Re-schooling a trotter - help please?

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BobbyMondeo

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Friend of mine bought a 6yo trotter at the end of last year and has been reschooling him ever since.He now does a proper trot rather than a HUGE one or just pacing but canter is annother issue.

The horse will canter but not properly and its at the speed of light!! started off by just cantering out in straight lines but this was far to exciting and dangerous so had to do it in the school.

He has sort of mastered the art of a 3 beat canter but he gets his legs all muddled up, just because he is going so fast i think, but you try and slow him and he either fights against you or breaks and starts pacing.

Just wanted to hear of others experiences of this and if it is possible to actually get a decent canter out of him, would quite like to event him because his jump is amazing and he has beautiful movement and would do a lovely test but cant if his canter isnt right and is at the speed of light all the time


Do have an instructer just looking for opinions and experiences. thank you
 
id say the horse is largley unbalamced, having worked witj trotters

amd having to canter and gallop the, it was hard going
o maybe wrong but id be guessing the horses head is up amd its hollow
when its rushing amd breakinh pace, try going back to grpund work and lunging witj loose side reins, ridden wise stay on a circle. And a loose contact and let rje horse start to find its own balance.
 
It will be a long road but SO rewarding when finished! The outline/working from behind takes so long because any bit of pressure or confusion results in breaking into pace. I remember it well!

Will he canter along side a slower horse? Or uphill to establish a better rhythm?

Have you tried some poles or small jumps usually trotters have an AMAZING jump (mine went on to be a JA) and love it and it can help them to focus on something else......
 
Yeah he loves jumping and we do poles and little jumps with him once a week. not tried cantering next to annother horse, might try that. my horse has a nice steady canter so that might be an idea. thanks

Oh forgot to say, we took him out as the hacking here is terrible and we took him to butser hill which is a VERY long steep hill he galloped up it twice no problem and his rythem was no better afterwards. i think he just needs to learn to slow down and collect a bit more but as you said this just results in him getting confused and pacing :) bless him. Its going to be a long road
 
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It took over a year to get my ex-trotter to canter, and even now if startled, he always trots rather than canters. When he did finally get the idea that cantering was allowed, there was a good deal of yippee bucking. He has always been able to canter disunited and swaps legs and changes back at will - we could never decide if he did it just because he could, or what!
 
He will probably always 'break' under pressure or if he gets a bit disunited. But your friend will learn to bring him back more smoothly. My pacer always had quite a flat canter and although he would round up in the school it was never a natural thing and happened towards the end of the session. He did it naturally when the course of fences got over 4ft though.

Persevere he'll get there it won't be straight forward and he may never be winning Medium dressage but the bond he'll have with your friend will be amazing.

If another crossed my path in a years time I'll be snapping him up
 
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