(non-pole) Exercises for developing canter

[ellevt]

My young TB is pretty inverted. Likes to counterbend, throw his head up in the air, and just generally make my life difficult. He’s about 2 1/2 months along in his retraining, and his trot has improved by leaps and bounds. He’s now bending equally to both directions and seeking out the contact, yay!

His canter still really sucks though. If I ask him to bend and use his back rather than galumph around like a mentally challenged giraffe, he does try. But it’s very hard for him, and he can’t do it for more than a few strides before breaking to trot. He can’t even canter a complete 20m circle without trotting. Transitions are fine, both leads are fine, he even has very clean lead changes! His canter is just very odd, like lots of little repeated leaps up and forward rather than a smooth, ground-covering gait.

Normally I would just put him over lots of poles, but he freaks out at them. Jumps them like they’re 2ft. No matter how many there are, how many times I go through them, how many half halts. Nope. Won’t do it. Any ideas?

[beowulf]

i’d just make him go through poles until he stops freaking out about them, personally. mine thought for sure they would leap up and snap at his legs in the beginning too – i just spent 2-3 weeks of poles every day and then one day it was not a big deal anymore.

if he is breaking in a 20m circle he may not be strong enough to be doing poles at the canter anyway. can you canter him in straight lines somewhere? up the road, around the ring? until he builds his confidence? it sounds like he isn’t confident in your hand and isn’t confident he knows where his feet are supposed to be, neither of which will resolve themselves until you tackle them head on.

[CHT]

Does he jump yet? I have found that some of these struggling to canter horses, do well if you trot them to a jump, and let them land on their own canter. It just seems they find their own rhythm.

Doing trot work in shoulder fore will also help his canter. Shoulder fore left will help the right lead and vice versa.

Also make sure if he breaks you take time to rebalance before asking for the canter again.

Are you sure his hocks are sound?

[ellevt]

We did start over crossrails and small jumps, but he started rushing and making a muck of it. So I decided to press pause on the jumping for now. He’s a very strong horse and I want the flatwork to be good first.
I have no reason to believe he’s unsound. This seems like typical big dumb baby behavior. But I might have the vet out if he doesn’t really start improving within the next month or so.

[LookmaNohands]

Teach him to stretch.

Really, that is where I start.

[Cindyg]

[QUOTE=LookmaNohands;7886313]
Teach him to stretch.

Really, that is where I start.[/QUOTE]

Details?

[Sunflower]

I have an OTTB and after months and months of stretching out long and low, walk and trot work, we are JUST now working on canter. He had to build up his back muscles and find his balance before I thought he should do the canter work-- going around inverted does not help him build up the right muscles and feels like it undoes the hours of work that went into creating a topline.

I like the philosophy of Art 2 Ride in building a horse’s muscles–great educational videos- here is a link, see what you think. http://www.art2ride.com/blog/

Work on the lunge with the Pessoa helps.

[fordtraktor]

My expectations for canter are lower than trot. As soon as I get them I start working at walk and trot toward getting the horses to reach into the contact, riding inside leg to outside hand, stretching, 20 m circles, intro bending, etc. most catch on pretty quick at the trot.

I do the exact same thing at the canter, but it takes longer because when you add speed, you take away organization on the horse’s part! I just keep asking every ride, do a couple canters each way and ask for what the horse is ready for at that gait. For some that is just rhythm at first, but that is not te end of he world as it is part of the training scale for a reason. If that is all they can process it is what I work on. Then I start to push them from inside leg to outside hand and the whole process begins until they canter around on the bit too. The horse will decide how long that takes.

[GoodTimes]

What position are you in during the canter? Leaping and unorganization at the canter could be a strength thing, but it could also be a comfort thing. If the horse is already inverted, strong, and has a tendency to rush, then by sitting and pulling or strong half halts you’re impeding the forward motion. Try getting up in two point or a half seat, push him forward, lengthen the reins to encourage him to stretch, lots of transitions to keep him from getting on the forehand, lots of big circles.

If this doesn’t sound like the problem then it’s probably just a strength issue that will work itself out as you keep working away at it.

[SportArab]

Try longeing him over poles and jumps. That way he only has to get himself over the obstacles.

[ToTheNines]

As others have suggested, methodical canter work in a round pen with a Pessoa rig lets the horse figure out his balance and rhythm without a rider.

I do not need to have a lunge line in the round pen. Just use a lunge whip as your aid.

I use my Pessoa rig with a halter, with the pulleys attached to the side rings of the halter. No need for a bit, and I do have everything adjusted loosely. Find the adjustment where he looks loose and long and relaxed, even if just for a moment. Keep it adjusted there, and let him figure out how to hold himself to get that look. Don’t try to force it by curling him up, they need to develop their muscles to get that pretty flat topline! Watch the muscle on top of the neck just in front of the withers. You want that one developed, not at the poll.

It takes lots of time, but their balance and topline will gradually improve. I have always heard that with the pessoa rig, trot for strength and canter for balance.

I am sure lunging with Pessoa rig is helpful too, but I sure like the freedom they have in a large round pen.

[BravAddict]

Either one of two mindsets may help you: focus on taking as many canter strides as possible, and deal with the quality of them later, or focus on the quality of the strides, and deal with the quantity later. I don’t think one is inherently better than the other, but you should probably pick one.

Beowulf and fordtraktor have given you good options for the first mindset.

Setting yourself up for success takes a lot of patience. I rode a horse whose canter would rapidly become unbalanced, and she anticipated the cues. I wanted to turn cantering from something inevitable and unpleasant into something…else. Make new memories, so to speak. First, I didn’t canter every ride. Secondly, instead of walk and trot left/right then cantering left/right, I really mixed it up. We did so many circles and serpentines and transitions and half-circles…then when the time was really right, I’d ask for the canter. My position was a big part of that. I made sure that I didn’t ask when I was off-balance or distracted, either. After a few rational, organized strides, we’d go back to trot, walk, or halt, and do something else for a while. Whether the horse starts out okay and then galumphs, or gets a bit better and then falls apart, there’s no need to wait for the horse to go to pieces before stopping. Set yourselves up for success, make good memories, and praise. Just a thought!

[fordtraktor]

BravAddict, I definitely don’t recommend taking as many canter strides as you can and just hoping the canter improves. I am always, always working on the quality of the strides. it is just a slow process. The first step to improving quality is to establish a steady tempo. This can take one ride or it can take several on an OTTB. Then next step is to start pushing them from inside leg to outside rein, adding the suppleness and contact/connection. Then adding in a little bend.

I agree with much of your post re: praise, transitions, and setting up for success. You can wait to do this for six months, or you can ask for the canter and start doing it right away. I just start asking and follow the horse’s schedule on what he is ready for. It’s not rushing anything and every day we work on improving quality according to the training scales. Every time the horse does anything good, I praise/good boy/release.

Here is the one I got last year at the trot after about 30 days under saddle off the track at the trot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJbU8FQbewE&list=UUW_oPSwYAYh9l6SDYXsyahw&index=3

there are some clips of him cantering over fences, and you can see his canter much less together but perfectly fine for where he was at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE_CWpR9neE&index=4&list=UUW_oPSwYAYh9l6SDYXsyahw

[netg]

Please tell us you are working with a trainer, as your horse is not trying to make your life difficult, nor is he dumb, nor is he doing anything to personally get back at you or any such nonsense.

You didn’t mention bodywork - is he still tight and uncomfortable from the track? Have you really evaluated saddle fit? What have you done to teach him to do what you want, and what have you done to condition him to do it?

If everything else checks out, lots of trot work using himself correctly will help prepare him for the canter, and I agree about picking a focus of either quality or quantity of steps, and not pushing both at once.

[merrygoround]

Assuming there are no soundness problems, I would continue on with the trot flat work. I have found S/I. and H/I great strengthening exercises, and really helpful in building canter, along with, and as well as transitions to the canter.

[IPEsq]

I would continue to work on walk/trot under saddle, and try to get him used to poles at these gaits. Canter work to build strength on the longe in side reins or Pessoa system. Start off loose. If he is too weak to canter much on the longe even, then try to do a lot of trot/canter transitions, particularly if he rushes the transition into the canter.

I’ve had success with this approach with OTTBs, especially ones that have a particularly weak lead. The lead they don’t like to pick up gets even more transition work on the line before doing much under saddle. But, even if you get a good, relaxed canter and transitions for several laps on the longe, be prepared for it to not be as easy for him under saddle. And, I would do more big loops under saddle at the canter at first before trying the small circles.

[quietann]

Poles at the walk first? Nice for building topline (albeit slowly), and at the walk, if things go sideways both of you are less likely to get hurt. If you have cavaletti or Blox or a similar product so the poles don’t move if he bumps them, that would help too.

[ellevt]

Thanks for the tips everyone. It seems like we are on the right track, just that I will need to pack my patience. I’ve noticed really positive changes in his musculature, i.e. the bulge under his neck has disappeared and the hollows behind his withers are filling in.

We already longe in the Pessoa once a week, so I’ll keep on with that. I have not actually tried a 2-point in canter, that is a fantastic idea (why didn’t I think of it?). I used to ride a mare that had a crap canter if you sat but very nice if you posted/ 2-pointed.

Today we did 20m circles at trot and canter. I would just ask for as many canter strides as he could do well, and ask for a down transition when I felt him start to come unglued. Then fixed the trot, went back up to canter. Seemed to work much better than trying to fix the canter as I went.

[CourtneyANYC]

You’ve gotten a lot of good info, but I reiterate patience.

Don’t compare this horse to anyone else’s, or any other horse you’ve started. Some horses just take longer to “get it” and forcing it on him will cause more problems later. I got an unbacked young one this spring and he had very similar issues (well, much worse actually - only had a left lead, couldn’t turn right to save his life, etc.). I just kept having to tell myself, “He’s not going to go through his whole life without a right lead.”

Tell yourself, “He’s not going to go through his whole life without a canter,” and it will change your perspective enough to have the patience to get through all this work that the other posters suggested. He’ll get there.

[pryme_thyme]

I am a big believer in that you build the canter in the transition.
Lots of trot-canter-trot transitions. No devices. He likely isn’t strong enough to hold the canter, so ask for the trot transition before he has a chance to break.

Pole work is great for working over the back because they have to look down at the poles. Set the trot poles, walk through them, halt in the middle of them and patt him. He sounds anxious.
Trot towards the roles and ask for walk a couple strides before and walk through.

Repeat several times each ride until poles are easy and he calmly trots through.

Be patient - he will get it. Lots of praise with even little sucesses.

Good luck.