OTTB and balanced canter (long!)

[maren]

i am starting to school my ottb at the canter, and i have a few questions:
when i canter him he tends to run into and out of the canter. i know that this will improve with training and lots of transitions, but i wonder how much i should be holding him to help him collect and not run down onto his forehand? he also canters very fast (he has a huge stride too), and is not very balanced and pretty heavy on the forehand. he is athletic enough, however, to keep himself in control. when i sit down and do a lot of strong half halts (or, lets be honest, just pull my arms out of their sockets!) he will give me a nice, up and down, balanced rocking horse canter, with a decent degree of collection (high for him, anyways, since we're still only working on relaxation and acceptance, not really collection yet). i like this canter a lot, but i am worried on several scores:
-will i effect the purity/quality of his canter in the future if i ask him to work in a slower, more collected canter at this early stage of his training?
-am i going to hurt his mouth with all this pulling? he's not evading...it seems like he actually likes this contact and it helps him balance, but i'm worried about his mouth. i guess that he's not really working in a balanced or collected manner if he needs to lean so hard on my hand to give me that canter.
i've tried going back and doing lots more work at the trot before attempting a canter, but his trot work is just about perfect; light and balanced and rythmical with only occasional gentle half-halts from me. he's stretching down and accepting the bit, and swinging nicely through his back...i don't know how much more he can improve in his training without going on to the canter. however, when i first started his training i would pretty much be using constant, strong half-halts to balance him in his trot. maybe i need to do the same for his canter? i don't want him to bomb around all strung out, but i don't want to bottle him up and damage his canter. do you think that if i continued to school him at a slower and more balanced canter against my hand that he will learn to balance himself eventually? any advice?? (sorry for the long, rambling, and less than specific post!)

[Willingbe]

Personally I wouldn't try to collect the canter at this stage, especially if it means pulling at the horses mouth. The danger is that the horse will learn to go against the hand and it might inhibit the hind quarters coming under.

What I would be doing is to school lots and lots of canter circles, starting at at least 20m and then using spirals in to and back out from 15m, eventually taking it down to 10m. This will automatically teach him to slow and balance his canter. If he is put onto a straight line and he starts to rush against the hand again, I would immediately take him back to a circle.

I'd also reward the balanced canters, by praising him and then downward transition to a walk on the long rein, so he knows he's done well.

"it seems like he actually likes this contact and it helps him balance, but i'm worried about his mouth" Yes he will like the contact because it saves him from having to do the work, but his mouth will be fine. You needn't worry too much about his mouth from the pulling aspect. He will tell you that you are being too severe by hollowing and putting his head up. But you must worry about what effect pulling has on the hindquarters i.e. it will inhibit them from coming under him.

[maren]

thanks willingbe!
if i work him in smaller circles would it be acceptable at this stage to use lifting half-halts with my inside hand to pick up his shoulder, or should i let him figure out what he needs to do to balance by himself? i feel that a lot of his dependency on my hand has to do with his racehorse days and balancing himself against a jockey (the whole fifth leg thing, i guess :rolleyes: ) but you have confirmed what i was worried about in effecting the quality of the gait. what do you think about big half halts and then back to gentle contact as soon as he is balanced? i'm most concerned with getting him balanced enough to transition comfortably and to not bomb around the arena tilting in like a motorcycle! he's very flexible and athletic (way more so than i am as a rider, at least!!!), which means he'll counter canter a 20m circle at top speed without batting an eye or slowing down even a little. (whilst i try not to crash us into fences or jump standards despite being blinded by wind-induced tears!! :p ) again, thanks so much for your post! your advice is very much appreciated! :)

[Willingbe]

It's fine to use half halts, just don't pull :) Yes, also to lift the inside shoulder but you will need to make sure he doesn't become dependant on your hand being there. For preference ask for the downward transitions on the first corner of the short side of the arena or on the small circle.

[MagicRidge]

let me know how it's going

[maren]

haha! it's the funniest thing, but i got on biggsie ready to try all the advice i'd received from willingbe...and he was perfect. i gave him his head as i asked him to canter and out of nowhere he started in on a slow, balanced canter around the circle i had set him on! it was like someone lobotomized him overnight...he was totally slow and calm and relaxed; it was like a switch had been flipped and he realized he didn't have to race and could just lope along. totally bizzare, but he seems like himself in all other respects, so i'm not going to question this stroke of luck!!! evidently my horse has decided to train himself! :p i'll let you know when he snaps out of it and returns to his normal, revved-up self!