Walk to canter help please!

I

iloveshearer

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Dec 2, 2005
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Not sure wether to put this in training of the rider or the horse because i think we both need help!

I've been practising transitions with Shearer recently and his halt-walk, walk-trot and his trot-canter are pretty spot on but his halt-trot is a bit more of a problem, but still not bad- it's his walk to canter which we're having problems with :confused:

As many of you know Shearer is half trotter therefore his instant reaction when asked to move forwards is to stick his nose in the air and trot forwards at full pelt, which with a lot of time and schooling we have *nearly* overcome! He no longer does this. But now we've been trying the walk-canter he goes into *trotter mode* and rushes forward into trot instead of a canter.

Does anyone have any tips, and also could anyone clearly outline the aids so i know for sure i'm not confusing my poor pone :p Thanks!
 
the canter aid is always the same, outside leg back slightly (sliding motion), inside leg on the girth with a slight squeeze. inside hand lift slightly, outside hand allowing but with a contact, you also need to move your seat but i can't explain it :eek:
To get a good transition you really need to prepare well... get the hocks mega engaged, really difficult in walk but you have to have the horse thinking let me go forwards. get a really positive forwards walk that is containing any energy and as the outside hind is going to come forwards (i think thats the correct leg) you ask for the canter. this should give you the canter. Try some halt to canter as some horses find this easier and i'm afraid lots of practise. You say your pony goes into trot with head up, i would ask for the canter (as above) and if your pone goes into head up trot, immediately half halt and re-ask the canter. hopefully she will learn that it wasn't a racey trot that was wanted but just the canter. practise practise practiese.

i would also try canter to walk transitions to strengthen the muscles to get a better upwards transition :)
 
Ok thanks for that, i'll give it a go tomorow! He doesn't go into trot with his head in the air anymore for normal transitions- it's only for the walk to canter he got a bit confuzzled! :p
 
With joePony, I've been practicing in depth, the transition up to, but not including, the actual change of pace. It might help you too. I was watching a video that showed how far the horse moved forward without taking a step - from halt to walk, the horse's butt moved forward nearly a foot before a single foot came off the ground. If you know that, you can practice keeping the horse soft throughout the transition, and stopping him again before actually making the transition. I don't really know what the value of that is, just that it made us both really focus on the quality of the transition. I have to admit, I couldn't really apply it to a walk-trot transition .. but when we went on to them, they were a lot sharper, so maybe it would help you with your walk-canter transition too ?

One thing I've found recently that invariably helps me with a canter transition (although we're not up to walk-canter yet) is to keep my weight in the outside stirrup. I guess it's keeping the weight off the inside shoulder and on the outside hind ? I don't know why, but anyway it helps !
 
Ride a 10 metre circle in one of the corners, when you get to the corner about to go onto the long side, apply canter aids,, go off around the school applying the canter aids until he canters, keep doing this until he anticipates you asking for the walk to canter, coming off this 10m circle.

I found that helped for me, but you have to be careful that you don't do this too often or you may find he canters off after a 10m circle all the time...

But just to help him get the idea that as soon as you apply theses aids he has to go straight to canter


Good luck x
 
Hey there

Cheek finds this hard to warm up to because he has a real stiff shoulder .. but this helps us:

First - STRETCH! This is a huge transition for the horse to do .. so get him well prepared. Stretch the neck, do turn on the forehands, haunches, backing up (good back up, not a lazy 'yeah alright'), etc.

Next with Cheek is I go for a hoon - I need to make sure that he's stretched and ready for what he's about to do. I let him canter, in two point position, letitng him stretch his back out and just get a bit more forwards (he is quite slow at times..)

Following that, I start my transistions. I do walk to trot - making sure by the end of a few good transitions, I get a nice trot when asked .. not slumping into a fast walk then trot, or just plodding. I mean business! I repeat with the trot to canter transition - he has to be alert, and listening to your aids.

I usually ride with my sister, so we make it into a little game (to first introduce him to the walk to canter). We do a gymkana game - canter down, canter back. Easy, fun, and effective. I begin to walk him forwards in a very active walk, say 'go' in a loud voice, and using my canter aids, nudge him in to a trot then canter - not changing my canter position when he trots. He soon picks up that when I say 'go' it means forwards. By the end of a few rounds, he is doing walk to canter very easily.

The next step is for him to do it when asked - and its easier out of a corner.(you can skip the games bit - but I find that with most horses, they pick up on it faster than using the corner). I get an active walk (I also carry a dressage whip at all times ..) and tap him gentley so he's almost on the break of trot, but not quite.As you go past A (for example going towards F) your sliding your position into the canter, nudging still for active walk, and leaning a little forwards (be warned, he may buck at first ..),and then give him the 'go' squeeze .. and ta **!

Now .. I use both methods depending on the horse .. the corner works very well, but I find that more horses tend to buck using that first off as its quite a task for them if they've never done it before. Then as your horse gets the idea, change rein, dont over push it, and bring your seat back up :)

Good luck :)
 
Wow, what a great post from Cheeky. Except for this bit ..

you can skip the games bit
Click to expand...

No ! No, NEVER skip the games bit ! Reading your advice Cheeky I immediately felt happier, more enthusiastic - just picturing you thinking it out for your horse, fiinding natural ways to play, you and your horse together. All of us who are having trouble with a horse should sit down with your words and 'visualise'. (Aren't all self-help books full of 'visualising' ) ... and then we'd go out with happy positive attitudes and go learn with our horses by having fun :)
 
i watched that too! was good, they need more impulsion to be picky but in such a large group i think more impulsion would look out of place. was fantastic :)
 
Right, tried out what you said above this afternoon and he went brilliantly! Didn't do too much because he'd been jumping, down the road this morning so only rode him for about 20 minutes but he was great :D I warmed him up for longer than i normally do and really made sure he was listening and going off my leg nicely which he was! I basically just started by walking him round but asking him to walk faster and with more energy as we went into the corner and then asking him to canter. The first few times we had a stride or two of trot but after a few tries he was going into canter pretty much straight away! It still wasn't perfect but with lots more practise i think he'll improve! Thanks for your help guys! :D
 
KateWooten said:
Wow, what a great post from Cheeky. Except for this bit ..

No ! No, NEVER skip the games bit ! Reading your advice Cheeky I immediately felt happier, more enthusiastic - just picturing you thinking it out for your horse, fiinding natural ways to play, you and your horse together. All of us who are having trouble with a horse should sit down with your words and 'visualise'. (Aren't all self-help books full of 'visualising' ) ... and then we'd go out with happy positive attitudes and go learn with our horses by having fun :)
Click to expand...

Reading that made me smile :) I don't usually have a lot of 'good' advice . .but hearing positive feedback really made my day (especially after slaving in 36 degree heat ++ doing yard work for 10 hrs) ..

Tis true .. to not skip the games bit, shouldn't have said that :p

But thanks Kate - your reply made my day worth it :p

iloveshearer-glad to hear things are going well :)
 
As some additional advice that worked for me, using a voice cue as a temporary 'bridge' helps to get the horse's mind on the right track.. it also helps that my horse is a very vocally oriented horse. I can ride him entirely off voice if I need to so once I cued canter, then backed it up with the vocal cue, he picked it up really quick that transitions aren't just single gaited anymore.
 
That does work with Shearer aswell for other things but i try and use it as little as possible otherwise i get in the habit of it and then get marked down in dressage. It's quite helpful to get him started though!
 
a very useful exercise my RI raught me was to ask for a small circle in walk, on the opposite rein to which i wanted to canter. just as i come out of the circle i prepare and ask for canter

the small circle on the opposite rein has made the horse use what now becomes his outside hind leg as you ask for canter- the one he strikes off on.
 
That's a really good idea actually thanks! I've found it easier to ask him to move slightly in the opposite direction before i ask for canter which really helped! Thanks :)
 
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