Hi everyone, I’m riding/leasing a horse that was bought from a trail place and has been doing arena work for a bit now and he’s adjusted well. I’ve been doing walk/trot stuff with him and we’ve started cantering but he breaks the canter after a lap or two(it seems to tire him out pretty quickly). Are there any exercises I can do with him in the trot to better strengthen him for the canter?
As their work gets harder/more complex, most horses (like most people) will happily take the easy way out if it’s offered. I suspect there’s a combination of two things going on:
Your horse has come from an environment where his daily life was a lot of nose-to-tail follow the leader, at a pace only slightly faster than dead. Being a good boy meant slowing/stopping at the slightest wobble by the person up top, and never ever going faster than what was emphatically requested.
Add to that, I believe you’ve said you’re relatively new to riding, and especially to cantering. Getting your aids organized for upward and downward transitions, not to mention being able to continue in the canter and balance around corners is going to take some time. (But with the dedication and commitment you’ve shown, you’ll get there!)
In the meantime, your horse is trying to take care of you — and himself. He’s trying to sort out whether that momentary blockage in the reins, shift in weight, or you stopping/dropping your seat is accidental and should be ignored, or whether you really do need him to slow, and slow right now. To keep everyone upright, he’s generally going to err on the side of caution, and bring things down a notch whenever he detects an ask — or thinks you should have asked. As you progress, you and he will be able to have a more nuanced conversation, and you’ll learn to use your aids in clear, effective coordination. Part of that development process is learning to ask “What did I do to contribute to X and what can I do differently next time?” rather than immediately going for “How can I fix my horse?”
It’s a learning process. The very fact that you’re asking these good questions shows that you’re committed to that process!
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What @AllTheCarrots said sounds well thought out. Building on that, horses (and riders!) learn a lot about balance through the transitions in and out of gaits, or between different speeds of gait.
Rather than trying to canter several laps at a time right now, maybe try cantering half a lap, organize, and come back to trot or walk, organize, go back up into canter for another half a lap, repeat. The more you practice, the easier you’ll both be able to organize yourselves for transitions, and you will be able to hold a nice canter for longer as you both get strength and balance established through the transitions.
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a couple suggestions:
- When you canter do just a short bit - may 1 'lap" or a bit less and YOU bring him back to trot for a bit. Then ask again, same idea. The transitions will help strengthen him and the short set will make it easier to keep him from learning that he can just break. If he does break on you, immediately regroup and ask again.
- I would guess that he’s not comfortable the the concept of circles, curves. I got a mare ions ago that had never been in arena and it took her a while to be able carry herself and me in a 20 meter circle. So canter down the longest side with maybe a half circle before asking to come back.
- Might be useful to longe him a bit
HA HA RJC and I were typing at same time…
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Some good exercises to strengthen the canter;
Trot canter transitions on a 20m circle
Leg yielding
Walk trot transitions
Cavelletti work
pole work
hill work and hacking out
When your horse is not balanced/ and or fit enough to continue the canter, do smaller, shorter periods of work in the canter and gradually increase over time. Lots of walking and adding walking up and down hills over terrain can also help!
Agree that lunge work at the canter is very helpful to build strength.
Check out the Ride IQ app if you need help with how to ride some exercises.
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Wow guys awesome feedback! Thank you so much, I’ll keep those all in mind! 
I’d add to the very good advice you’ve already received that you should think less about the number of laps done at the canter and more about the quality of the canter itself, as well, of course, as your own sense of your own riding.
For example, canter one lap of the ring and then canter a 20-meter circle. For a little variety, you can add a ground pole or two around the circle (but don’t do that unless you’ve already cantered over ground poles going on the long straight side of the arena). Do that on both leads and then be done with cantering.
The other thing you should really try to incorporate is cantering on a trail or in a large, mostly level field. That is both more challenging to the horse, because of the unevenness of the ground, and more enticing–horses that are “meh” about the canter in the ring will open up a bit more on the trail.
But (and it’s a big but), don’t go out and do the cantering on the trail or the field by yourself at first. Talk to your instructor about it, see if she’d be willing to take you out on the trails as one of your lessons. You want to get a feel for riding in the great outdoors (beyond the arena) before you try anything solo.
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Old horsemen would say: You think “we cantered for 10 minutes”. The horse thinks, “We cantered once”.
The meaning being, to a horse, the work is in the transitions.
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I want to add to this. The work is also in the transitions within the gait. A great exercise for balance in any gait is the rubber band exercise, which means making the gait bigger and longer on the long side and then shortening on the short side. If you’re really good you can get the same number of strides on each. Obviously that’s not to be expected from a horse that’s just learning, but the idea still translates.
I do agree with above that he shouldn’t be cantering two laps and breaking on you, rather that you canter shorter and he stops when you ask.
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I agree with the others - trot / canter transitions. And good ones too! Don’t let the horse fall on its forehand on the downward transitions and pull itself by its forelegs on the upward transitions. This is hard for the horse so do not overdo at this stage of the game. Sometimes with horses that are not strong enough at the canter the longer they canter the more strung out and dumped on their forehand they get. This is fixed by practicing good transitions which help develop carrying power in the horse.
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The difference between a trail horse and a dressage horse is immense.
A trail horse pulls itself along from its front legs.
A dressage horse pushes from its hind legs.
The difference is you jogging on a circle on grass or running in sand lifting your knees to your shoulders.
Be kind. Ask for the downward transition before they get too tired. If you do they will compensate with their bodies.
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