Teaching a young horse to canter - hacking or schooling?

muckypony

muckypony

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Just seeing what people's preferences are - do you prefer to teach a young horse to canter in the school or out hacking?
 
I say out hacking and as someone else mentioned hill work is great too. But when I put this to someone teaching their steady eddie to canter I was looked at like I had 3 heads. In a sstraight line is easier, then introduce to the school as it's usually harder for the horse when he's not muscled in a school
 
Hacking following another horse, so much easier - takes the pressure off

Although if I was schooling and asked for a quicker trot and they picked up canter I would carry on from there
 
Think it really boils down to the safest option, what your horse will find easier given how established they are, my view is they should be supple and balanced enough to do so in a good sized school depending on what preparation you've done beforehand.
 
Hacking, uphill with a sensible companion.
Young horses find it easier to balance with a rider in straight lines or gentle curves, rather than in a relatively small space with right angled corners to negotiate.
As cortez says they already know how to canter, what you are teaching them is to carry the rider at canter and to understand the rider's aids.
 
Personally, as I only have very limited off road hacking (think 100m under trees over bog) and no company, and I've only ever taught ponies, we've had to go for the arena. Safer and most 13.2s should be able to canter in a 40X20 arena on a big oval without too much trouble if they can canter long reining.
 
Cortez said:
Doesn't really matter which, they already know how to canter ;-)
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This. Hacking makes it less worrysome for us, but they were born knowing how to canter. If doing in the school I wouldn't worry about lack of muscle as on a young horse, you shouldn't be overdoing it anyway. I do what is most likely to be the most fun for the individual horse as opposed to one rule fits all.

It's like flying changes...all horses can do them within hours of being born, but we make a huge deal of it when we want to "teach" them how to do it. Cracks me up to be honest. Most often, it's about just letting the horse do what it does naturally without getting in the way to much :-)
 
I do my schooling in the field and gave my 4 year old his first canters in there, just down the long sides and then back to trot, he's been broken 7 weeks now and cantered nicely round my instructors menage last week at our first lesson.
 
Its a lot easier out hacking, yes its a natural pace but having a rider is not natural so if their first canter is on a straight line they do not have to worry about balancing on the corner and getting the right lead to prop them up.
 
Hacking uphill following a friend , however if they take up canter in the school I will let them and say canter then just voice them back to trot in a few strides .
 
Goldenstar said:
Hacking uphill following a friend , however if they take up canter in the school I will let them and say canter then just voice them back to trot in a few strides .
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Me too.

Cantering and learning to balance with a rider aboard while cantering is a different ball game. Its easier for them to follow a friend on a hack. Preferrably up hill as it makes the likelihood of a leg-sorting buck less likely and they should naturally slow down at the brow of the hill.
 
They certainly do know how but I would say on a hack preferably up a hill, we don't really have any hills though :-( a large field can be good, hoping to get it nailed once I've had mine topped :-)

Could do with some nice long tracks really, we seem to have to stop when we start to find a rhythm and I find corners a bit hairy!
 
We only have roadwork so cantering out hacking isn't an option - so our youngsters all learn to canter (with a rider ;) ) in the school. By the time they;re at that stage, they've already cantered on the lunge and been loose-jumped from canter, so it's not like they don't know how to canter around corners. Our school is nice and big (approx. 60x40m) so you can easy get enough canter down the long sides and then bring back to trot for the short ones.

That being said my preference has always been to do it out hacking first - we just can't do that here.
 
Out hacking, though usually on their own. But because I do about 5 sessions in the school before I take them out, the livelier ones will usually have had a canter in the school before that.
 
Wow thanks for all the replies!

Great because thats what I was hoping! I'm lucky enough to have my own massive fields to ride in, I think my boy has been cantered before but I'm treating him as though he's just been broken, and as far as tonight has gone, hes loving the cantering in fields and beginning to get the hang of the correct lead!

Watch this space! :D
 
I did my first one out hacking with a companion, several rodeos and down a ditch later I decided it wasnt a very good idea. Next one was in a field , bucking fit , twists and turns later and dislocated knee to show for it, ive decided thats its whatever is the safest option depending on how exciting your horse finds canter.
 
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