Tips getting my loan to canter in an arena?

C

ctpony

New User
Joined
10 March 2025
Messages
6
Visit site
Hi everyone!
I’ve recently started part loaning a horse from my riding school. He’s fine going out hacking with other horses and if anything i have to hold him back; when i take him into an arena/school i have a lot of trouble cantering him. He’s usually okay with trot/ walk but then after i canter him he’s even difficult to get trotting politely.
it usually takes me a lap of super speedy trot to get a canter from him and even then i can only get a lap absolute maximum. If i give him a bit of encouragement from a schooling whip he’ll just bucks and still doesn’t canter. I’ve tried him in outside and indoor arenas etc.
The thing is i’ve watched him go laps around an arena cantering no problem with a couple other people, i’m just not sure what the problem is, i feel like everything i ask of him is a battle/arguement
I’m not expecting an overnight fix but does anyone have an tips?
 
Elno said:
It sounds like he isn't strong enough. Please don't whip him. Can you take him out cantering instead until he builds enough muscle to actually be able to canter in an arena?
Click to expand...
i don’t whip him, i honestly just kind of tickle him with the long whip. i do nootttt like whipping aha. I can if there’s someone to come with me but he’s very nappy hacking on his own, i did think it might be because he’s not strong enough but then i see the people that rode him a lot before i started with him having no problem with cantering all sorts of different exercises with him. I will try take him out more often though.
 
Poor horse if he’s still a school horse and you are expecting more of him as well. How many times a week is he ridden ?
 
I also think this might be something worth bringing up with your instructor if others are finding him okay to canter in the school.
It may be that you aren't quite setting him up right to pick up canter- it sounds from your description that when you do get it he is running into the canter, rather than being together enough to make the upward transition properly.
Someone that sees you ride should be able to pinpoint what you need to do to get him collected and together enough, it could be your aids/timing/balance- these are things you would want someone on the ground to look at to determine how to remedy the problem.
 
ctpony said:
i don’t whip him, i honestly just kind of tickle him with the long whip. i do nootttt like whipping aha. I can if there’s someone to come with me but he’s very nappy hacking on his own, i did think it might be because he’s not strong enough but then i see the people that rode him a lot before i started with him having no problem with cantering all sorts of different exercises with him. I will try take him out more often though.
Click to expand...
Do you give the aid to canter and then just sit a long, or do you actually ride the canter and continue giving the canter aid?
 
Elno said:
Do you give the aid to canter and then just sit a long, or do you actually ride the canter and continue giving the canter aid?
Click to expand...
i continue giving the aid. I’m going to continue talking to people at the yard as well as my instructors as i think it’s hard to describe how he is in the arena 😅 I think he’s got some negative associations and i’ll try take him up to the canter tracks more if there’s people to accompany us. My plan as well from now is to keep the canter to the very end as it ruins the ride for both him and myself and i don’t want it to have a negative impact on our rides.
 
I think you've described perfectly how he is in the school. And it's going to be a rider issue, rather than a horse issue.

Lessons are absolutely the way to go.
 
Can you book a private lesson and ask the instructor if you can work on this issue?

Disclaimer! I am not an expert!

Quite often, it's that you need to work on the trot first. He'll find it quite hard to make the transition to canter if the trot is speedy and strung out.

It's quite hard to explain how it should feel, but it ought to feel effortless, like you could keep trotting all day. He needs to take you forwards but in an easy rhythm.

It can be helpful to have a pole in a corner and ask for canter at the pole.

I wonder if you're over thinking it a little bit? Especially as you have it in your head that others are not having the same problem. Perhaps you're tensing up without realising and the legs are saying go but the hands are saying no..?

These are all things that a your instructor will be able to help you with. 🙂
 
ctpony said:
it usually takes me a lap of super speedy trot to get a canter from him
Click to expand...
I am a rider of RS horses. A super speedy trot is not the way to get canter. And may even make it harder for the horse, or impossible.
I suggest that you pay some attention to foot fall in the various gaits. Read it up in a book or on line and then, after mounting, think what the horse's legs are doing and feel it through your seat. It is the back legs that you will feel.

When students trot horses fast in the school, it is a two beat gait and once it gets going in a fast trot, the horse is quite spread out length wise,
But to begin canter the horse really needs the opposite of this. He needs his hind legs well under him to get that push off, which usually comes from the outside hind leg.
The answer is (going large) to encourage an energetic trot up the long side of the school but as you approach the corner where you will ask for canter, to compress the horse a bit, maintaining the energy, but using the reins to shorten the horse a bit, to compress him from nose to tail so that he is more able to get a hind leg well under his body to push off into the canter. As a learner one is taught that the reins will slow the horse down. But they are also used together with leg, to shorten the horse a bit from front to back,
If you dont get canter, keep up the contact and the trot and ask for canter again. With RS horses it helps to say "Canter".
If this trot to canter doesnt work for you, try walk to canter instead.

But whichever you try, the learner rider has to really want to canter. You need to make it easy for the horse by imagining the horse flowing forward between your knees and your hands. You have to "allow" the horse to more forward in canter. There is a paradox here as most of us are a bit scared of canter when we are learning to ride. We want it but we dont whole-heartedly want it and the RS horse knows this.
 
Sometimes when the horse offers fast trot, it also falls onto the forehand and the rider loosens the rein so as not to hold it back. Viscous circle. If this sounds similar, then, as above, slow the trot but keep leg on and ask in a corner ensuring to keep a good contact and push into it. Good luck and don’t worry, it will come.
 
I usually find that horses which canter happily out hacking but struggle in the school are unbalanced. But since you've seen him canter in the school it must be a rider issue, your instructor should be able to assess and help.
 
Jambarissa said:
I usually find that horses which canter happily out hacking but struggle in the school are unbalanced. But since you've seen him canter in the school it must be a rider issue, your instructor should be able to assess and help.
Click to expand...

To be fair it could be a bit of both. A strong, experienced rider will be able to hold together an unbalanced or wonky horse and get a decent looking canter out of it, while a less good rider won't manage it. I know that because I am the less good rider 😆
 
Where in the school do you ask for canter

What work do you use to warm up

Have you tried lunging over a small jump

Can he go from trot to halt and trot a decent 20 Mtr circle

Are you feeling tense when asking for canter
 
Firstly, well done for thinking through the problem and looking to improve.
Lots of good advice but I think you need to enjoy the canter you can get rather than focus on what anyone else can do.

So I think I would look to do say 5 paces or so of great canter, looking for a nice transition then trot rebalance and ask for a short canter again. If the horse does it well lots of happy praise. Gradually increase the amount of canter and shorten the amount of trot - I’m talking months no quick fix.

Good canter transitions are hard work for the horse - and really really hard work for the rider, if you collapse don’t blame the horse. I would also recommend holding the hands a little bit higher so you can’t use them to balance yourself and inadvertently ask for walk.

Enjoy the learning - what a great opportunity and playing around with it will make you a better rider than having a push button horse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top