first canter

Question
Hi There .

Call me stupid, but I am breaking a mare in for my owner for whom I have broken in a fair amount of horses for and also broken horses on a dealers/event yard for 6 months in 2006. The trouble I am having with this one mare, is the first going into canter. Usually it takes me some time to get, as would be expected from a youngster thinking 'what are you talking about', but she is really finding it hard to understand. Shes a 4 year old, and responsive to the leg, has a lovely trot and will change tempo within the trot easy-peasy. When asking to canter, she just runs from my hand and almost has to run herself into enough speed to canter. Shes a balanced enough mare, has done some trot poles and was jumped small (about 2ft) on the lunge about a year ago, but allround shes been VERY easy to get going. In Walk and Trot she is coming into a nice outline, much better then i expect from a 4 year old with her amount of training, but shes taken to work well. I really dont feel its a balance issue at all, which is what I would be inclined to think if I hadnt seen the mare, I just think its a missunderstanding. I've also tried using the crop as backup to my leg but I dont want to be hitting her, therefore almost punishing her, when she just doesnt seem to understand. Sorry about the essay. Can you help?? Kind Regards, kate

Answer
Hello Kate,

My first instinct is to say that she may not be ready for the canter yet.  Here is what I would do.  Continue the trot work and trotting over fences either mounted or on the lunge. Keep raising them and at some point she will jump from the trot but she will land in a canter. If and when she does, continue with the canter.  If you are mounted and she lands in the wrong lead from direction, turn across the arena so that she is correct and do all you can to continue the canter. Praise her all the while.
I have just begun a mare that did not like me to leg her into a canter off the circle or in a corner, but when she landed from a jump in the canter, she would let me leg her on.  From that we developed the canter off the circle with me exagerating my aids.

Sometimes when they just don't get it, it is better for them to initiate it.  You can also teach her to canter on the lunge; as a matter of fact, that is where it is best taught.  Above all, I would recommend against using a crop for this at this point. It would seem like punishment.

When we are trying to teach the canter off the circle and use the correct aids and the horse attempts to rush into the canter, we don't allow it.  We simply use half halts to slow the horse and attempt again.  We use as many attempts as is required for each horse and each horse is different.  Remember to "ride the horse you are on."  We often think that a horse "should" be ready when they are not.  But try that trick with the jumps and see if it works. It may take a bit of time to get high enough for her to land cantering, but I think it will happen.  

Happy riding,
Dorothy