Re: Cantering

hi there! just wondering when he was last checked by the vet as he looks a tiney bit lame on one leg :/ maybe its just me or maybe hes unbalenced for a few strides.

a really valuable exercise for any horse, especially a green horse, are trotting poles to help them lift their feet up and will encourage him to put his head down. start with 3 poles with 2 people strides apart then build up the amount of poles. canter strides are 4 people strides apart...if your in any doubt get an experienced person to help you :) another thing that will improve his way of going is to get him bending well round corners so serpentines ect will do him good

you have such a lovely horse, have loads of fun with him, he deffinitly has so much potential your very lucky to have him :) hope this helps xx

Re: Cantering

We have had the vet and dentist out recently and he just had his saddle fitted and back checked, he only does it in the school, hacking he is fine x

Re: Cantering

So I just watched the video ;)

Don't take any offence in how I say this, I'm just writing it down as I see it without the fluff and niceness cause I'm in work and have to move fsat before my lunch break is over.

In a trot, you allow him to really fall on to his forehand, your reins are too loose and you have no contact to his mouth until you want to turn him. Where as I'm not expecting him to come in an outline, you should still seek to put him in to a contact rather than jabbing his mouth and ask him to drop his head.

This will help motivate his hind end and get his back moving.

Because of this, when you canter, his hind end and his forehand look like they belong to two different horses. He doesn't step through with his inside hind in a canter, and he could move a lot more open.

There is a very good reson for this.
Your saddle.

I can see in the video that it is sitting WAY too far forward, you block his shoulder and that is why he canters 'funny' with you. You need to get your trainer or someone experienced to show you where your saddle should be sitting.

This horse isn't ready for pole work yet, he needs to work more consistently in a trot and canter, however with time and practise it will come.

I fully agree that he needs more of a 'job' and circles and serpentines (1&3 loop), figures of eights and changes through half the school will help with this and he needs to learn to bend and not motorbike round the corners of the school.

You should always be able to see the eye of your horse on the inside bend- let him turn his nose out and he will unbalance you both.

That being said, he is doing his job as best he can with that saddle so far forward on him. For a youngster he is very kind in that respect- my dad's mare threw him a mile when he was trying saddles and one just didn't fit right.

Best of luck!