My favorite thing to do when ridding was jumping or cantering.Im worried I’m going to bored just trotting.Are there any driving clases or sports where cantering is preferred.
Look into combined driving. It’s like the driving version of eventing.
Hate being a downer, but cantering is not used a lot in driving. Even in CDE things. Your “outfit” will affect how horse moves, turns, big trot or canter accelerates how FAST stuff can go wrong in any setting or situation. Wrong usually involves an accident, horse down, tipping over of vehicle or vehicle bouncing out the people.
Horse knowing how to canter WHEN ASKED, under control, is a good idea in your training steps so he doesn’t freak out with weird feeling pull of harness or vehicle on his body. Quite a different feel than trotting gives. Horse might get in a canter stride now and again unasked, he needs to slow not run then.
In training, any asking for canter is with a RELIABLE animal who will listen and stop quickly when asked. You don’t ask a green animal to canter in harness with a vehicle. He is not reliable, may spook and run. Stuff happening is still very new to him.
Any CDE video with cantering, is probably the most horse will canter in a week of driving. Horse is more advanced in training and driving skills, with a skilled driver holding the reins, not just his first competition.
You will also want to use a kicking strap on your green horse, prevent lifting his rump to blast the front of vehicle during beginning driving training and starting canter training. Kicking strap across the croup or top of hips is discouraging when he tries to lift hindquarters for a kick.
In addition to everything goodhors said, cantering in harness is not the same as galloping and jumping. Especially if you have a 2 wheeled cart, it’s kind of annoyingly bouncy.
If you think you will get bored driving definitely take up combined driving - you will have so much to remember/memorize you will not get bored.
FWIW, my pony began cantering in the hazards last summer and he wasn’t significantly faster than when he maintained his trot. He can trot as fast as some horses canter, and it is not boring. We canter for training and for fun, but its not necessary for the thrill of speed. 
Good points Hilary, you don’t always “go faster” cantering than you can trotting.
PLUS in a trot you have TWO feet on the ground all the time, not just one, harder to lose his footing with two feet down.
I’ve noticed that riders who try driving get a strong feeling of speed at first anyway. Something to do with distance from horse and lack of legs to control the horse 
We found that maintaining a smooth, steady trot thru hazards allowed better flow and control for my whip and her horse/4 wheeled vehicle. Horse was a handy Morgan, and could turn on a dime. When you see some of the turns needed, you either have to think about going in countercanter, or having a horse that will do lead changes in the canter, in harness.
You will see videos of international level combined driving with cantering within the hazards. The risk of getting hung up on a post or other part of the obstacle gets higher with speed, especially in tight spots! Having a good groom/navigator on the back step can help you shift the vehicle to make tight turns, balance the carriage, or even to “hop” the vehicle if you need to get “unstuck”.
The sport is a real blast, and you will not meet a nicer group of horsemen and -women. Sometimes they are retired from riding for physical reasons, but still enjoy the time with horses and want to still be active, just in a different way.
Cart is two wheeled vehicle, carriage is four wheeled. Many variations of each, as well as benefits and drawbacks. A carriage is typically more comfortable to ride in, but a cart is what some people start with, and it can be more portabie.
PS-- bring money. Quality (safe!) harness, vehicle and gear is not cheap, but you will find it lasts.
Driving was not my first choice in ways to spend time with equines. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always admired driving. I’ve always taken the time to break all of my horses to harness and cart, even if just for one day, so they were well rounded.
I just loved riding. My interests revolved around dressage, team penning and studying old military style cross country. I was a pretty active rider.
Enter a Morgan who I was hoping could dabble in everything, turned out having broken withers and being unrideable. So, we tried our hand at carriage driving.
We had a very rough start that seemed to take an eternity. My horse was very unreliable in the beginning and we confined ourselves to safe places for a long time. I grew depressed, I started thinking this was going to be my future. I felt like we were the “wheelchair kids” that couldn’t do it any more. I even complained to a friend of mine “I don’t want to be Driving Miss Daisy” the rest of my life.
Then my horse and I turned a corner. I got a marathon vehicle and hit the trails, streets, etc. We do go a bit on the faster side after conditioning for it, and we do canter every drive. Last fall we were working on flying changes, and we do hand gallop in some safe areas. Though his fastest gait is a smokin’ trot. I keep up with my riding friends on the trails, even out pace them. Now I feel like we’re the “wheelchair kids” that can do it. While its not always about speed, driving life is anything but dull.
Its an entirely different way to connect with your horse. Its not like learning a different language, but a distinct and different dialect that poses communication challenges all of its own. There’s a lot to know even beyond the obvious differences, and its a very hard skill to master.
Its also dangerous as heck. Way more dangerous than riding in many ways. Once you really get out and about, you start discovering all the ways all the ways you can get in trouble, get popped out of the vehicle, flipped, etc. You have to be really aware all the time, and that in itself is pretty exciting.
The network of people that driving opens you up to is priceless. Driving folk are hands down the nicest, most supportive and friendly bunch of equestrians anywhere ever.
I doubt I’m going to ever compete my Morgan. He’s still a bit wild to handle when he’s “up”. While I handle him alright, he would raise quite a few eyebrows at a competition and I don’t want that kind of “bad press”. He also has a transient shoulder lameness that seems to pop up once in a while during ring work, so there is a chance he might take some bobbling steps during a dressage test.
But if you have a capable equine and a friend to gator, CDE is incredibly thrilling, even at low levels.
I completely understand what you’re asking because I felt the same way at one point too. Give it a try and give it some time.
Skittles
The Gladstone Horse Driving Trials and Combined Test is coming May 21-22 not too far north of you - Gladstone, NJ.
Why not sign up as a volunteer and come see what Combined Driving is all about. You’ll be right in the action volunteering and see what goes on. Likely you’ll find time to chat with people after the competition as well.
Sarah Schmidt and Amie Bauman will be there, both competing and with students.
You can contact B Haertlein, volunteer coordinator at tommyom2@yahoo.com
More info at www.gladstonedriving.org
I always enjoyed this video, really gives you a sense of just how tricky some events can be, and how quick thinking you and your horse have to be
Thank you so much I think I might.
I canter my pony in harness, just because I can. I cannot ride any more due to disability, I miss the speed, and he is lazy at the walk and trot. We’ve been known to have joggers pass us when he’s trotting. But he likes a good canter once in a while, has never gotten crazy on me, and always goes down into a trot when I ask him to.
Understand, though, I’ve been driving 13 years now, driving at least once a week and usually more for all that time, and I trained my pony myself. I definitely recommend getting a lot of hours in the cart before going too nuts.
Rebecca
I canter frequently with my pony. I’ve always felt in breaking riding horses that cantering sooner seemed to help make it less of a big deal.
Not sure about two-wheel carts being morse portable, I guess breed show sullied,maybe, my biggest impetus to buying the 4-wheel carriage,besides starting into the cones and obstacles, is that I can’t carry my cart and pony in one truckload with my gooseneck 3-horse. My new marathon carriage just fits in the back two stalls!
Cantering seems to let my pony loosen up and stretch out. But we only do it to break up the arena work. He is very relaxed cantering in harness, and it seems to free up his shoulders and loosen his lower back when he needs it.
He did indeed need that bucking strap the first few times when he was green! So use it!!!
Have to say I’m old enough that when we started driving you were advised to keep most of driving at a walk or trot to avoid the horse considering the canter as an option.
Yes, you taught your horse to canter, so it was not a big deal if he did so (for you or him), but the trot is/was considered the gate of driving. In pleasure shows you are penalized for breaking into a canter - cones too. Back then, the marathon was driven at the trot except for the hazards. Hazard judges were told to count how long the canter was leading out of the hazard. If it was more than 5 seconds - penalty.
It’s only more recently that people want to do so much cantering. That’s OK, but consider that it has it’s limitations. Many two wheel carts get rocking quite a bit at the canter. Until you are really advanced, you’ll find it’s probably faster to drive hazards at a trot than a canter.
Just saying you may find developing a strong trot is pretty fun as well.
I’ve always wondered about cantering in harness - I’ve seen some videos on Instagram of people cantering their ponies down the road. Very interesting to see what people think.
I was a kid (and I am now 69) and my parents took me to the Conn. State Fair in Danbury. There was some kind of track (half-mile, maybe) and the Budweiser Clydesdales were doing an exhibition. The announcer said, “You are now going to see something very unusual, the hitch cantering in harness.”
They trotted around the far turn, then started cantering at the top of the stretch, and cantered down the whole homestretch.
It took them the entire first turn to come down to the trot again, and then to a walk. Totally controlled, but a lot of horsepower! Wish it had been videoed!
Ive always been told to never canter in harness.
HOWEVER, I have a couple ponies that WANT to canter, sooooooo I decided to give them a CUE to canter, when I want them to canter only, and only under control. They are much happier now. We have great walk, slow trot, regular trot & extended trot, AND they GET to canter as a reward for work well done. I think it is ok to canter in harness now, as long as you have the control. And, as others have said, things can go wrong FASTER when you canter. YMMV
J
