At 19:15:52 on 12.03.10, Flicka wrote:
My mare really runs in the canter and gets tense so she's then difficult to sit into. Unfortunately I lent her to my husband to hunt and she went everywhere flat out and even though only 15.2 pulled his arms out!! Before that our canter hadn't been too bad although never brilliant, she tended to get on the forehand and then try and piss off. I really want to get going with my jumping but I know I need to really improve our canter. I'm worried that I've done too much trot work-I was speaking to an experienced trainer of showjumpers and she said that the international rider who trained her never used to trot as he said it ruined the canter. Any advice?

At 20:03:25 on 12.03.10, VickySemple wrote:
Hi Flicka (just posted you a note with a totting / showjumping story) Yeah that trainer is right, trotting is used as for fittness in Show jumping, you will never see an international SJ trot around the ring before the start. Its walk & canter. The reason, horses cant jump effectivly from trot, that's why you use a placing pole so they get 1 stride of canter before the fence (or get their legs together that way anyway) My advice would be to shorten the amount of canter you do, only for a few strides each time. Try walk to canter and transitions upwards and downwards and use canter poles (raised too) to improve the quality. Changing directions, so canter loop serpintines with simple changes in the middle. If your horse runs on, bring it back to a walk and try again, they will soon be anticipating the walk transision & stop the running on. Always think about quality too. I have the same problem with my mare when we haven't schooled in a while.

At 08:28:45 on 13.03.10, Flicka wrote:
Thanks I'll start working on that tomorrow. I really need to get it sorted then I hope it will be easier to get her out of her habit of ducking fences, nearly always to the left! Left rein is her worse rein but she will even run out left when on the right rein. Any thoughts on that would also be gratefully received!!

At 13:16:47 on 16.03.10, Emma Mccombe wrote:
Hiya. Just so as you know trot work will not ruin the canter. They are two entirely different pases and do not effect each other. The better that all the pases are the better your horse will be. The canter walk canter transitions which Vicky talked about are a good idea. Really try to only do three or four strides of canter and then bring her back to walk. If she gets strong dont be affraid to give her a sharp tug in the teeth to get her to respect the rein and the seat as she should be able to move off your seat and forward into canter and come back on your seat. After a while you will find that all you have to do is think walk and she will do it. Once she has got the hang of this try to hold the canter for longer and do a bit of on and back. This will help engagement and balance. Again with the on and back make sure that it is on the seat and if she is not responding be a little stronger with the hands. Also bring in lots of 10m circles as this requires balance, collection and engagement which is what you need for jumping. As for the ducking out to the left, have you had her back checked? offten the running in the canter is due to back or saddle problems. I would also suggest that you get these looked at. Hope this helps. Happy training!

At 13:50:21 on 16.03.10, sophieandcallum wrote:
I'd agree with walk to canter transitions and can understand why show jumpers don't allow trot while doing a course as if a horse drops back to trot half way through it ruins the rhythm and could ruin the whole course and stride of the horse - big disaster! But the rest of the time trot is fine just maybe not when there are jumps in view:) And to get the canter quality, try and make your horse canter as slow as possible without going back to trot. This is what I had to do as my pony found it all too easy doing a mad messy canter careering everywhere. So now with a collected shorter strided canter it's much easier to do circles and tight turns which will also help with your show jumping! I can't explain how strange it is now asking for canter it is a completely different feeling than the old canter....really bizarre and I'm still not used to it and pony has tantrums regularly as it's hard work but just gets on with it! Good luck, take your time and just try and make little improvements each day and it will come in time:)