how d'you get a pony to canter without screeming "go on"?

[TheHoglet]

yesterday i was cantering, well it was more of a gallop actually, round the feild and i noticed that skittles would only do a very extended trot if i didnt screem "go on" at the top of my voice and give him a good boot, but i'm guessing that this is because he's just a realy lazy pony:rolleyes:

so i was wondering dose anyone else have this problem, if so how do you overcome it? and dose anyone know why he dose this?

~*bex*~

[Purple Hugs]

lol.. after 'accidentally' getting canter out of my 'hard to canter' RS horse today, I'd recommend carrying a dressage whip to 'tickle' the horse with... worked a treat, even though I didn't want to canter! :p

[Tangle]

How nice a trot is he in before you ask him to canter? If he's not quite balanced in the trot it will make it very difficult for him to do a good canter transition and he'll be much more likely to just accelerate - the faster he trots the more likely he is to be on his forehand, and the harder it will be for him to make it canter.

Are you differentiating clearly between a "more trot" aid and a "canter" aid (other than by the battle cry ;):p)?

Try getting a nice balanced trot (forward but not rushy), as you come up to a corner use a half halt or two to get him to think and tell him you're about to ask for something and then, as you're going through the corner, give a very definite canter aid.

Good luck :)

[Afellpony]

A dressage whip would be ideal in helping you get your pony to canter. The theory is that you should try and get a canter (especially on a youngster) whilst riding a circle as it helps with balance, bend etc. I personally have always found (especially if the pony was unwilling) it easier to canter in a straight line whilst riding in a field. However, the pony must be in a controlled but active trot - and, attentive to the rider. When you wish to canter, be it on a circle on a straight line, give him a little signal, say a tweek on the rein (ie squeeze your fingers to tell him you want his attention), slightly slow the trot, keeping it active, sit down in the saddle and give your leg aids to canter. If he trots faster and faster, slow him down, walk a few strides until he (and you) can sort yourselves out and try again. If you succeed, keep it going for however long want to canter. Try not to let him lean on you if you can. If he tries slowing to a trot without you asking, just squeeze with the legs and push him on. It is important that he goes on the correct leg as the pace will seem bumpy and disunited.
Hope this helps. Good luck.:cool:

[Bay Mare]

He was probably running on in trot rather than extending which would make it more difficult to canter or if he did he would just fall into it.

You need to get the trot good first and then ask for canter (it's not a 'boot'). If he finds trot-canter difficult then try walk-canter as some horses find this easier (as do the riders!). Don't throw the reins away, you need to maintain a contact while not giving mixed signals (legs = go, hands = stop). Sit up, make sure that YOU are in balance, make sure that you're giving the correct aids and if it doesn't work get yourselves back together and try again.

It really is better to do it properly otherwise you set yourself up for problems in the future. You can back up with the schooling whip but make sure that this is used only as a back up, not as a first resort!

[RachelEvent]

More than anything, this points out a big hole in your schooling:

The horse must learn that the leg doesn't mean to go faster, it means to step further under (and the aids for canter, with outside leg behind the girth, are encouraging that outside hindleg to step further under in the strike off to canter)

Legs mean energy, not speed. think of it as a tube of toothpaste, when energy is created, you do not let it run out of the front end.

There are two things that spring to my mind as things to work on;

Firstly, your horses response to leg aids. Any horse, no matter how lazy, can feel a fly land on their back, so their is no need to be unsubtle in the leg aids. It is possible to re-educate a horse with "deadened sides" by using a system of gradually increasing aid strength. You must always start out with the 'very gentle' aid, which if this isn't responded to, you follow with a moderate aid, which you could then follow with a flick behind the leg with a dressage whip. The thing is, even if you don't expect your horse to respond to the first two levels of gentle aid, you MUST still start with them, so that the horse can begin to learn that it's worth responding while you are still asking nicely. This is a logical system, but has to be stuck to for a while to really work with some horses.

Secondly, the canter aids. I don't know how much you know, and I know it's ever so dry, but it's good to think about what each body part does in the canter aid - and you must make it very clear to the horse that you are giving this specific set of instructions:

- outside leg is behind the girth, asking the outside hindleg to step further under, causing a canter strikeoff
- inside leg is on the girth creating impulsion - this is energy NOT speed
- inside hand is asking for a marginal amount of bend
- outside hand is regulating bend and tempo
- you should have gone into sitting trot rather than rising, and with practice the horse can learn to pick up canter just from the motion of your seat.

These instructions are DIFFERENT to the instructions for a horse to extend the trot, but it's up to the rider to make sure the difference is always maintained so as not to confuse the horse. It usually helps to ask for canter on a circle or a turn, sometimes it helps to ask over a groundpole for the horses who seem to have real difficulty with canter strikeoff, as this just gives them that bit of 'jump' into the transition.

Rushing into canter is not acceptable, and shouting and kicking to establish the canter is only going to perpetrate that.

Certain types of horses find cantering harder than others - i've found that cobs often get stuck in a very rhythmical trot and find the canter motion more difficult. There was one horse who I found was better at picking up canter if I rode in a forwards/outof the saddle seat (whilst still maintaining a balanced and energetic trot) because it allowed the horse more freedom through their back to pick up the canter.

As bay mare suggests, walk-canter is a really useful exercise. If you can work on getting your horse to respond to your legs properly, the walk to canter will suddenly become very easy. It teaches the horse that the aid to CANTER is a different aid to GO FASTER.

good luck!

[LouHarvey]

i find a lot of trot to canter problems arise because the rider isn't sitting in the trot before asking for canter. sitting trot is part of you 'asking' for canter, so try and make sure you're sat for about three strides before you put your outside leg behind the girth and your inside leg on the girth, so he has a clear message from you.

[ridingstar]

That is an excellent post, Rachelevent. :)