Schooling Problems please help!

[Chloem1]

I have years of experience and have schooled plenty of horses in my time, however i have a 14hh welsh sec D x Dales who is an angel in every way until you get him into the arena. I have mastered his trot and managed to get him working from behind nicely bu i now feel as though i have hit a brick wall. Every time i ask for a canter he just sets off bucking and i have learnt how to manage him in that but wish he would canter...any tips?????

 

[spike123]

my first port of call would be to get in touch with a physio/chiro and the vet to rule out a problem.It is not normal for a horse to refuse to canter and take off broncing.It sounds to me like he is saying he cant canter for a reason.Possibly a back problem but could also be something like arthritis of the hocks as to why he finds it hard to canter. However if this is just something that happens when you go into a school environment and the horse is fine in any other situation asking for canter then it may just be that he is worried by cantering in the school.Maybe he has cantered around a small arena in his past and fallen over with a rider and now has psychological issues with it or it could be because it causes him pain or discomfort or even just that he is not yet balanced enough to canter and is trying to tell you so.

 

[Hels_Bells]

I agree with Spike123. Mine did exactly the same when I first got him. My instructor got his wife (horsey chiro in training) over who kindly checked my boy out for free and she diagnosed him with a really sore back. The (very expensive) saddle he came with had been killing him. As soon as we got him a new saddle this completely stopped and he is now an angel in all respects!!

 

[Lanky Loll]

Sounds like a back problem for defo. Had a lovely 5 year old that did the same - turned out he was sore between his hind legs (I want to say pelvis but it was the spine rather than pelvis

) once this was sorted he would still buck occasionally but solved the problem by working him on the lunge for 5 minutes before I mounted - bit of a faff - but if he cantered for literally 2 laps on either leg before I mounted it seemed to remind him that it didn't hurt anymore and no more problems.