Help me teach my boy to canter nicely please.

MrA

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2012
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I have a 7 yo green haffy. We havent done much ridden canter work, but he finally lunges well balanced in canter now, so thought i might try a little ridden canter today. How should I go about it? Is it best to use poles, ask for canter in the corner or a circle? Should I lunge him in canter first? And what should I be doing with my body when i ask, atm he is just used to cantering off voice aids. And he's a bit of a lazy boy. Please help.
 
He canters out hacking brill, lead horse normally has to only be in trot as hes so slow. Well I went up yesterday, put up a small crosspole and rode him towards it with lots of impulsion in trot, then he cantered after the jump a few times. But when I sat and asked for canter in a corner he just rushed off in trot.

I sit tall, both legs on but outside slightly back and use my voice a fair bit, 1,2,3 canter (as this is what hes used to when I lunge him)
 
Try raising and sqeezing the fingers of the inside hand. Raise about a fist height. This will slightly flex the horse to the inside. Advance the inside hip and use the inside leg (almost in front of the girth) by an inward and slightly forward brush with the inside of the calf. Sit up straight, try to not tip forwards. Try to do this from a calm trot and be patient. If the above does not work also introduce a light brush back from the outside leg. At this stage you are only looking for a good transition so be content with a couple of strides of canter, then lots of praise.
 
Try raising and sqeezing the fingers of the inside hand. Raise about a fist height. This will slightly flex the horse to the inside. Advance the inside hip and use the inside leg (almost in front of the girth) by an inward and slightly forward brush with the inside of the calf. Sit up straight, try to not tip forwards. Try to do this from a calm trot and be patient. If the above does not work also introduce a light brush back from the outside leg. At this stage you are only looking for a good transition so be content with a couple of strides of canter, then lots of praise.

Thankyou, will give this a go! he just seems to get worried when I ask and rush. got an experienced friend riding him today so going to see if he will with her.
 
Is it a balance problem? I'd make sure the horse is ready to canter inside ion a tighter space than outdoors, I'd still be doing a lot of transitioons , half halts in trot etc, just to make sure the horse has the strength to carrty a rider on a circle in canter.
 
You could also try having someone else lunge him with you riding.
That way he will learn to connect the voice command that he already knows with your ridden aids, and you can concentrate on giving calm clear canter aids without having to think about steering x
 
Is it a balance problem? I'd make sure the horse is ready to canter inside ion a tighter space than outdoors, I'd still be doing a lot of transitioons , half halts in trot etc, just to make sure the horse has the strength to carrty a rider on a circle in canter.

He can canter on the lunge and freeschool, it could well be me affecting his balance though.
 
You could also try having someone else lunge him with you riding.
That way he will learn to connect the voice command that he already knows with your ridden aids, and you can concentrate on giving calm clear canter aids without having to think about steering x

This is a good idea, thanks. If he doesn't get the idea with my experienced friend on tonight I'll try him on the lunge with her on board.
 
def not on a circle when you first try ridden canter - it's actually very, very hard for them to do that with a rider :)

i 'taught' mine canter on the longreins first (but then she was 12hh at the time and running behind was doable!), along with the voice command - helped us no end!
 
Suprise suprise, my friend hopped on board and he cantered perfectly every time she asked, and no matter where (corner, long side etc) So I'm the problem! So how do I improve my balance or whatever it is that means my horse doesn't feel happy cantering with me on board.
 
Start to increase you work without stirrups and a few minutes each tim in the school bareback. Don't over do it, you need to work up slowly to aviod you and the hrose getting sore.

Have you rad Heather Moffetts enlightened equitation books. THere are some very good basic instructions on how to learn to move with the horse and keep in balance with him
 
Maybe it's not a riding thing. Maybe it's a thinking thing. Because you're expecting him not to canter, maybe you are sending out negative vibes. I would ask your friend to canter him again, so you KNOW he can do it and then immediately hop on yourself and ask for the same. There is nowt like a PMA* to get what you want :)


(*positive mental attitude)
 
My RI uses a brilliant technique to get young horses or those unbalanced in canter going. She believes that often we ask a horse to canter when we want it to, which is fine when the horse is balanced and capable of cantering on both reins as required. However this is a big ask for a young horse. So, what you do is basically ignore your normal canter aids. Later when your horse is going nicely you can reintroduce them but for now your horse needs to be able canter on their terms.

So, get your horse into a nice forward going rising trot on large (20m+ circle). Then you shout out loud:

" 'HORSES NAME' when you are ready you may canter. You don't have to if you want to but you will trot faster"

If your horse does not canter you must push them on to trot faster.

Then repeat " 'HORSES NAME' when you are ready you may canter. You don't have to if you want to but you will trot faster"

Again if they do not canter push them on faster in trot.

(I know that talking out loud to yourself seems stupid at first! But RI says if you say it, you believe it and it happens. It does work I promise)

The first few times you do this it may take a while for your horse to break into canter. For me it took over 20 mins the first time! Try to be as relaxed as possible so you don't inhibit him in any way.

Once your horse is canter, hopefully you're not too exhausted by this point!, sit as quietly and as balanced as you can and only help him to steer round the circle. If your horse breaks back into trot let him. Don't force him to keep cantering. He has broken into trot because he feels he cannot carry on cantering so let him do it. Once he is trotting again give him a few minutes quietly trotting and then repeat the exercise. Try and get 1 or 2 more canters during the session. If he is particularly poor on one rein start with the good rein to give him confidence.

If you keep repeating this exercise on both reins you should find that over a period of a few weeks it gets easier and easier. Your horse should start to canter earlier as you recite your mantra, often only as quickly as the first part saying his name. Once you get to this stage you can start to ask for canter just by saying "canter" in a nice soft voice.

This method works because you give your horse the chance to canter only when he is balanced and able to, giving him time to sort out his legs for himself. However by constantly increasing the speed of the trot it ensures he cannot escape and avoid the canter. What you will also find is that he will very rarely break onto the wrong leg. If you watch horses in a field they never canter on the wrong leg, this is because they have chosen when they are going to canter and wouldn't do it if it meant being on the wrong leg. Once your horse is strong and balanced he will be able to move his legs and pick up the canter when you ask on the correct leg but until he is ready this technique means he always gets a positive experience and result.

Once you have this cracked you can go on to using the normal aids. To be honest all I now need is a very very light aid while saying "canter" and that gets me a lovely canter in the correct leg every time.

Good lick and let us know how you get on :) :) :)
 
Thankyou for all the help, I've been very busy lately but managed a ride the other day. And a canter! All 5 strides of it! But its a start. thankyou again so much for all the help
 
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