Canter Trick You Might Want To Try

[Bayou]

With my lesson horse Bayou, my instructor taught me a trick that seems to be working really well.
What I do is when I ask him to canter I have a bad habit of using my hands for balance, so if you do the same thing try this,
My instructor has taught me to ask him by turning his head to the rail and squeezing with both heels, so now I turn his head to the wall, keep contact with my rail reins and grab hold of his mane with my inside hand. It has worked like a dream every time.

[vimto92]

Glad it works for you:) but I really really REALLY cannot see why you would be turning his head to the rail.. that usually asks for the opposite lead.:confused:

[Ms Kitty]

Turning the head outside enables the inside shoulder to move more free and helps some horses with the canter transition, and yes they also strike on the correct leg. It is quite useful with re-training trothorses to canter.

It is a trick to help you at the beginning if you are really struggling, so that you will get more used to and balanced at the canter, but after you have achieved that, you do need to remember to start using the correct bend! ;)

Nina x

[vimto92]

Ahhh right!!!!

I always use the correct bend in my transitions... but why is it so vital? :)

[pineapple]

agreeed, by turning his head to the outside you will be asking him to canter on the wrong lead. i would be interest to know why your teacher asks you to ask for canter like this.

[*-crazy-chaz-*]

yeh, y does your RI tell u 2 do this, your asking for counter-canter.:confused: u squeeze with both legs anyway, just more with the outside leg.;):)

[dilaika]

it depends on how well-trained and balanced the horse is. Most school horses (the type of horses which you would be learning to canter on) it won't matter so much...for less experienced or more high-strung horses it could cause a problem.

About asking for leads...head position is important, but really the overall balance and balance on the high end is more important. If you move the balance on their rump to the wrong way, they will probably get the wrong lead. If their head is to the outside but their body is balanced to the inside, it won't be an issue.

Also, I might be wrong, but it seems to me like the person who posted this was somewhat of a beginner. When you are working on learning to get a nice canter, leads and setting them up for the lead come later. If you are learning to canter on a nice school horse, this would work well b/c it will stop them from falling in (if they're really trying to dive into the center) and keep the rider steady.

Just my opinion.

[Shire Monster]

Don't know if this will help and kinda not relevant to original point but its a tip for canter, I have had absolute murder with the RS school I've been riding, I'm not a beginner but came back a few months ago after a few years off but I just couldn't do anything with this stubborn little lady I was riding who would not budge.
I discovered last lesson that if I really exaggerate outside leg by puttin it on much further back than normal it seems to work for her, I guess all horses are different but this was just something I tried after about 4 lessons of fighting with her and it worked great for her.

[PurpleHammer]

Your instructor may tell you to ask for a canter with the outside hand, outside leg because he/she is more interested in you learning to canter regardless of the lead the horse picks up. So, you may or may not be getting the correct lead, but what lead you're on might not be the most important thing for you to concentrate on right now.

Another possibility is that he/she could tell you this because the horse could be trained to pick up the canter this way. (I've ridden quite a few horses that used this as the cue for a canter, and they always pick up the correct lead. This isn't as true when I'm riding English, but most Western horses seem trained this way.)


~PurpleHammer~

[gangle_creature]

Crap advice if you ask me, i dont see any reason why an instructor would be teaching you this, it makes no sense.

[Anvil83]

There was a horse that I rode in a lesson once who only seemed to canter if you grabbed hold of its mane, a lot of people used this trick.

[MelanieD]

Try bending your head around to one side and see which arm is easier for you to stretch forwards with.. makes the bending to outside thing more clear. For a horse that's established and knows leads then slight bend to the inside so they know which way they're going and which lead to use works, and leg tells them which lead to use as well depending on how they've been trained. For a horse that doesn't know leads all that well or prefers to go on the wrong lead on one rein bending to the outside can work really well.

I've taught my horse a very naughty thing about mane grabbing, she now knows that grab mane and use legs enthusiastically means go like stink :D

[rhsw]

With my lesson horse Bayou, my instructor taught me a trick that seems to be working really well.
What I do is when I ask him to canter I have a bad habit of using my hands for balance, so if you do the same thing try this,
My instructor has taught me to ask him by turning his head to the rail and squeezing with both heels, so now I turn his head to the wall, keep contact with my rail reins and grab hold of his mane with my inside hand. It has worked like a dream every time.


This has got me very confused, wouldnt you be riding the horse into the rails? After all you are asking your horse to turn that way and into a canter :confused::eek:

[chickyd444]

im not sure if this is the best way of striking off - but it obviously worked for you and ned, and you sound exremely pleased and happy with the way your lesson went, and therefore wanted to share with us. i am glad that you got that canter and urge you to keep haveing fun xxx :)

[JOJOBA]

If its working and you are only using it temporarily I certainly wouldnt say it was 'crap advice'. That is advice which doesnt work or is of detriment to one of you...
I had to teach my horse to canter this way temporarily as he (and me too actually) was very one sided and found it difficult to lift his inside side and strike off (although striking off atually comes from behind). It worked for a while and once we got the hang of it and he got a bit freer, we worked on asking for it properly.
However if it's not the horse that's the problem and you tend to lean on your hands for balance, personally I would put you on the lunge rein and make you ride with your arms out to the sides a few times, to develop your seat. This technique is getting you into canter, but it's actually just making you MORE reliant on your hands as you are having to hold the mane. And it's teaching you an 'incorrect' way of asking for canter, which can end up as a tricky habit to break in the future.

Technically canter shouldnt come from your hands or legs, but your seat primarily. But finding a RS horse who is trained that way is unusual.
I keep accidentally asking my lesson horse for canter - she is trained off weight aids and if I lighten one seat bone and allow my seat to circle backwards (which we use for trot too), off she pops! No leg, no hand, nothing except seat. Slightly disconcerting if you arent used to it!

xxx

[Gothika]

I found turning Willow's head to the outside was the only thing which got her on the correct leg when I got her! NOTHING else worked, and now 3 and a half years on she strikes off perfectly, but by experiementing I found that helped her strike off correctly, and cannot say its ever failed me on any horse.

[tina1958]

I know its abit of thread but has anyone any suggestions for my young mare.
Everytime I ask her to canter on a circle she bucks. She is ok on the start.

[Sophie..*]

My horse dougie dosent have alot of muscle on his right so im working on building that up. As he dosent have much muscle he finds it ahrd to strike off on a inside bend, so if you turn his head slighty when asking for canter, he strikes of ont he right leg.

[darrenadamsshaw]

Try bending your head around to one side and see which arm is easier for you to stretch forwards with.. makes the bending to outside thing more clear. For a horse that's established and knows leads then slight bend to the inside so they know which way they're going and which lead to use works, and leg tells them which lead to use as well depending on how they've been trained. For a horse that doesn't know leads all that well or prefers to go on the wrong lead on one rein bending to the outside can work really well.

I've taught my horse a very naughty thing about mane grabbing, she now knows that grab mane and use legs enthusiastically means go like stink :D
fab!!! love it 'goes like stink!' lol

[colettybetty]

I don't think this advice is so unusual, I know several professionals who do his to enable a young horse to strike off correctly when the horse has a problem on one lead. It worked with one of mine who always struck off wrongly on the left rein.
I had a problem getting my young mare to canter on a circle and my (very novice ) OH pointed out my problem :rolleyes: Because she has a big bouncy movement, I was stopping her cantering by holding onto her, didn't realise I was doing it, but he could see it from the ground. I had to visualise myself sitting back (as in a rocking chair) and almost throwing the reins away. Worked for us straight away, my unconcious fear was that she would bomb off at 90 miles an hour, but she didn't, cantered fine unhindered by me.My RI used to tell me that I always started to get things wrong when I started to think too much,instead of going with the 'feel'.

[samsaria]

Oh, I was given the exact advise last week - and it works :)

My horse doesn't strike on the correct lead when on the left rein. Sometimes it's a third-time-lucky scenario. Yes his back, teeth, saddle have been checked. Its a habit of his, it's in his memory to do it this way - and he's very balanced on the wrong leg!

Anyway, i usually try to turn head inwards a little, and ask the normal way for a canter transition.

Instructor said to turn his head slightly to the OUTSIDE, as he was pulling his RIGHT SHOULDER AROUND the bend and that was giving him the opportunity to strike off the wrong leg.

So, turned his nose a little to the outside - hey presto, first attempt, correct lead. It has to be done in about 1-2 seconds. And I was doing it on a circle.

I wouldn't have thought it would work, but it does. It's a correctional aid, not a how-to-ask-a-horse-to-canter aid.

:)

[*Sez*]

Some interesting advice here.
My horse doesn't always canter on the right lead yet, because we have been working on having a SAFE canter, followed by a safe transition to trot when asked. It didn't matter to me which leg he was on so long as it was done safely, in control and he didn't bomb off with me! :D
When we start working again in the spring and summer, we'll be starting to work on his balance and which leg we strike off on, but I agree that for learning to balance as a rider during canter, it sounds like good advice.

[JOJOBA]

Like I mentioned, I think it's a useful tool if it's the horse that's the problem, but not the rider...?

xxx

[Ms Kitty]

Like I mentioned, I think it's a useful tool if it's the horse that's the problem, but not the rider...?

If it really is an experienced horse then no, it is not a useful tool and hinders the rider from learning the correct way to do it. But if the horse has any problems with it's balance or if the rider is so unbalanced that is affecting the horse, it will work. It is also useful, like someone already said, to help the beginner rider get the feel of canter and then move onto getting the canter going properly when the transition itself isn't a "big thing".

However, I do think it should only be used as a temporary measure (regardless of whether the problem being the rider or the horse) and everything should be aimed towards doing the canter transition with the correct bend.

Nina x

[Kate F.]

Like I mentioned, I think it's a useful tool if it's the horse that's the problem, but not the rider...?

xxx


I was thinking that too! I believe that striking off on the wrong lead, apart from saddle, back, etc. issues - is almost always due to an unbalanced rider! I don't buy the "naughty habit" excuse at all - the horse always makes itself comfortable - so in it's eyes is always on the "correct" lead. It that doesn't match our idea of "correct" it's up to us to make the thing we want the comfortable choice.

However, I can see that the outside bend trick could work in some circumstances, and could be a useful tool for the instructor to help the rider get the feel of canter, and tidy up the details later. It wouldn't apply in every case - but it could in some, and a large part of being an instructor is having a big bag of tools to help people achieve their aims. ;)

Having said that, this trick could have bad side effects if used inappropriately or for too long. It sounds like something to be used only under the guidance of an instructor who is using it in a specific instance, and not as a general "cure all" for canter problems. I don't think it's really suitable as a "go and try this and see if it works for you" thing, as it could cause more problems than it solves if not used very carefully and discreetly.