Slow Welsh D question! Semi-serious question...

[palo1]

So, my 4 y/o Welsh D mare is lovely - bold, forward thinking, very eager to please and happy to give anything a go. She has character and spirit and can be quite sharp - I love her and feel confident the future holds lots of fun things for us. However, she is terribly, terribly slow - I mean in canter. Both walk and trot have improved immensely and she is now balanced and strong enough to cover the ground reasonably well and loads better than when we started obviously. She does have more than 1 canter gear but she still feels really astonishingly slow I don't do huge amounts of canter work yet and I know she is still finding her balance. I know that I will see some improvement but is this a 'thing' for a Welshie??? I thought they were, or could be, pretty swift. My other horse is, unfortunately, really quite amazingly speedy which doesn't help my perception of the young'un's lack of pace.

I know she can keep up with the others in the field in gallop so it is just a question of waiting for her to mature, improve her balance and fitness etc or should I just accept now that whilst she is wonderful in almost every way I will always be trailing along at the back?? I have checked out all the physical possibilities as we have been going and she is happy to canter on either lead, uphill or on a slight downhill. She is a sensible sort too so whilst she will give anything a go virtually without any hesitation (happy to jump ditches, water etc) I wonder if it may be a confidence thing...Or an 'action' thing though she is not quite as 'knees to the chest' as many other Welshie lines.

I do remember some of our other youngsters being very slow at 4, not really finding any pace at all till 6 or even 7 but Alw does feel even slower than I remember the others. Any experiences would be gratefully received!!

 

[ihatework]

Give her time!
Obviously they all have a certain default level of speed/buzz about them but you can certainly develop it. No rush at 4, get her slowly fitter and stronger, then you need to teach her the go button.

 

[BeckyFlowers]

Sounds like she may be a dab hand at TREC! They have to do the slowest canter and the fastest walk ?

 

[palo1]

Sounds like she may be a dab hand at TREC! They have to do the slowest canter and the fastest walk ?

Noooooo!! My worst nightmare

 

[dorsetladette]

She's only a baby, welshies mature very slowly. Your lucky you have such a plucky forward thinking girly. I'm sure with balance and fitness she'll find a few more gears in canter. A few trips to the beach/gallops/fun rides should encourage her to go a bit quicker. She sounds like lots of fun x

 

[teddypops]

My sec d has a very slow steady canter. It’s very comfy and we score well in dressage. She does do a decent medium canter and will speed up if asked, but her default speed is slow!

 

[milliepops]

They are all so different. I used to stable next to one of the wiry zoomy ones, mine is of the "baroque" ? variety and has no turn of speed whatsoever. She has extended paces but she never really goes any faster ? even when i took her on the gallops she went in her own sweet time ?

 

[palo1]

Oooer!! Well I won't mind how she is tbh but I had sort of anticipated a bit more racing around! I will wait and see what we have in a couple of years and speed is certainly not the be-all and end-all especially as I already have a speed demon to ride. Alw is very comfortable and feels incredibly safe and 'capable' over rougher going which was certainly one reason I bought a Welsh cob. I hope that even if she is not a zoomy sort of Welsh that I can encourage her to find some more gears. There is hope - she really is pretty quick in the field with the others - all of whom have Arab, standardbred or TB blood. I will be patient and I will enjoy having time to listen to the birds whilst we are cantering rather than screwing up my eyes as I must on my other horse!

 

[milliepops]

Oooer!! Well I won't mind how she is tbh but I had sort of anticipated a bit more racing around! I will wait and see what we have in a couple of years and speed is certainly not the be-all and end-all especially as I already have a speed demon to ride. Alw is very comfortable and feels incredibly safe and 'capable' over rougher going which was certainly one reason I bought a Welsh cob.

Though kira doesn't really like hacking, she's a bit like a tractor for off roading, she doesn't miss a beat whatever the ground is like. But she never goes any faster ? we might hack out with something that scrambles up banks or over ruts and K just keeps time trudging along ?

 

[palo1]

Aw, good Kira!! Alw loves hacking (well she loves everything at the moment tbh) and certainly has moments where she has quite a bit of 'zoom' and she clearly enjoys jumping natural things (puddles, ditches, logs etc) bless her so there are many, many things to be thankful for. I am just not thankful to my family for laughing at my sweet, gentle, careful girl. They keep moaning about having to wait for us and for years it has been absolutely the other way round - it is my come-uppance!!

 

[southerncomfort]

Mine had a real march on her at walk but both trot and canter felt like we were going in slow motion. ? I didn't mind though, it made her super comfortable to ride and im not much of a speed demon these days!

 

[palo1]

Please someone tell me that they have a speedy Welshie now !!

 

[milliepops]

she's a speedy spooker, does that count I think her fast-twitch muscles are just not attached to her legs, haha.

 

[BeckyFlowers]

Please someone tell me that they have a speedy Welshie now !!

I wouldn't say mine's speedy but he's definitely not slow, and does have gears through the canter. He goes like sh*t off a shovel if I hold him back while others trot off ?

 

[crazyandme]

The Welshie I had 10 years ago didn't understand the meaning of slow! Spent most of my time charging around with her having the time of our lives! But she certainly wasn't like that at 5 when I first had her, but as she got stronger she was much more forward and loved a good blast. Very quick with her feet too!
She was one of the sportier versions though, many people assumed she was crossed with Arab

 

[HuskyFluff]

Please someone tell me that they have a speedy Welshie now !!

I have a speedy welshy Well, had - he's retired now but at the grand old age of 24 he was blasting around at speed and over jumps. His 4 wheel drive capability while speeding along was awesome as well! He's also a more traditional type, not a sporty version.

 

[ester]

Frank's canter is slow. Unless in a showjumping jump off. I loved his canter though, could do allsorts with it.
For trec he definitely wouldn't have had a fast walk though.

Oh he also has an excellent standing start so would definitely beat the TB on the gallops for the first 100 yards. . . not so much the rest I have video of that somewhere.

 

[BeckyFlowers]

Frank's canter is slow. Unless in a showjumping jump off. I loved his canter though, could do allsorts with it.
For trec he definitely wouldn't have had a fast walk though.

Oh he also has an excellent standing start so would definitely beat the TB on the gallops for the first 100 yards. . . not so much the rest I have video of that somewhere.

Please find it and post it!

 

[DirectorFury]

Mine was ridiculously slow at 4, she had no idea that a gallop was even possible! We went hunting once (and only once ?) and she suddenly discovered all her other gears and then some. I’m not sure it was worth having her bronc all the way down a very long road with me!

 

[palo1]

Thank you all for both speedy and not so speedy experiences I think, with time, we may have more pace available. If not, then at least she is very beautiful and can be admired easily rather than being a blur

 

[milliepops]

Thank you all for both speedy and not so speedy experiences I think, with time, we may have more pace available. If not, then at least she is very beautiful and can be admired easily rather than being a blur

I'm sure yours will find her "go" but if not perhaps you will have one with the talent for collection and you can be prancing around elegantly instead

 

[palo1]

Mine was ridiculously slow at 4, she had no idea that a gallop was even possible! We went hunting once (and only once ?) and she suddenly discovered all her other gears and then some. I’m not sure it was worth having her bronc all the way down a very long road with me!

Yes, my current speed merchant was incredibly slow and quiet as a youngster; to the point that I was able to do everything with him in a sidepull bridle. Until the day that he woke up and realised that speed was in his very making. Since then we haven't looked back in that sense!! The first time I took him hunting, I don't think I have ever travelled so quickly on a horse over such 'unstructured' going; one of the most amazing experiences ever actually but certainly rather terrifying at the time...!

 

[ester]

I think it's on fb but if can put on youtube I will, Frank high blows too, + it's a particularly steep gallop and you can sort of see him go nah, it's ok he'll turn round and come back down in a minute. Max speed .

It's fair to say we didn't particularly find speed hunting either, he'd take off through a gateway and then discover the hill went on for a lot longer than he anticipated.

The one time he tried to race someone on the beach he did his shoulder in, welshie shoulders better at going up and down than out it would seem

 

[palo1]

I'm sure yours will find her "go" but if not perhaps you will have one with the talent for collection and you can be prancing around elegantly instead

That sounds a truly lovely idea - the actualisation may be tricky but it's definately worth considering!!

 

[SEL]

It was a Sec C but his canter was virtually on the spot when I first backed him. If i pushed him on he'd get his legs muddled and buck. He could do a big Welsh trot much faster.

By the time he was in his teens he would fly along after the big horses on the canter tracks. He'd still buck but that was just for fun. Took him a long time to get his legs and balance sorted.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I had an old fashioned large welsh C possibly small D who was so quiet when I broke him in and was first riding him that I thought he would make an ideal kids pony and was a bit boring for me. Made the mistake of doing too much too soon and one day found that literally overnight he had found the go faster switch. I really wished I had taken him more slowly as after that he never quietened down again, still hot at 23 when I lost him. We had some pretty hairy moments due to lack of brakes but apart from that he was fabulous, go anywhere, do anything. Would love to have him back now.

 

[Goldenstar]

Time will tell .
you improve the canter by cantering the horse builds its core muscles best in canter .
you just have to be patient and see where you get to .

 

[palo1]

Time will tell .
you improve the canter by cantering the horse builds its core muscles best in canter .
you just have to be patient and see where you get to .

Patience is very much the order of the day and the fact that I find my mare slower than I would expect suggests that she is not ready for faster work yet - no problem at all. I am rather glad to have that indication rather than being offered all sorts of exciting things only to find that we over-cook things at an early age!!

 

[Pickelina]

I rode my loan horse's mum a few weeks ago, she's full section D and quite ancient (25-27 depending on who you ask), she bolted with me when she touched the grass! I was not expecting that!

 

[Quigleyandme]

Are Welsh Ds bred to canter? Excuse my ignorance I really don’t know. My Dales could trot as fast as most horses could canter and had a ground eating gallop but canter did not come natural to him.