Tell me about your "difficult" horse-- or difficult times

[Chisamba]

some arabians are very cow hocked, if they do not interfere, it has not seemed to stop them from being ridden.

If i have a horse that is persistently not good at cantering i try to go on a trail with good companions, hit a canter, and go long. When you say not canter, what do you mean? Kimba was a pacer, so when i say no canter i mean she would pace when asked to canter. What does Emma do? Can she canter on a circle in a round pen? can she canter in the pasture? Does she do a few stride then break into a trot? will she jump a cross rail? if you raise the cross rail gradually, will she eventually canter a few strides away from the jump ( this is my method for fixing horses that do not have a transition). does she buck instead of canter?

[Ponichiwa]

MY PIROUETTES ARE BACK!! I REPEAT, THE PIROUETTES ARE BACK!

Actually it's just 1-2 steps and then we leave it alone but it's excellent.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[demi]

some arabians are very cow hocked, if they do not interfere, it has not seemed to stop them from being ridden.

If i have a horse that is persistently not good at cantering i try to go on a trail with good companions, hit a canter, and go long. When you say not canter, what do you mean? Kimba was a pacer, so when i say no canter i mean she would pace when asked to canter. What does Emma do? Can she canter on a circle in a round pen? can she canter in the pasture? Does she do a few stride then break into a trot? will she jump a cross rail? if you raise the cross rail gradually, will she eventually canter a few strides away from the jump ( this is my method for fixing horses that do not have a transition). does she buck instead of canter?

She can canter but usually she isn't happy about it. I just canter her on the full arena or 20m circles, nothing smaller. She gets tense and nervous just like she does about the whip.Windy or cold days can make it worse. Even if she starts with a beautiful canter, it can deteriorate into racy, head up. Sometimes canter makes her spook. Sometimes she will buck. The bucking has happened sometimes after she has cantered a while and sometimes during the transition. She is the same way about it under saddle or on the longe, although she has gotten much better on the longe. When I canter her on the longe it's at least 20m, no smaller. On the longe, she used to try to tear around like a bucking bronco when I'd first ask for canter, but now she can go through a whole longe session without a buck, and without getting tense.

So canter and whip both make her very tense and fearful. Also, she is quiet and normal to fly spray her if she hasn't been saddled yet. BUT, if the saddle is on and I spray her, she humps up and dances around like she thinks I'm going to hurt her.

But with all this, there are days when she canters very nicely. I am SO careful to keep her relaxed and not rev her up in any way. I only ask for canter when it "feels" right, which isn't often. I keep the rest of the work focused but easy. I worry that i am being TOO careful and that she has picked up on that. OTH, I used the same approach for canter on the longe and it seems to be working.

[Sue B]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!
(ponichiwa)

[piedmontfields]

MY PIROUETTES ARE BACK!! I REPEAT, THE PIROUETTES ARE BACK!

Actually it's just 1-2 steps and then we leave it alone but it's excellent.

Woohoo!!!! Love that doing something so simple (hand walking her for the first bit of your workout) is paying off so well.

[Chisamba]

ah, so you think it might be a brain thing rather than a physical thing.

[demi]

well, brain thing caused in part by the physical thing. I think she may have been push to hard to fast. She's smart and I think she may have learned fast. Her little mind knew how to do more advanced work, but her hind legs weren't supporting her and it became uncomfortable, even scary. At least that's my theory, from what I could piece together.

[Chisamba]

if i am not going to use the cross rail, and i have a horse that is difficult in the canter for physical and mental reasons, i get a really good shoulder in first. I when the horse can do a pretty decent shoulder in the canter is usually easier for them. So, you have been riding her for a couple of years? going slowly? have you introduced any shoulder in , shoulder fore work? ten m circles? in walk and trot? take your time to develop those first, then the canter develops from these exercises. just a suggestion

[demi]

Good suggestion. I've had her for one year next month. I do the SI and 10m circles at walk and trot and occasionally I "feel" a canter in the trot so I ask for it. Sometimes it works, sometimes I get the unwanted behavior.

[demi]

Ponichiwa, I am glad you are working on pirouettes again! That's exciting. A really good western trainer told me once that when things are going good, just remember how you got there. I was looking back on this thread and just a few weeks ago, in addition to adding the 5 minutes of hand walk in your routine, you also said you had given yourself permission to be less ambitious. The handwalking seems to really be helping. Do you feel like you're still being less ambitious and is that also helping? I ask because I get way too ambitious myself (even at my old age!) and I have to continually remind myself to relax.

[Ponichiwa]

Demi, I definitely have been being less ambitious. More consistent in my expectation of the basics like straightness, for sure, but less ambitious of gait cadence and the difficulty of movements. That's making a big difference. We may be able to dip a toe back into 3rd/4th level stuff in the not-too-distant future, but not just yet.

The pirouette steps the other day just happened because my sister was riding by and said something as I was cantering, and I gave a halfhalt and looked over my shoulder to hear my sister. Boom, pirouette steps. I immediately left those alone because I don't want to overcook the pony brain.

[kande50]

I ask because I get way too ambitious myself (even at my old age!) and I have to continually remind myself to relax.

I think one of the big challenges in training is finding a good balance between too much too soon vs stagnation.

I think the way you're working on it makes a lot of sense, because if her problems with canter are pain or coordination related then what you're doing may give her time to heal, or to develop the coordination to be able to comply.