My horse has a problem with swapping canter leads behind. It happens when he is on the lounge, cantering around freely in the arena, and when ridden. It actually improves some when I am riding as I can help balance him. I’ve had him extensively vetted (blocks, injections, etc.) and the vet determined it’s just a strength issue. He flexes 100% sound and none of the blocks or injections helped the problem. I will reiterate, this is not a soundness issue, it is a strength and balance issue. So my question is what are some good exercises I can do to improve the quality of the canter and strengthen him and to hopefully fix the lead swapping and improve the canter?
Correct transitions, lots of them, then when he is stronger, LY at the canter, along with spiral circles.
Jumping gymnastics helped my horse a great deal with his canter strength. They don’t have to be big, but they do have to be ridden correctly so the horse doesn’t cheat.
Rein back. Rein back for days. It’s a non-concussive way to build strength. Start with short bursts once or twice a ride and build on from there.
Are there any good, long hills around? Hill work - walking then trotting then cantering UP the hill then walking down each time. Will really strengthen the back and hind end and improves balance fairly quickly. It’s strenuous so start slowly and work your way up.
No hills unfortunately. I’m in central Indiana so it’s super flat
[QUOTE=Simba27;8784152]
No hills unfortunately. I’m in central Indiana so it’s super flat[/QUOTE]
You’re only about 1 1/2 hours away from some great trails with steep hills. How about trail riding? Also, there’s a park on the south side of Indianapolis that has some good hills and is free for horse people.
My horse has had the same problem. Up and down transitions, and lots of them, have helped to most. Lots of walk halt walk halt walk trot walk trot. For months, all we did were up down transitions, and we’ve started cantering short sets with up down transitions for the last 4 months. He’s become a different horse and now is starting to hold the canter without swapping out in back.
I suggest, along with the many good suggestions here, cavaletti and raised cavaletti at the trot. Strengthen the stifles and get the horse to use himself. Grid work at the trot and canter, also.
I wonder about rein-back. I worked with a person who did alot of rein-back with my horse and that became his “go to” exercise. In the show ring…stop, rein back and he keeps going and going and going… I experienced this with my former horse when an Olympian did alot of rein-back to get her on her haunches. At the next show, she anticipated this and rather than doing a canter pirouette, she stopped and reined back. And back. Perhaps I wasn’t good enough to stop it (could very well be the case) but it was a PITA “corrective exercise” for both super smart horses. CNM, would love to get your feedback on this and how to use it without the horse getting stuck “going backwards”.
Even though your vet checked and said no problems, if you have a good horse chiropractor nearby, that may help lots. Horse may not have a serious vet-caliber problem but still need some small adjustments to be avoid that resistance. The chiro (or whatever they call themselves ) can also advise you what ground exercises will do the most good. Vets know things. The horse Chiro is focused exclusively on this. 
[QUOTE=J-Lu;8784456]
I suggest, along with the many good suggestions here, cavaletti and raised cavaletti at the trot. Strengthen the stifles and get the horse to use himself. Grid work at the trot and canter, also.
I wonder about rein-back. I worked with a person who did alot of rein-back with my horse and that became his “go to” exercise. In the show ring…stop, rein back and he keeps going and going and going… I experienced this with my former horse when an Olympian did alot of rein-back to get her on her haunches. At the next show, she anticipated this and rather than doing a canter pirouette, she stopped and reined back. And back. Perhaps I wasn’t good enough to stop it (could very well be the case) but it was a PITA “corrective exercise” for both super smart horses. CNM, would love to get your feedback on this and how to use it without the horse getting stuck “going backwards”.[/QUOTE]
Ah. Yes. Great point, especially for horses that are sensitive or have a bit of backwards-thinking tendency. The panacea for sticking in the reinback is to go emphatically forward out of it. Up to you and your horse whether that means walk or trot or extended trot or canter.
If your horse is sticky, controlling the number of reinback steps-- and having the feeling that you could roll all that energy forward at any time. I definitely have “one of those” horses, and what has helped considerably was:
- Halt
- Rein back several steps. If the first step backwards from the halt is prompt, you can ask for more steps. If sticky, only ask for 1-3 steps, and then:
- Trot off in THE BIGGEST MEDIUM IN THE WORLD.
Repeat 2 or 3x, and then move on to something completely different and that your horse enjoys.
[QUOTE=enjoytheride;8784355]
You’re only about 1 1/2 hours away from some great trails with steep hills. How about trail riding? Also, there’s a park on the south side of Indianapolis that has some good hills and is free for horse people.[/QUOTE]
What places are you talking about? I would definitely be up to checking those out
My young horse had exactly the same problem. My instructor advised me to really concentrate on canter work, so that I was doing about 80% canter each ride. Lots of counter flexion, shoulder fore (on the circle) and transitions to trot BEFORE he gets tired and the change occurs. I ride in an open flat paddock, so it was doing lots of big 60m to 80m circles or squares with bit soft corners. It was about building strength and bringing him back to trot before he got tired. It only took a few months and stopped happening. As he became stronger the circles became smaller and we started asking him for a slower tempo. Now he has a really good canter.
[QUOTE=Simba27;8784497]
What places are you talking about? I would definitely be up to checking those out[/QUOTE]
Southwestway park in the city has some terrain, Midwest Trail Ride, Brown County, Harden’s horse camp, or anything connected to the Hoosier National Forrest all have hills, some quite extreme.
Try 10-15m figure 8s.
On the centerline, pick up a canter from the walk (or the trot, but ideally the walk). Track left and turn it into a 10m circle. As you get back to the centerline, transition to the walk through trot, reorganize, and pick up the canter in the other direction.
They will be uggggggggly at first. But then go back and try a 20m circle. It will probably feel much more balanced.
what worked with my very tight very short-backed arab curly cross, was to do a ton of lateral work, especially leg-yield with nose to the wall, and really get his haunches in in trot and canter, when he was able to canter haunches-in, the problem simply disappeared. Canter circles part haunches in, part shoulders in is the only way I can get him to truly stretch and reach for contact
Counter canter.
[QUOTE=cnm161;8784479]
Ah. Yes. Great point, especially for horses that are sensitive or have a bit of backwards-thinking tendency. The panacea for sticking in the reinback is to go emphatically forward out of it. Up to you and your horse whether that means walk or trot or extended trot or canter.
If your horse is sticky, controlling the number of reinback steps-- and having the feeling that you could roll all that energy forward at any time. I definitely have “one of those” horses, and what has helped considerably was:
- Halt
- Rein back several steps. If the first step backwards from the halt is prompt, you can ask for more steps. If sticky, only ask for 1-3 steps, and then:
- Trot off in THE BIGGEST MEDIUM IN THE WORLD.
Repeat 2 or 3x, and then move on to something completely different and that your horse enjoys.[/QUOTE]
Thank you!!!
Man, I wish I had enough riders to get you out for a clinic.
I ride a lot of arabians, and often they start off really weak behind and will swap. I like to use transitions (canter, FORWARD into a trot transition, canter, FORWARD into a trot transition) to help increase their strength and help them learn to reach under. Once that is going well and their strength is improved, I do teach hind end control, with a lot of turn on the forehand and haunches-in. It has worked for me every time. Good luck!
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Thanks for all of the tips! I’m going to get to work on these suggestions ASAP
