Help getting my youngster to canter

My2cobs

My2cobs

New Member
Oct 26, 2016
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hi guys I need help!
My 4 yo gypsy cob will not canter

I bought him last year unbroken & have taken it super slow breaking him because he was very babyish when I got him.

He's NOT forward which I know we need to concerntrate on before I can get him cantering properly, and we need to do more work on a balanced trot. I was after ideas on how to maybe start to get some transitions.

We hack most of the time & practice halt-walk-Trot-walk-halt transitions while we're out as well as a bit of leg yield where it's safe to do so. I do take him in a ménage about once a month but he's not interested and not balanced enough to do a lot of work in there.

He is still growing & he's still much more powerful in his bum than his shoulders, so I don't want to be cantering for any length of time, I just want some ideas of how I can start to get some transitions going

I've tried following another horse, and trying to 'run' him into it from trot but he just doesn't feel like he's going to 'pop'
I've also tried over a little cross pole but he just doesn't seem to want to go.

I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with him, it's been 18 months since I bought him and I was having so much fun on my other horse at this stage after breaking! (I know their all individuals)
Anyone had any experience of this in Gypsy cobs?
Thanks in advance for any ideas
 
not in gypsy cobs but in highlands yes... many people leave highlands until they are 5 or 6 to break as they mature so slowly and being a heavy type, your cob may be similar. Brook (in my avatar) is the 2nd young highland i have brought on, i backed her myself at 4yrs old, this spring just passed. Im very aware I could have left her until next year and so we are doing things slowly, pretty much as you describe you are doing. One of the RI’s I see has been producing Highlands for donkeys years and told me not to even look for or expect canter this year at all and that I would ruin her if I tried to. I did try a couple of times out on hacks , just to get her to run into it but it didnt happen and so on his advice I just forgot about it. Then about 6 weeks ago she just felt as if she might make the ‘pop’ when we were riding in the field at home, I put my leg on and she literally did just make the pop and canter up the long side. I still wont be pushing it or asking for it regularly until next year. It sounds to me as if your cob is just not balanced enough yet and i wouldnt worry about it for now. My highland is fairly forward going and reactive off the leg so if it was me, Id just work on your walk and trot and getting him really reacting off your leg, tons and tons and tons of transitions.
 
Your four year old/five year old is still a baby.

I taught mine on the lunge and with longreining before I asked under saddle. I don't mean on that teeny 20 metre circle, I mean using most of the school or part if a field. She will canter off body language/voice on the ground.

Our first ridden canter was on the way home up a hill. I didn't interfere or fiddle, I just let her transition if she wanted to. Uphill is a doddle for her, so I used that to help her out.
 
Thank guys - I just wanted a bit of reassurance that I was doing the right thing by not pushing too much! I feel a bit of pressure to crack on but I'm going to have this boy his whole life so although I'd like to crack on & get him moving a bit I don't want to rush him. We did a bit of in-hand showing this summer so maybe we'll do that again next summer & concerntrate on the trot, aim for some into tests by mid summer!!

My other horse was much more mature at 3 and 4 bogmth mentally and physically & he was so easy to do whereas my youngster has proven to be quite stubborn/opinionated.i don't want him to get away with doing it 'his' way but I don't want to push him too much physically either.hes still growing a lot & feels like he's evened out over the summer so no doubt his bum will shoot up over winter again - he's still a bit smaller than his dam & sire.

I've read so many articles but it's nice to hear from people with heavier horses who have the same issue. Thank you :)
 
My GC fell into his first canter, uphill and following another horse. Unusual that yours will just trot faster when the lead horse is "getting away". The baby usually wants to keep up for security/safety.
Perhaps get him used to the voice command on the lunge and then transfer the voice to ridden.
 
he doesn't trot faster... he slows down He's not bothered being left behind! Good in a way I guess!
We might hire the gallops near us & give it another go behind someone coming out of the winter Just going to take it easy with him till spring I think let him grow. He's much more slight up front than behind, I think his bum of too powerful for his shoulders - my older horse was much more even when I broke him.
 
Instead of getting him to go behind get the other horse to come up alongside. I found that with Stella in order to get her to open up (she scrambled in canter and gallop it was very very uncomfortable and horrid) and that made her stop half trotting and cantering and move properly. Once she got the idea we did it a lot in hacks then in the school :)
 
Putting a raised pole across the corners you want them to canter in can often pop them up into a few strides then work from that.
 
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