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 | Tekna A4 Jumping Saddle-Smooth Seat-Medium Wide-17 |  |  | US $466.95 | 27d 10h 22m |
 | Tekna A4 Jumping Saddle - Smooth Seat - Medium - 17 | | | US $465.95 | 23d 15h 35m |
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Jump Saddle Smooth
how to get my horse to canter better?
I have a 10 year old quarter horse gelding who has not been ridden for a while due to a leg injury. I am still waiting for him to be completely sound before I ride him, but before he went lame whenever I cantered him (I have only had him since April 2009) it was really bouncy and it took ALOT of leg to actually get him into the canter. Is there anything I can do when I get back into the saddle to make his canter smoother and have him go into it easier. I do english and I dont want to use a crop unless I have to. I also want to take him to some small jumping shows if the vet gives me the okay so a smoother canter would be a lot of help with that 
thanx in advance for the help
his actual canter just feels terrible when im riding. I took a video of me riding and it looked really bad too, but when he is out in the field and is cantering by himself his canter looks amazing! i want the canter to be like that when i ride 2
You just described my horse. 12yo QHx gelding, off work for 2 full years. Back in work October 31st 2009.
I have 2 spinal fractures so I sent him to my instructor for a week to make sure I was not on him if he did anything really silly. When I went into ride him and pick him up, they said that his canter was "rough as guts" and a "typical QH" (she is a dressage instructor, so not really thrilled by QH's in general, but that is her opinion).
I rode him and I must say I had to agree, all I could think of was "oh my, I don't want to ride a horse this rough". I have had instructors say, a horse is born with its walk and canter, but the trot you can improve on. So I did not hold much hope for improvement.
I would say most of my fellows problems are from him being unfit (we don't run a marathon without training, so horses need to have their work load improved slowly). He was heavy and lazy in the canter and takes a lot of leg to keep him moving forward and to hold him together and balanced. I don't ride with a whip so I understand where you are coming from there.
To my absolute surprise his canter has improved dramatically over the past 4 weeks. I have worked a lot on fitness, lots of walking and working trot. Lots of transitions halt, walk, trot, also I have placed some ground poles (just 4) in random spots where I ride (I move them around too). This all helps to keep him concentrating, picking his feet up and lighter. It will help with you jumping training as well.
When asking for the canter I ask with light leg pressure (just a little squeeze), then I ask with more leg, then I give more pressure and a little heal (no spurs) with my outside leg, then he will get a kick. I have only had to kick him 3 times and the amount of pressure I am using each time is reducing.
He is figuring out, that when I ask and he does not do it, then more pressure will be applied and he will have to do it anyway. He is becoming more responsive every week, although he still takes a lot of seat and leg to keep him in the canter. Mainly because he is lazy and still building fitness. I only do 5 minutes of canter at the moment as I don't wish to cause soundness problems and I'm not in a hurry.
I find my fellow is smoother when he is not rushing and is relaxed. I use some half halts just to check his speed and keep him concentrating with me. When he is relaxed he slows down to a lovely rocking chair canter and is displaying natural carriage. He can also be a bugger with picking up the correct lead at times (when it suits him) and will drop the correct leg when he is being lazy. So it sounds elementary but make sure he is on the right leg (I'm sure you do, but I see many who don't).
Also horses have a natural preferred leg, so make sure you do lots of exercises to get him even on both sides. This will help to keep him supple and will help the "rough" lead if it can be improved. My TB showjumper was not very smooth on his right leg and no amount of "help" fixed him.
Good luck with him. Once his leg is better, I'm sure you can get some improvement in him.
Oh and my instructor could not believe it was the same horse about a week ago!
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| Tekna A4 Jumping Saddle-Smooth Seat-Medium Wide-17 | | | US $466.95 | 27d 10h 22m |
| Tekna A4 Jumping Saddle - Smooth Seat - Medium - 17 | | | US $465.95 | 23d 15h 35m |
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