teaching canter

[nicci1234]

Hi

i am riding a horse for to help fitten it up but the quiery i have is that she hasnt had much schooling and i cant get her to canter (i have been told by instructor that it isnt me) and she will do it when owners father riders her but he really has to boot her! how do i teach her to go off my leg aids???

think if i cant help her sort this i will need not to ride her again as i cant help her.

thanks

Nicky

[svenja]

I have an ex-racer, who at 5 had never been taught anything except to gallop. That means she wasn't balanced enough to canter in a circle, and would be confused when asked to break into one, even though she is very forward going. I suspect the horse you ride lacks balance. I worked my mare at a walk and trot, long reined and lunged, which taught her gradually to find her balance at the canter and to answer to my voice. Recently we have started working a bit at the canter. To teach her the transition, rather than push her into a faster and faster trot until she fell into a canter, I gave her a quick pat with a stick behind my leg when I asked for canter (I never carry one usually). Got a bit of a buck but she immediately broke into a canter and now does the transition beautifully. Of course her canter still isn't perfect, but it's improving every day. Hope this helps:)

[EmmaRotherham]

not advice as such.. but why are you asking her to canter anyway if she's so unfit? might be an idea to get her fit in walk and trot before asking any more of her.

As for 'sharpenin her up' to your leg. Transitions transitions transistion. halt. walk 4 paces. halt .walk 4 paces. trot 6. walk 4 halt. walk 6. trot 4.

don't let her have time to be bored in a pace. ask with a soft squeeze then if she dosen't listen a firm squeeze for a short period of time followed quickly by a tap from a schooling whip (some people leave out the firm squeeze, but I like to 'know' they've felt me ask before i use my whip)

once she's reasonably fit ask for halt-trot-halt transitions, but not till she's fitter.

How long have you been riding her, and just how unfit is she? remember, you wouldn't run a marathon with no training, so don't ask a horse to do something that fast either. If you can hack out, i'd start with half hour hacks in walk, then add in 5 mins of trot every week or so (so week 2 5 mins trot, week 4 ten mins etc)

if you're working in a school i'd be doing similar thing but depending on the size of the school reduce the time, as it's harder work going round school corners than going up a straight road. Don't forget to put in plenty of circles, 3 loop serpentines, as many different things you can to stop her being bored.

[nicci1234]

thankyou so much, like i said this is my first experince of this and where as i have been having lessons for years it has always been the instructor in control , she has been out of work do to n injury to her splint bone and i think at present the owner works her for 20 mins rarely!! so the advice given really makes sense

thanks agin
nic

[Bay Mare]

I'd stick to walk and trot in the school and do the occasional canter out on a hack for the moment. Lots of transitions and school figures will help. Maybe do some pole work as well. I'd concentrate on getting her working correctly in walk and trot first, long and low and really using her back end. It's going to be hard for her at first as it's quite tiring until she builds up her topline so just short sessions.

You could also do some long lining or lunge work but keep it short especially on the lunge. When she's going well you can try some canter work but only short transitions initially.

I wouldn't want anyone to be booting her into canter! Not the best way to establish a good, balanced canter :eek:

It might be a good idea to get some lessons from a trainer as well, there are some good ones around who will work with you to train the horse rather than just teaching you how to ride. That's what I've done with my mare who was 5 when I got her.