Struggling with canter transitions

Nikita

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Jun 16, 2015
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Im officially loaning Billy :D (for those of you who don't know, he's a 16.3hh 8 year old cob x TB) as his owner is off to university, and has an ankle injury. So in my lessons, I usually do lots of poles, and concentrate on the smoothness and contact on walk/trot. Although every lesson, at the end, I try to canter, but he just trots at a ridiculously fast pace I go into sitting trot, lighten my inside hand, and put my inside leg on the girth, and the outside one just behind and kick. But it doesn't seem to work :( my instructor says it's because he hasn't had an proper canter work in a good year or so. So do you have any more tips on help to get him into canter more easily? :)
 
Get your instructor up on him so she can a) feel the problem & b) show you what works.

I'd also try asking for canter at the start of the session, if you've spent all your time in walk & trot then the chances are that's what he's thinking you want. So very early on ask for canter going into a corner, and personally I'd back up the request with a voice aid but I wouldn't kick or exaggerate the aid as that can unbalance the horse. Do you canter him on hacks? Think what you do to ask for canter then & do the same in the school, you can tidy it up later if needs be. And if you haven't cantered on hacks that may be a good place to start because more space & a straight line can be more encouraging for the horse.
 
Thanks for the reply :) I've never cantered on hacks, only ever walked (had a fall on a hack trotting, so building my confidence a bit more in walk first). I'll try the voice and do it at the beginning of the lesson :) do you think I should use a riding crop aswell? Because I usually carry one, but don't use it much.. :)
 
I wouldn't unless you're certain that he's deliberately ignoring you despite knowing what you want, if you do you may provoke more of a reaction than you're happy with!
 
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If you can, have a lesson on a school master so you can think about what you do in the transition to canter.

You want to think about bringing your inside hip forward, to allow room for the horse's inside hind leg to step up into canter. Looking slightly over your outside shoulder can help this.

I find with my horse, unless you think canter with your hips and body, you are unlikely to get a transition.

You say you've been (understandably) nervous - are you blocking the transition somewhere with your body if you're not 100% confident in asking for it? Again, I'd book a lesson on a school master to see if that helps.

Has he done a lot of dressage? I find dressage trained horses tend to identify the inside leg with the canter cue and place less importance on the outside leg aid, so may be worth playing with that too.
 
Hi Nikita. Carthorse speaks the truth..ask your instructor to school Billy to help him rebalance his canter transistions..and, horse and rider have to be very fit to still perform well at the end of a lesson, especially if neither horse or rider are well practised at canter transistions. Also, try this.. next time you go to ride, notice the way you breathe..the rhythm and depth of your breathing.. very basically speaking; keep the breaths even, steady and deep with power, yet calm. It might be that you unintentionally hold your breath when riding canter transistions. Your instructor should have taught you how to use your core muscles .. so check that you have good tone
 
Do you struggle with canter transitions generally on other horses, or just Billy?

As mentioned above, it can be really helpful to look over your outside shoulder as this shifts your weight to the right spot and helps him pick up the correct lead.

When you fail to get a canter what does he do? Trot really fast? Or does he pick up the wrong lead?

Is he very balanced at the trot? Sometimes the transition is hard to make for an unbalance and unfit horse.

Does he know voice commands? Many horses know "can-ter!" as an aid to help back up the leg, others respond to a kiss. I find that very helpful especially with a horse that isn't sure as it gives them an extra hint.

Will he pick up canter for your instructor or other riders? Sometimes that will help to 'switch him on' to what you are doing, if your instructor can get a canter out of him a couple times and then you hop on, he will be more likely to do it for you and then you can gain confidence that when you apply the aids you will get the correct response.

If despite all of this you still don't get the upwards transition - if he is balanced, physically fit and capable of cantering, your aids are correct, but you still don't get it - he may be taking the mickey and ignoring you. In this instance a tap with the crop on the shoulder can help. Leroy can be like this - I cue for canter and he just continues trotting faster but a good sharp smack with the crop and he jumps forward into his canter, then each time I ask for it next there's no need for the crop. For a long time I was hesitant to do this though, I thought the failure to canter was because I hadn't cued him properly. Its hard to know sometimes.
 
I feel your pain @Nikita ! It has taken me a looong time to get Peds to understand canter aids. He was a lead rein pony before I got him and so hadn't cantered in a long time. That added with my fear of cantering ment he didn't know what I wanted! He now goes into canter on first ask most times, he just can't sustain it yet (unless we are out hacking! But he hasn't got the balance for corners yet!) He would go into a running/extended trot when asked originally. My instructor had me instantly bring him back (sometimes to a walk) re establish a balanced trot and ask again. When he did strike off into canter he got lots of praise, and asked to trot after a couple strides.

We were managing to transition about 50% of the time when I had a lesson at RC with a different instructor and that really improved our transitions. He told me to ride as if I was watching a video of myself, going frame by frame and to always ride the next frame (He said it better, that doesn't make much sense!!) Basically to ride forward as in canter I am quite backward as Peds explodes into it and then fires off down the long side. But after just one lesson with this guy our canter is a million times better! (I'm going to get more lessons with him in the summer when I can ride in my field more regularly )

I agree that getting your instructor to have a go on your horse could help, sometimes it's hard to see from the ground what's going on on board!

Good luck, you will get there!
 
Looking back, I think I have always without realising held my breath before canter transitions :/ I had a lunge lesson with him, and he was very responsive to my aids then :) he is capable of cantering, because I've watched him owner canter him before, I think my cues for canter aren't quite as clear though. I'm going to ask my instructor during my lesson, if she can show me how to get him into canter, I'm hoping maybe someone showing me whilst explaining might help me with mine in the future :) thanks to all tips, I'll try making my cues clearer, and perhaps see if a voice command will help. I've gotten him into canter before, using a what keren@serendipity did, a tap with the crop and he sprang forward :) thanks everyone, i shall share after my lesson on Saturday x
 
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With the caveat that I am not a great one to advise as I find canter very inconsistent ... the transition is always easier for me if I make sure we have got a really super pingy good quality trot first.

This ^^ a really good active trot will definitely help.
 
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