When to Canter

When to Canter

One of the many myths of gaited horses is that they can’t canter. Every horse can perform a canter to a certain extent. For gaited horses pacing is a huge factor for whether or not the horse should be able to canter.
When a horse that paces they will most likely do what is referred to as a “cross canter” which is when the horse takes up opposite leads in its front and back legs. If you feel your horse is doing this gait you should feel like you are being violently pushed out of the seat of the saddle and will most likely do a summersault out of the saddle. If your horse is doing this you should immediately bring the horse to a walk and try working back up to canter again. If many of you have been reading these newsletters you should already no how to collect your horse so encountering the “cross canter” should not be a problem.
If your horse still paces though collected the best way to ask for a canter is on a hill or and incline. A horse paces with its weight evenly distributed over its body. If you are riding a horse up a hill the horse should shift its weight onto its haunches making an entrance to a canter much easier.
If there are no hills where you live then you will want to teach your horse how to balance its weight into its haunches without toppling over. To do this you will want some ground poles and a good collection of the horse. When collecting a horse you should hold with one rein having enough pressure that you should have the rein pulled past the swell at about 3-5 inches. And with the other rein you should be performing half- halts. You should see your horse begin to round around the pressure. Once you have collected your horse you can begin to work on cantering over the poles. I suggest starting the poles half way into the turn. When you enter the poles you should ask for a canter and your horse should pick up the canter through the poles and hold it out to the straightaway. If your horse breaks to a hard canter again you should try riding through the poles again.
And lastly, not only will balancing your horse properly help balance it but also condition it to distribute weight properly. I also stress not to do this exercise if your horse is under the age of four. Young horses should be able to discover there own balance not having it forced on them.
Also, if you have a trotty horse and are doing the poles exercise I would advise working on cueing into the canter because very trotty horses tend to jump into the canter. Also if your horse is very trotty I advise not attempting the canter until its saddle- gait is performed well. A horse that is allowed to trot, pace, canter and do what’s easier will loose muscle tone and become counter- productive. A horse that performs its proper gaits will have better long term soundness than that of a Gaited horse that performs trotty gaits.

Keep warm! The winters almost over!
~ Ariel Kent