Pete's problem. sigh.

BeachRiding

BeachRiding

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Aug 26, 2004
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Okay, I heard this is common with Western Pleasure horses because of how they are trained. Anyway, I ask Pete to canter he obliges, but when he strikes off and for the first few strides he is cantering with his front and trotting with his back legs. ( If that makes sense) My mom thinks its hilarious, I find it frustrating. I correct him by pushing him on faster and that works, but how do I get him to strike off into a correct canter? I was thinking of using a crrp and really pushing him right into canter, but wanted to get opinions first.

Very frustrated,
Scarlett
 
Use a corner, really use your inside seat bone and use a halt halt while you're asking. don't run him into the canter-that's what caused the problem in the first place. Someone once suggested to me that its easier to help correct a horse with that problem by working on walk to canter transition, because it teaches them to really use their hind, but I'm not entirely sold on that reasoning yet (haven't had to try it myself) but youi can give it a try, be very clear with your aids and see how he does


but honestly, this should be a problem that you should be working on with an instructor. Any advice that you recieve via the internet is not going to be exactly what we need since none of us can see your ride
 
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Thanks for the tips. Instructor is coming out next week possibly, honestly she is so busy she can hardly ever get out here, so I am pretty much on my own.
 
I had my first lesson last week since moving to the US and the horse I was riding did exactly the same thing, it feels really weird doesn't it, my instructor told me to really use my inside leg, or give him a light tap with the crop.

Cal x
 
Hi, Im in ireland so have never even been near a western horse but my pony used to do this too it looks funny but its very annoying for the rider! It took a lot of flat work for her to come right and learn to use her back end correctly. Lunging can also help sometimes but teaching them to canter from behind rather than running in front.
Echo what stormArion said its hard to help you fix it over the net but a session with an instructor should help.
 
Definitely have a good think about the walk-canter transition. Think it out in advance, thing about what 'shape' you will ask Pete to be in before you apply the canter aid (Bent round your inside leg - haunches in a little). Now think about when you will apply the aid. For joePony, I need to be shaped up, in position, then as his Outside Fore reaches forward, I apply my outside leg strongly to push His outside hind under him and strike off correctly. You might be quicker than me (I'm old, you're young, don't be rubbing it in) ... and you might have to wait til the horse is obviously moving forward over his Outside Fore before you apply the aid.

The other thing to think about is the request-response training cycle here. How can you make it a Real Good Thing for Pete whenever he gets it right ? Because this is a thing that some person has messed him up on, it is not the sort of thing that you will easily correct by penalising the wrong response*. You're going to be much better off here rewarding the right response. So, when he gets it wrong, each time ... what's the 'reward' ? More work. Back down to a walk, and without a break, shape him up to be a banana, wait for the timing, and into a canter. Now - just one or two steps - he's either correct or not - either way, slow and stop ... and if he gets it right - you have to be super-alert to that and praise him out of all proportion. Get your Mom to run over with a carrot. Hug him til he's embarrassed. If it was me, and joePony, I'd be trying this after he'd been well warmed up, and the first time he got it right, I'd be in a flying dismount, ass in the air even before we were down to a walk and put him straight up with a big feed and give him the rest of the day off. That's how strongly I feel about rewarding the try, when the horse is trying his best and still getting the wrong response. He needs to really know how much you appreciate his thinking it out.

Then in future sessions, ok, I'd ask for a couple of correct responses before putting him up. But only advance it very slowly. In this way you develop a horse who has a strong incentive to figure out what you want - and to do it !

* unlike, say biting, where I find a bit of negative response to his wrong behaviour to be quite acceptable.
 
I'm a big believer in rest as a reward too. Cisco's favorite thing to do is stand still when we are in the arena. I think it's a great idea to keep working when he gets it wrong and rest for a while when he gets it right. I also have some treats in my pocket for those moments when we are working on something new and the light bulb comes on and he finally gets it right.
 
Have spent a lot of time working with a horse who did this!
I found that I needed to spend a lot of time doing walk-trot-halt transitions to get her listening to me. Lots of turns and circles so she was responding to my leg. Having a schooling whip helped.
I would then get a nice, established walk, make a good turn, half halt, outside leg back and squeeze whilst driving with my seat. The moment she picked up the transition well I would calmly come back to walk with loads of pats and finished (I'm afraid I'm no good at KW's flying dismount ;)) And we just built it up slowly from there.
Please to report that after about 6 weeks of this we can know pick up canter from trot smoothly and only trot behind in canter when we're having a strop! :p;):D
 
it sounds like hes disunited(back end in trot) is usually a result of being unbalanced and not engaging his hind quarters! with time and patience you can correct it! inhand work over poles making him aware of his backend should help!:):)
 
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