how to teach canter?? confusion....

Jenny2502

Jenny2502

Puzzle and Milly
Apr 21, 2007
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Birmingham
ok so ive taught milly on the lunge to walk and trot and she will now walk and trot from leg aids.

but how do you teach canter??
on the lunge when i ask for canter on the rare occaision she does canter its on the wrong leg, she falls in through her shoulder and rushes.
and undersaddle she just bucks in confusion as she doesnt know what is being asked so she runs through the trot.

please help!!
 
Learning Canter On The Longe

Patience is the key! I'm not sure what your longeing technique is. Do you longe in a halter,longeing cavesson or bridle. I generally like to longe in a bridle and attach side reins when I'm training a horse.

I may start them in just a bridle or a halter. I assume you also carry a longe whip while you are longeing? I first teach them to go forward at a walk when I ask them and to halt when I say whoa. If they don't whoa I tug on the line and repeat the command. Any time they respond correctly to a command I praise them---say "good fella" or "good girl". I work lots of transitions.

Next I teach them to trot. If they don't trot when I say Trot I say it again and shake the whip or flick it towards their back end. Again, immediate praise when they do it. Once they are very good at walk-trot-walk and halt transitions I ask for canter. When I ask for up transitions I always raise my voice at the end of the word and for down transitions I always drop my voice at the end of the word.

With the canter whether your horse drops the shoulder or gets the wrong lead praise him/her just for picking up the canter. Worry about the rest later. If the horse only maintains for a few steps settle him/her by saying things like "easy" in a quiet voice until trotting relaxed again. Then repeat your canter command. It will just take time, repetition and patience. Always end on a good note with lots of praise. Don't expect it to happen overnight, it will take TIME.

Also---if your horse really seems to have trouble that is not due to just lack of balance and/or training have a vet exam to make sure there are no physical issues that are causing your horse pain although if the performance at the walk and trot are relaxed then it is probably just a matter of patience and development of balance and muscles.

Good Luck!!! Karla
 
Agree pretty much with Karla. Except the bit about giving a cue before you get the behaviour. I want to associate a cue with a particular behaviour, so I wait until the horse is doing it before I lable it.

Firstly I set it up to make it as easy as possible to get what you want - long rope for big circles & perhaps on a hill, so you can ask for the canter as she starts to go downhill.

You're getting a canter occasionally, so all you've got to do it reinforce what you get so that you can give it a cue and begin improving it. The *instant* she starts cantering is when you need to reinforce it to begin with. So with the first step of the canter, say 'Good!' or whatever marker she may understand and drop *all* pressure, including bodylanguage/energy. Positive reinforcement(reward) is also effective. Then repeat this exercise ad nauseum, until she's reliably cantering whenever you ask(& attach a cue word). Once she knows what you want, then you can start to ask for longer before reinforcing, correct leads, etc. But remember, whatever improvement you want also needs to be *taught* in baby steps.

Learning the principles of 'clicker training' will help you a lot too.
 
thats fantastic advice thankyou, im not to worried about forcing her to canter as walk and trot with a rider is what i want her to get used to for a while and i dont intend taking her off lead for a while either.
but on the lunge i will attempt what you have sugested and try and use key words.
When i move yards i will do clicker training, ive bought it and the books etc but its kind of impossible where i am now.
yep baby steps i have to keep telling myself :)
 
I have been teaching Mac canter for about 3 months. he will go straight into canter on the lunge. Ridden is another story and in the school i can only get about 10 strides, this was since having the osteopath over, before her visit i was lucky to get three or four!!

Saying that, with plenty of open space and my old mare to follow, he soon got the hang of what "Canteeeeeeeeeeer" meant and we had a lovely bomb along the beach last night without any hesitation.

He is just 4 and is Friesian and very unblanced in canter
 
I agree with wundahoss it is really important that your vocal cues match what you want. I started out with lots of talking, every one on my yard must have thought me mad, but definitely got me there.

Lots of patience but the up shot is both you and your mare will both be learning a lot together. And the sense of satisfaction when you get it makes the hard work worth it.

Good luck let us know how it goes :D

x
 
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