Arggg!

[nakedescapee]

I am teaching my standardbred mare, Homie, to be a riding horse. She is 20 years old, formerly an on-the-track pacer, then a brood-mare. I got her from an adoption agency.

She is learning to canter and making good progress. However, sometimes her canter is really weird and uncomfortable. Apparently, she is cantering with her front feet and pacing with her rear. If I collect her and encourage her to pick up her energy she simply does it faster... :eek: !!! ...very uncomfortable and almost impossible to sit.

I've been working on this for a couple of months now and it's beginning to make me crazy! Any suggestions on how I can get her to move her rear feet in coordination with her front?

[Tootsie4U]

Smart little girl. She probably thinks this is what you want, as its all she's done for years. :D

What about cantering over ground poles?

Do you lunge her at canter?

Remember, you have to show before you can ask. Show her what the correct responce is via lunging or poles, offer tons of praise and then ask when you are sure she's got it.

[larri]

Poor Homie might never get it...especially at this stage in her life. I used to ride an ex jousting horse called Copper, he could walk ..and gallop - that was it , he was schooled and schooled and finally got something remotely like canter, but it was like riding a drunk camel... there were legs going everywhere and it felt like you were being shaken half to death, we all used to look at the schooling sheet in the morning and if you got Copper it was like "sick bags ahoy" :o

If you can get in on the lunge work it for really short bursts. Askfor canter - if she does it correctly, praise - keep it for a few strides, then bring back to trot wait a couple of strides and then ask again. If she breaks into the pacing thing bring her back down immediately, get her attention and ask for canter. She will hopefully start to associate a good canter with the command and get out of the habit.

[nakedescapee]

Thanks for your responses. :)

Tootsie4U : I have tried to canter over poles, but she has no concept of picking up her feet so she tends to trip over the poles. On the lunge line, her stride is sooo big and she very little flexion so it is difficult to get her to make the turn at a canter. I am working on her flexion but progress is painfully slow... or maybe I just have no patience.

larri: like riding a drunk camel Yep... that's the gate! :eek: :rolleyes:

I have been doing what you both suggest... when I do get a real canter, she gets the super-star treatment. And when I don't, then I bring her back down and start over. I really am hoping to show a little next spring/summer, but this pacing-canter won't do at all! The way I started her cantering at all was by going up hill, maybe I moved to the flat ground too soon? ...maybe I should go back to the hill?

[Tootsie4U]

Did the hill work before? Do anything that will help HER associate what you want from what you dont want. If the hill is the means of it, go for it.

thinking of something else to offer as help..............

[galadriel]

Larri's advice is very good.

I just wanted to ask--are you sure she's not just cross-cantering? (Cantering on one lead in front and the other lead in back) That will also feel very unpleasant.

Either way, it could simply be a result of being unbalanced and not having too much muscle, yet. It sometimes is much easier to do the wrong thing than to do it right; it may just be that she hasn't got the muscles yet to comfortably canter properly.

When I started working my horses again after they'd had the whole spring off, both of them were cross-cantering like crazy for a few weeks. After they've been in work for a few months now, they're both cantering properly--but they have been used to it and re-developing muscle is easier than developing it for the first time.

For an unbalanced/weak canter a good solution is to work her on the lunge, just the way Larri suggests. She'll develop more muscle and she'll get her balance working better. It won't take too terribly long :)

[nakedescapee]

Tootsie4U: The hill worked fabulously for teaching her initially ...thanks for the continued thinking :D

Hi Galadriel: I never thought about her cross-cantering... maybe that's what it is. And she does have some muscle-wastage so maybe her coordination will improve as she gets into better condition. (a great observation, as usual) :D

Putting 2 and 2 together... maybe I can lunge her at the base of the hill to insure I get a correct canter going uphill thereby setting her up to be successful... think that might work or am I heading for a disaster?

[galadriel]

Hmm...the uphill would probably be good, but if she has to immediately go downhill again, it would probably make it much harder. Going downhill is about 5 times as hard as going uphill. Once she's doing better, a good ay to develop musculature is up & down hills. But while she's still working just on balancing, that may be too much.

[nakedescapee]

Good point. I certainly don't want to put her under any more strain than she is already is under. I'll try her on the flat over poles. Thanks. :)

[nakedescapee]

I bought a Wintec raised back schooling pad and Homie immediately went better! No crow-hopping, no cross-canter/pacing thingy, no bad step, very relaxed, she even cantered around the entire arena without a problem..... An amazing change!!!

Poor Homie, her back must have been hurting her so much that it was all she could do to carry my big butt around. God bless her for not bucking me to kingdom come!

This pad was the best $32 I ever spent! :D :D :D

[galadriel]

Oh wonderful :)