At 21:08:46 on 22.11.11, sefine42 wrote:
Hey everyone, for Easter I got a horse, before that I had been riding a pony. I am 15 and have been riding for like 10 years and taking lessons. Soo when I first got on my new 17 hh horse i was expecting some problems. He is a complete angel except for the fact that when I pick up the canter he gets one to two strides in before he halts and i go over his head(this has happened 10 times but not recently). Just when I feel we're getting somewhere he stops. I have been doing tons of no stirrup work and lunge. Soo basically have any of you had any problems like this or know any was to prevent it. The picture is of the trainer on him. The video I attached is of the person I bought him from jumping him and having no problems... HELP!!

At 23:03:19 on 22.11.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
Sounds like he knows how to get sesy with it with you now and cos he got away with it once he has assumed he can do it all the time. My problem was when i came off riding school ponies i expected the same kind of thing with grenville, he would canter and once i got the transision i would stop asking, instead i started asking and kept pushing right through the transision. Sit deep and push with your seat and your legs, if he breaks back without being asked give him a tap on his bum with a stick, let him know downward transisions are only appropriate when asked for, just make sure you react quick, he breaks back to trot, tap with stick as soon as possible and get the canter back, eventually he should give up and realise cantering is the easier option.

At 21:55:51 on 23.11.11, Stable Management wrote:
Sounds like an exracehorse i had. Push the horse forward more and dont worry about being on the bridle, just go forward. Probably just playing with you.

At 15:52:28 on 24.11.11, sefine42 wrote:
Thanks to both of you :) I will try both these tricks and let you know how it goes... :)

At 04:14:58 on 01.12.11, MsBeanie wrote:
Crops are a magnificent thing ;) Whenever my Arab/Quarter gets little sassy I whip out the crop and give a few good taps, that usually gets her steady. When we first started training her we had a problem with her breaking the canter (but never fully stopping, yikes!) just push through it and have a good leg on him, probably just having a trust thing going on, he'll warm up to you!

At 12:24:53 on 01.12.11, Flicka wrote:
He looks a lovely horse and I take it he's been pretty well schooled? There's no chance you're doing something that's confusing him? I often think horses can have problems when they change homes because different riders don't necessarily give the same aids which often leads to a misunderstanding. If this isn't the case and he has no physical problems then of course he could be trying it on and need a couple of taps with the whip. Once a horse is in canter I don't expect to have to keep kicking it and pushing with my seat, once it's in a gait it should stick to it unless I ask otherwise. So don't keep nagging. When your horse breaks stride then ask him back into canter with a reminder from the stick if need be, he'll soon find the transitions harder work and stay in canter longer.