My horse thinks he's a motorbike...
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Okapi42
Posts: 495 Member
I've been having real trouble cantering in the arena, because Jackson totally stiffens up and leans into the turns until I feel that my inside toe is scraping in the sand - and he's impossible to keep on the fence, he keeps spiralling into tinier circles.
Naturally, I assumed it was me, but I've been riding a few other horses over the last couple of weeks, and I don't have this trouble with them - not even with the relatively green pony that the other riders complain about being so unbalanced in a canter!
I've tried all the usual tricks - half halts before the turn, tap on the inisde shoulder when he falls in, lots of inside leg - and none of it seems to help.
Getting into a canter on the correct lead is difficult enough, because bending isn't his strong suit - I find myself having to surprise him with a walk-canter transition and not gather up the reins in the slightest beforehand, otherwise he anticipates it and already gets stiff in preparation.
It doesn't seem to be a condition issue, because once I get him cantering, he can easily go for 10 rounds (if I manage to stop him spiralling in too much), and we blast across the big field or up hills in the forest (on relatively straight paths) no problem.
Any ideas?
Naturally, I assumed it was me, but I've been riding a few other horses over the last couple of weeks, and I don't have this trouble with them - not even with the relatively green pony that the other riders complain about being so unbalanced in a canter!
I've tried all the usual tricks - half halts before the turn, tap on the inisde shoulder when he falls in, lots of inside leg - and none of it seems to help.
Getting into a canter on the correct lead is difficult enough, because bending isn't his strong suit - I find myself having to surprise him with a walk-canter transition and not gather up the reins in the slightest beforehand, otherwise he anticipates it and already gets stiff in preparation.
It doesn't seem to be a condition issue, because once I get him cantering, he can easily go for 10 rounds (if I manage to stop him spiralling in too much), and we blast across the big field or up hills in the forest (on relatively straight paths) no problem.
Any ideas?
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My horse, who is coming back from an injury that happened during the snowy weather (and destroyed his canter--he cross-canters, as well), does the same thing, especially on his weaker, stiff side. One exercise suggested by a dressage instructor is to put a ground pole in the canter circle, because it makes the horse straighten up as he goes over it. If you have room, you could put poles in two different parts of the canter path to maximize the practice on each circuit.
For canter departs, using the pole as the place to cue and start the canter works well (used by the same instructor). And yes, I have a different horse who anticipates the canter cue as soon as I gather the reins in a certain way.0 -
Thanks, I'll give that a try - though we have problems with poles anyway. He always hits them, and will likely just try to jump a canter pole, the wee numpty... I took him for a canter on a grassy laneway the other day to get him to watch his feet, and he jumped every tussock!0
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I used to have this issue with Lily. With her it was a lack of back strength and being too heavy on her forehand which caused her to be unbalanced. We fixed it over a couple of weeks by using a tonne of leg and steady contact to get her to shift her weight back. The leg was to encourage her to keep an active stride and the contact encouraged her to be more active without being faster. This encourages them to shift back and use their hind end and back more. The aha moment for me was when she reached the point of feeling like she was 'going uphill' on the flat. That was the point at which she was engaging her back muscles and shifting her weight off of her fore. Once we go to this point we just did trot work, asking her to carry herself this way a few steps at a time and gradually increasing the duration until she was stronger physically. We then added small portions of canter asking for the same thing. Lots of leg and steady contact to get the 'uphill on the flat' feeling for a few strides at a time. Once she figured this out we were able to work on circles finally.
If after all of that your boy still cuts corners try holding steady contact with your outside reign, to hold his head straighter, pick up the inside reign (literally pick it up vertically) to encourage him to pick up his shoulder and use lots of inside leg to push him out on the circle.
With Lily she just physically wasn't strong enough to canter circles/corners until we built up the muscles. Once she could carry herself at the trot without help from me I found she was able to carry herself better automatically at the canter. That was the moment that we cantered our first course that I posted about a couple weeks back.
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I used to have this issue with Lily. With her it was a lack of back strength and being too heavy on her forehand which caused her to be unbalanced. We fixed it over a couple of weeks by using a tonne of leg and steady contact to get her to shift her weight back. The leg was to encourage her to keep an active stride and the contact encouraged her to be more active without being faster. This encourages them to shift back and use their hind end and back more. The aha moment for me was when she reached the point of feeling like she was 'going uphill' on the flat. That was the point at which she was engaging her back muscles and shifting her weight off of her fore. Once we go to this point we just did trot work, asking her to carry herself this way a few steps at a time and gradually increasing the duration until she was stronger physically. We then added small portions of canter asking for the same thing. Lots of leg and steady contact to get the 'uphill on the flat' feeling for a few strides at a time. Once she figured this out we were able to work on circles finally.
If after all of that your boy still cuts corners try holding steady contact with your outside reign, to hold his head straighter, pick up the inside reign (literally pick it up vertically) to encourage him to pick up his shoulder and use lots of inside leg to push him out on the circle.
With Lily she just physically wasn't strong enough to canter circles/corners until we built up the muscles. Once she could carry herself at the trot without help from me I found she was able to carry herself better automatically at the canter. That was the moment that we cantered our first course that I posted about a couple weeks back.
Agree with this. Another thing that I like to do is do lots of 20 m and 10 m circles with these ones. Motorcycle turns make that rather unpleasant at the beginning, but this forces them to not lean in just because they'd pretty much topple over. Definitely just try to get your horse to rock back onto his hind end, and also do a lot of bending work even at the trot (10/20 m circles, serpentines, spirals, etc) to get the horse bending around your leg.0 -
Agree with this. Another thing that I like to do is do lots of 20 m and 10 m circles with these ones. Motorcycle turns make that rather unpleasant at the beginning, but this forces them to not lean in just because they'd pretty much topple over. Definitely just try to get your horse to rock back onto his hind end, and also do a lot of bending work even at the trot (10/20 m circles, serpentines, spirals, etc) to get the horse bending around your leg.
Haha, yes, it is rather unpleasant for the rider! Unfortunately, lungeing is right out - due to an abusive owner, he panics and attempts to attack me when being lunged, so it all has to be done from the saddle. Should be good for my own balance and core strength, at least...
I thought it might simply be a fitness issue, but I do a lot of hill work over distances of up to 15km at fairly fast paces, so his condition should be built up enough now. He's generally got good self-carriage, so I suspect it is just a matter of him becoming nervous and falling apart!
But thanks, I'll try your tricks.0 -
Haha, yes, it is rather unpleasant for the rider! Unfortunately, lungeing is right out - due to an abusive owner, he panics and attempts to attack me when being lunged, so it all has to be done from the saddle. Should be good for my own balance and core strength, at least...
Oh, I didn't mean lunging; I mean small circles while on his back!
Definitely do extensive hill work at the TROT, both up and down the hills, which should help... Faster doesn't necessarily mean better in this case, and you'll get the most bang for your buck doing trotting hills, not cantering. Good luck! 0 -
Oh, we trot plenty, too - but only on the roads. Forest lanes are for going "wheeee" 0
