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My eldest son often says of his Standardbred foxhunter "She was a lot of fun, until she learned to canter"  Their first dressage test she couldn't canter a 20 meter circle, so she jumped out of and back into the ring while cantering a 30 meter circle. Now, left to her own devices she shifts gear at around 18mph.   Libby

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Carolyn Burgess
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 11:23 AM
To: Ridecamp
Subject: [RC] "A horse that can't be cantered is pretty useless"

I love Standardbreds, that is my breed of choice for any sport.  My current 50 mile horse is a 14 y.o. Standardbred who I got off the track at 9.  Could canter in the field, but would not canter under saddle.  I knew that when I bought him as a 50 mile prospect.  It would take a long time for him to canter under saddle for 2 reasons: 1) He didn't have the muscles necessary to canter, and 2) In harness racing, horses that canter while working are punished.

 

It took about a year of saddle work for him to develop the muscles to canter.  It took another 3 years of bonding with him for him to understand that it was OK to canter while working.  It was even desired by me.  I did my first CTR in 2002.  25 miles, no canter.  I did my first 50 in 2004, still no canter under saddle.  I did 3 - 50 mile rides with no canter.  When I would tell other riders that he did not canter under saddle, they would ask me how can I ride 50 miles without that gear.  Then they would see him on the trail and exclaim, "He doesn't need a canter!", as they would have to hand gallop behind me to keep up with his medium speed trot.

 

These horses pace and trot in harness at speeds approaching 40 mph.  Who needs canter when you can get that speed trotting.

 

This guy now has one of the most powerful hand gallops you have ever seen.  So just because a horse can't, or won't, canter, doesn't mean they are useless.

Carolyn Burgess