cantering...help!

[EventPony]

Maya is PRETTY good at the walk and trot..but when we start cantering, we fall apart. She will NOT bend in her corners or on circles. She leans in like a motor cycle and she will not collect. If I try to collect her...she just breaks to the trot......If i try to give her more leg..she still breaks into the trot but if i dont use my reins she just speeds up. And when i try to get her to band w/ my inside leg adn rein....she still breaks into the trot! I need desperate help b/c I have one more dressage schooling lesson b4 my show this saturday...its my first cantering test w/ maya and only my second dressage test all together. I know they really look for acceptance of the bit adn bending, and a lot of the test is cantering...does anyone know how i can help her do this? thanks! also....when i try to keep her from breaking, my legs go higher and higher.

[Mehitabel]

from your posts in the other boards, i think your problems are all related. when your seat is secure, your legs are still and your hands are steady, your pony will be able to maintain canter much more easily. i'm afraid there isn't a quick fix!

[Alison+Rio]

i agree with the above post. it may help her to be lunged with side reins on. this may help her to bend when you are not riding her. it will also allow you to see how she copes with corners. it takes a lot of schooling for a horse to bend when cantering and you have to be stable with your hands and legs etc. good luck with the test though!

[Kerry's Partner!!]

Try for some help from the Enlightened Equitation section. I haven't read your previous threads so will probably be speaking out of turn (forgive the pun!). You might need to work on your outside rein (and maybe even your outside leg) rather than the inside(s) because you need to keep her "straighter" - I THINK!

[Bootyfulcobs]

pass... :D

[citruschic3]

omg i had the same problem with my previous pony( this is not a pony pony im talking about, this pony took me prelim!). in the beginning, she was scared of my leg and hand and was ran every time that she was asked to canter. so i did tons of trot and walk work in dressage and then when i asked for canter, i just sat there and let her run around like an idiot breaking and doing all kinds of crap and all the while, just asking for a slight acceptance of the bit and finally she would get tired and pay attention but you really sound as if you need more feel for your horse. Its hard, but you have to find out how much is too much and how much is too little and what to use at the same time as somthing else, its just feel and balance. maybe you arent balanced very well and so therefore your horse cant be. but i would not suggest going in any more dressage tests with a canter untill you get this down. all the tests will do is make you sad, frustrated and make you want to mistreat your horse. i would know!

[Anz]

Sounds like you and Maya aren't having much fun at the mo!

An excercise i find good is to halt at one part of the school, then ask her to trot, if she doesnt immediately react to a light led aid give her a kick or a tap with a whip (whatever will make her really go). A few strides later ask for walk, then halt. Repeat the trot transition, again giving her a tap if she doesnt listen to the lightest leg aid. Then ask for halt agin. If you repeat this say 6 times on each rein, then ask for a canter you will probably find she leaps forward into a very forward canter.

She should however be balanced, at least for the first few strides. It will then be necessary to keep repeating these transitions over a few weeks, while she learns to re-balance herself. Meanwhile, teaching her leg yield and shoulder-in in walk and trot will help teach her to move away from your inside leg and bend correctly.

As a quick fix it sometimes helps to ride circles as though they were hexagons; ride say 2 strides of canter in a straight line, then ask for a slight turn, then ride another straight line, then turn again, this should look much like a circle!!!!;)

Hope this helps a bit! xx