Canter Depart Advice Needed!

[Keg-A-Bacchus]

I am schooling dressage on my new Spanish Mustang pony. His walk/trot are great. He's soft, round, steady, obedient and on the bit. His canter, however, leaves something to be desired! When I ask for the canter transition he responds immediately. However instead of the "push" from behind he uses his lower neck muscle, ewes his neck, his legs trail out behind and he PULLS himself up into the canter. It leaves us in an almost 4-beat canter and he struggles to keep it going. More times than not he'll pull himself into the canter....I'm leg leg leg...and he still breaks into the trot after 2-3 strides. I leg harder and he relaunches into this hideous unbalanced, ewe-necked canter. Just pulling himself up with every stride. It's slow and controlled for the most part (and surprisingly comfortable!LOL) but definintely not a nice, balanced, connected canter. He does tend to canter fairly well when I'm cantering away from a jump, however.

To preface...he has regular chiro adjustments and was just done, a custom saddle that was just checked, teeth are good, cranio-sacral this weekend was good...the pony checks out healthy!

Has anyone dealt with this before? If so, how did you turn the ugly, ewed "pull" into a beautiful round "push"? I've tried transitions and more transitions. Contact and no contact. Bending and no bending. I have a lesson in 3 weeks but until then I'm on my own! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :D

[LR1976]

This is exactly what I'm going thru with my 5 year old right now. Lovely trot work...terrible canter. Only my guy runs! Same thing. Cantering away from a jump is actually pretty nice. Also, his canter is pretty nice out on the trails. I feel like some of it is his worrying about it coupled with the fact that it is just hard for him. He's good going straight but try to turn...:eek: Anyway, I've been focusing on making his canter adjustable out on trails and over fences when he's more comfortable about it and not pushing for those impossible 20m circles. I have also found that staying off his back in a 2 point helps him. Some lunging work also seems to be helping. I'm anxious to hear what other people have to say.

[EventerAJ]

My mare's canter departs used to be absolutely horrific. They still are a point of weakness, but overall MUCH improved, and sometimes they are actually quite lovely. :)

In the beginning, we spent a lot of time working on the lunge. Properly-adjusted sidereins "half-halted" herself when she threw her head up and inverted. At first, she would overreact to this correction (slamming on the brakes), but with patience she learned to push through the transition and use her butt/back and not her neck. The lunge allowed her to learn for herself, very black/white. My job was to simply keep her forward, and ask for the transition. Bad transition? Trot, do it again. And again. And again...

Under saddle, it is important to be very clear with your canter depart aids. Running the horse into the transition, or "scaring" him with your over-eager aids only makes the problem worse. With my mare, I spent a long, long time using too much leg in my depart... It wasn't "too much leg" for any other horse, but it was too much for her and was the root cause of her canter explosions. She would often ignore a light canter leg aid, so I was suckered into using MORE leg, HARDER...and then she'd explode. It doesn't help when *you* tense up before the transition, expecting the awful stiff-bracing leap. ;) I eventually learned that "less is more" and she canters obediently from my seat (primary aid) and a very quiet leg.

Be very sure your position is not adding to the problem. Do not lean forward, or pull down. Sit deep, stay tall, keep your hands up, and breathe! Relaxation is important...your tension will only make the horse's anticipation worse.

Good luck! Transitions are not easy to fix. You must do hundreds of correct repetitions, very consistent in your position, aids and expectations. Good transitions should become a way of life: don't just blow through one because you're in a hurry to jump, or work on something in that gait. The horse is always learning, good or bad. Take the time to get the transition right, or at least *better* each time. ;)

[EqTrainer]

Your problem is more lateral than longitudinal. Leg yield (properly) into the canter aid... be sure the horse is bent correctly, thru the body not just the neck or head. If you pay attention closely, you can identify the moment the horse goes "schtoing!" and inverts/loses the bend. Don't let it happen ;)

[carolinagirl191]

I agree w/ EventerAJ . I found that a lot a time on the lunge in side reins helped my Irish hunt horse learn to balance and carry himself. He came as a staff horse and is good at the job, but he was always on the forehand. He was so heavy in the bridle in the beginning. Schooling/ training on the lunge allowed him to get it w/out the struggle w/ the rider. He's one of those that "Knows better than you" and liked doing it his way. I'm enjoying feeling the push from behind and asking for more engagement while he stays light in self carriage. Huge improvement and we're both happier.
And I agree w/ EqTrainer. My TB event horse likes to throw or drop his shoulders (He does both) to evade. I've been getting some really good Dressage insruction and we work on correct lateral work and flex/over flex just before the canter depart (these are different things). I'm learning to support w/out blocking the outside shouder and insisting on the inside bend/flexion. The more correct I am in my core position, the more correct he gets. For a xc junkie, flatwork has become fun on both of these horses.

[Lori B]

So if you trot briskly to an X and canter away, can he sustain the better canter any distance, or does it all fall apart quickly? When I've had trouble picking up a canter (for whatever reason), I will jump an X and canter away just to get past the 'sticky spot', and it was often helpful.

[shawneeAcres]

I would take this horse back to the lungeline with properly adjusted sidereins (start a bit loose if he is not used to them and gradually tighten). teach him to canter properly on the lunge where you can work at driving him forward without interfering as the rider. Start out with short canters and then trot transitions, and gradually increase the amount of time he canters. He sounds as if he is not very strong thru the back and needs to build up. Also do you gallop him out in a field? this will allow him to really get going forward and using his back end without having to worry with things like bend and flexion. Your horses canter sounds like a flat canter and probably a bit lateral as well. Getting him really going forward is going to be imperative. Another thing to do is to allow him to canter away from a jump, stay a bit off his back and do a circle. This way he can learn to circle and balance with out having you "overdoing it". TOo many people try to do "Dressage" on young, imbalanced horses and really get them resistant. What I mean is they are sitting too much on their back and the horses back is not strong enough to handle that.

[Candle]

My mare just gets nervous because she knows she will be unbalanced as soon as she canters, and it freaks her out. So, I aim for strictly obedience, as in, did you respond correctly to my aid and canter promptly without running into it? I don't make a big deal out of it if it's ugly and she starts running, I just bring her back, re-bend, get her focused and try again. If she canters, I get up off her back, give her a looser rein and make a BIG deal about it. Then, I do it about six more times. She calms down pretty quickly with this, since she doesn't have to worry about what I'll ask her to do next. When she's good at getting the correct lead in a timely fashion (within two strides of walk or trot), then she's calmer and willing to listen to me after she starts cantering. When she's calmer, then she can settle down and listen to my rebalancing cues, but when I'm getting her back in shape after a layoff, I keep it really simple, set her up for success, and give lots of praise.

You may have a totally different horse, but once my mare realizes that I'm not asking her for seventeen things at once (bend, relax, focus, canter depart, balance, steer, ignore the bird at the end of the arena, balance, circle??!?!?!?, IGNORE the bird, stop popping your shoulder, IGNORE THE BIRD, etc), she really does well. We just pick one or two at a time. Bend, canter. Walk, focus. Ignore the damn bird. Bend, Canter. Go in a straight line. Walk. Good horsie. Etc.

[Jleegriffith]

I love the use of a slight lateral movement before the canter aid to keep the horse soft and using the inside hind leg. Remember to follow as the horse comes up and I do a slight play on my fingers to keep the jaw supple. On some horses who are physically not strong enough to carry a rider who is sitting in proper dressage position try asking for the canter staying in your 2pt. I might 2pt the trot and then just pop into the canter allowing them to come over the back and using a slight flexion to keep them soft.

One of my horses is the master of the inverted canter so we do tons of trot/canter transitions keeping him soft laterally so he can't anticipate. Spiral circles, leg yeilds, shoulder in or just a baby shoulder fore. Then I might do a slight outside bend or an inside bend to keep him soft in front of the withers so he isn't using the neck against me. I do tend to ride him a bit lower in front then some of the others because of how he holds tension in his neck and back.

[lstevenson]

On some horses who are physically not strong enough to carry a rider who is sitting in proper dressage position try asking for the canter staying in your 2pt. I might 2pt the trot and then just pop into the canter allowing them to come over the back and using a slight flexion to keep them soft.


I agree. Definitely try doing the transition to canter in the two point. That often helps a lot.

The other thing you can try is this excercise which targets what will be the outside hind leg of the canter you are picking up. The more engaged that hind leg is, the more balanced the canter will be.

Do a 10 or 12 m circle to the right in the trot, thinking shoulder fore, really working on engaging the right hind leg. Then straighten briefly, ask for the left lead canter, and go on to a 20 m circle to the left. Come back to trot and repeat the excercise from left to right. It never fails to improve the trot to canter transitions, and therefore the canter itself.