Yay, we got canter!

[Lovecat]

I've had Murphy for 2 weeks now and he seems to be settling down well. He is sweet and even-tempered, very loving and willing, but the poor love has had very little in the way of schooling. He is very unfit and has little or no muscle on his topline (? is that the right phrase?) at all.

I had a lesson on him the week he arrived and bless him, he was all over the place - very unbalanced and needing total guidance at all times - as I'm not the fittest of people either, we were both in a sweat by the end of it! Anyway, one thing that became apparent in the lesson was that he had no idea about canter, not recognising the commands at all.

By dint of squeezing very, very hard I was able to get him into a canter on the right rein (legs flailing everywhere, god love him!) but the left rein he didn't have a clue about.

Anyway, this Saturday evening I had another lesson on him and we did it! Not for long, and completely out of balance, but he got it! (Yay Murphy!:D) My instructor has suggested I work on getting him to recognise a pattern in going into canter, as it seemed to help him - halt him at K, walk a pace, straight into trot and then ask for canter at A (with a little reinforcement from a schooling whip, as I want to keep my legs in the right position and NOT do the 'kick kick kick' thing!) then tons and tons of praise if he gets it. Basically I have to 'teach' him how to canter in the school - which is a large responsibility and slightly scary! We're going to have another little sesh tonight...

Has anyone else ever been in this situation? What worked for you?

:D

[Miriam]

Glad to hear that Murphey is coming along nicely.

[katieB]

Well done Cathy, im sure you will have him cantering circles in no time. I havent been in that situation before but your action plan sounds spot on :)

[AJB]

Hi lovecat-my boy is the same-or was-hes a big green irish D and can canter fine on hacks but the school was a no go, he was unbalanced and such hard work-in the end I gave up on canter and worked on walk-halt transitions for listening to the aids and built up on the trot work for fittening , I then spent all last winter lunging him in the school every couple of days and free schooling him to listen to my voice to canter and to build up the muscles-now this summer we have started having proper training lessons and his canter is coming on in the school but like you I want to get him to listen to the aid and keep my position...one way my trainer has helped with this is that I do the exercise, ie trot over the poles, turn and then canter a 20M circle, when I do this I look way over the circle to balance him and she steps towards him with a lunge whip, not using it just there and that means he strikes off at the aid and not after lots of kicking etc??? makes sense...however at the yard I have just tried a techinique of using a friends horse to give me the lead, hence he is forward into the canter and listens to my aids as watching the horse in front...we have progressed form a couple of laps like this on each rein and then I take him out and canter him off a 20 metre circle on each rien and then quit with lots of praise...i dont know if this helps and it may seem a bit unorthordox but it is working for us-tonight we are in the school just to practise the canter strike off and then we will quit!!!!

[Lovecat]

Thanks guys!

AJB - sorry to be dense, but what is free schooling?

:D

[galadriel]

Cantering in a circle is much, much harder for a horse than cantering straight. It's a skill they have to learn. Doing anything in a circle is harder for horses until they develop the balance for it.

I find that a good way to help them learn to canter in a circle, when they're still unbalanced and green, is to ask them to canter in circles without a rider. That way, they're only dealing with their own balance, not their own uncertain balance plus a shifting weight on their backs.

This can be accomplished by many sessions lunging in a large circle, or free lunging (as AJB was describing). Free lunging is taking a horse into an arena or other enclosed area, and lunging him, but without a lunge line. Instead, you work entirely off body language and verbal commands. I think free lunging may be better for your purposes, if you have the facilities, because he can choose how to make his turns and will learn how to use his body in order to best make those turns.

[Lovecat]

Thanks Galadriel.

I haven't attempted to canter him in a circle - I wouldn't dream of it just yet!:p

It's just that we're trying to teach him that when I give him the signal, on a corner, that means canter - currently going large around the school - circles are going to come much, much later!!

As for free lunging/schooling - nice idea, but how? Given that left to his own devices the Murph follows me everywhere like a big worried-looking puppy (still working on 'stand'!), I can't begin to imagine how I'd get him going round on a circle (we don't have round pens, only the 2 sand schools) on his own. It's only been 2 weeks in his new home, I don't want to overload him. Do I chase him around? Sorry for being dense, but I'm a complete beginner at this sort of thing - I've never lunged conventionally either... :(

[AJB]

LC-free schooling is just as Galadriel describes it and you need to get him moving with the aid of a lunge whip!-you use the voice and ask for walk on just as you would lungeing and trot...and finally when hes nice and warmed up canter-remember to make sure the school gates are closed and that no one else is intending to ride in the school (that happened to me last week !)-also use boots for him just as you would lunging -and dont worry about the circle too much-and , gosh this is lots of ands!!...keep it steady and short to begin with-when I first started with my boy i used to school him for a while and then sit in the school to encourage him to come back to me as I didnt want to scare him witih the lunge whip, and I used to feed him treats all the time-now when hes free schooling I can bring him down from a fast canter, bucking fit etc by just rustling my papers in my pocket-emergency stop for food flashes in front of him!!!-try it-be prepared for him to explode!!-sometimes youngsters enjoy free schooling a bit too much and you need to make sure your out of the way-in the end he will school round the school on voice and body only and you can just stand in the middle and speak to him-I then progressed to free jumping mine and he absolutely loves it-will canter and trot round and pop the jump on his own-bless...good luck:D