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Hi Lysane,

 

You are doing similar things as I did with my young one except I just stopped trying to make him canter.  My Arab who was 5 in May didn't really canter consistently and coordinated until about August of 2005.  He had been under saddle since August 2004, but he was so uncoordinated, not flexible and the rear muscle development was lacking that for him to try to canter on the correct leads he would be flipping out thinking he was going to fall over.  I think alot of the problem with cantering is that they are not balanced enough, flexible enough or strong enough to hold themselves in a circle at a canter especially on a longe line. 

 

This is what I did....

I quit longing him completely and in the arena strictly worked all dressage work...bending and flexing, etc.  I only walked and trotted on trail.  If I attempted a canter in the arena, just like you did, I would not do it in a circle or even at the corner but actually on the straight-away and only a few strides.  After too many freak outs from him that he thought he was going to fall over, pinned ears, and an occasional slo-mo rear...even though I was holding him up by leaning my weight over...I figured, let's just work on walk and trot and eventually he'll feel comfortable and strong enough to roll into a canter.  I don't want him racing at a canter anyway...especially since he has such a big stride trot and all he was doing was racing because he didn't know what he was doing.  Well, after about 6 months of walking and trotting on trail, I accidentally bumped him into a canter.  He moved into it quite smoothly, but I only let him go about 5 strides and brought him back down to a trot.  Cued the other lead...he was fine.  He's getting better and quite good at it on trail...which is where we'd spend our time anyway.  I don't really like arena work so I only spend my time in the arena on dressage work...not cantering.  The cantering is coming along fine on it's own right on trail.  I think pushing him too hard was not good for him.  He was getting upset and we would have a wonderful day trying to focus.  Once I forgot about trying to canter and worked on all the other stuff (which there is always something to work on), the canter just came naturally...even at a corner or circle.  Besides, everyone who has ridden with us on trail so far has to canter to keep up to his big trot, so I really wasn't concerned about pushing him to canter...I'll keep the big strided trot!

 

Good luck,

Stacy

Lysane Cree <lysanec@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have been doing a variety of work with my mare - always keeping in mind that she is only 4 in April. I notice that she is one-sided and also has difficulty cantering. I think it might be a balance issue as well. And her saddle is not the best fit, so I am going to test an RP. With all that said, I'm wondering what else I can do to help her along.

On the longe, she has learned the voice commands well, but she is significantly better on one side than the other. I longe because I want her to know how to do it, as well as a warm up and get her focusing on me. She will go quite well counter clockwise and will rarely fuss (except to pick up the canter). In the clockwise direction (i.e. with me on her right side), I can get only get one or two circles out of her at the trot before she will try to slam on the brakes and switch directions. I have been trying to change her directions often so that I switch her before she tries to do it herself, but I still can only get her to go one or two times around before she will try to switch.

In both directions, she always hesitates to canter. She pins her ears and then canters. She sometimes canters on the wrong lead or will give a little buck and switch her back feet.

Under saddle, I have been doing circles and figures eights at the walk and trot - on her stiff side, she will always try to cut her circles. She will pin her ears if I ask her to canter, but she will canter for a short distance. I try to do this on a straight away rather than a circle, because I have been taught that it is easier for young horses to do straight lines than it is to do circles. She is very heavy on the forehand which I expect at her age, but she seems to have trouble getting the right lead or feeling comfortable cantering. She will occassionally do a little buck which is what she does when she needs to switch her legs around. I am trying to be as easy on her as possible and not interfere too much because she is obviously not too sure of herself. I will ask her to canter a few strides and then bring her back to a trot.

I'm wondering how long it takes for a young horse to develop that ability to canter under saddle, or to canter on a circle (a large circle)...She has been under saddle for a few months now, but I am only now beginning to ask her to canter a little bit. I want to make sure I am not pushing her too much.

 

Lysane

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