Teaching canter transition

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Mari

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I have a young welsh section D gelding. He arrived 4 months ago, backed & started. He has come on well with ridden walk & trot, has good balance & is very responsive to aids. (No sticks or spurs used). However it is so difficult to get a ridden canter transition - both reins. No problem on the lunge / loose schooling. He just trots faster & faster until he has to canter to balance. Has a lovely canter once he goes into it & we’ll balance coming out of it. He just doesn’t seem to understand how to make the up transition. All suggestions welcome - I have exhausted my ideas.
 
He will get there, some take longer than others, get him out hacking and let him pick up canter going up a hill, the other option and one I use regularly is to pop a small x pole and canter away, most will pop over and pick up canter over the jump it is then just a matter of repetition until they connect the aids with the transition, I also use my voice in the same tone as on the lunge if they need a bit more.
 
In had this issue with an older horse where he wouldn't canter in the school. I'd apply the aids and get no reaction at all. Several other people also rode him including an instructor and he just didn't react when asking for canter. It took several months of repetition but I picked a specific corner of the school to ask for canter and used a voice queue as well as a leg aid. It took a few weeks before I got a strike of into canter and several months to start to increase the length of the canter and see consistency in his response to the aid (I only school twice a week). I found for my horse asking from walk was better in the start as it helped him balance and when asking him in trot I tried not to let him rush and fall into the canter. It felt like we were making no progress at all until one day we had our break through.

I've also seen clicker training used successfully with an ex driving horse who wouldn't canter with a rider and used this method with a 7 year old Friesian who struggled to canter. I rewarded any attempt to strike off and then gradually refined the praise to encourage a better transition / longer period of canter.
 
be positive said:
He will get there, some take longer than others, get him out hacking and let him pick up canter going up a hill, the other option and one I use regularly is to pop a small x pole and canter away, most will pop over and pick up canter over the jump it is then just a matter of repetition until they connect the aids with the transition, I also use my voice in the same tone as on the lunge if they need a bit more.
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totally agree with all of this :) I think some of the welshies can be especially prone to this as they often have quite a "strong" trot and have to learn the canter under saddle more than some other types. Patience will pay off. I had one that I started off with baby jump grids to help him get his legs in order - tiny bounces were the thing that helped him out.
I really find vocal cues very useful and use them a lot, my current welsh D is competing advanced now and I still use the voice throughout a session to help her understand.
 
I broke Bonnie last summer and I am still not happy with her trot to canter transition. Admittedly I did not do it in the conventional way and she has never seen a lunge line and has been in a school once.

I intend to take regular lessons over the winter with my RI to work on both me and her. Have you tried doing the same?
 
I'm using the pop a small cross pole and canter away with my ex racer. Obviously he cantered a lot in his previous career but it was in straight lines up gallops, so I want to teach a different canter for the school.
 
i always teach canter on the lunge to the voice before backing

never have trouble getting canter because they are fitter and understand the voice command

with olders i use polos, ask for canter when i get it i stop and push a polo through the lips so between saying canter and yelling polos! out loud i get what i want without rough aids,

(just very clear strong aids)

i also do this with trotting poles with the horse loose, so they do the poles with the minimum of me having to walk or run, its great to see them work it out
 
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