
Just remembered that I sometimes use the four strides 'game'...
Trot for four, canter for four, trot for four...etc
It helps as they don't feel you're hastling them all the time. :)
 
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