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Discussion on Horse afraid to canter in arena
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New Member:
Mientjie
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006 - 2:03 pm:
Hello.
This is my first time posting and this is a great site.
I own a beautiful Clydesdale cross mare. She is 17.2hh high (and still growing) and is now 4 years old.
We started cantering on outrides about 4 months ago and she goes wonderfully, but when we get in the arena she refuses to canter. The only way she will canter is if another horse goes ahead of her. I don't now what to do since the horse who usually helped us has got injured. Does anyone have advice for me?
Thank you so much.
Lea-Anne
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Member:
Hwood
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006 - 3:08 pm:
Welcome, Barbara.
How large is your arena? I have a young horse who would travel at a canter fine outdoors when he felt he had room and somewhere to go, but felt too closed in by the walls of a small arena.
I was going to suggest that you pony your horse off of another horse, but ponying a Clydesdale off of anything but another Clydesdale might be too weird. Still, I think ponying might work . . . with lots of transitions and verbal cues and lots of repetition, so that your horse will become automatic and will learn to work off of the cue and not off of the movement of the other horse.
Does your horse canter on the longe or canter free in a round pen? I think the key is getting the horse to be automatic on the verbal cue, and then having that carry over to the cue being given from the rider.
If you don't have any other horse from which to pony yours, then try lots of repetition and transitions in the outdoors, till the horse is very light and responsive, and then try to bring it indoors. I don't suggest the following often, but have you thought of having a trainer in the center of the arena with a longe whip to cue your horse into canter as you give the cue from on top?
Whatever you decide, be consistent, patient and safe.
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New Member:
Mientjie
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2006 - 12:35 am:
Hello Holly
The arena is very big but I think it might be the fence and the turns that scares her.
I think ponying will work. I'll start looking for someone you can help us.
She does canter a little on the longe and canters beautifully when free. Teaching her on outrides is a great idea since she loves being outside.
Thank you for all your help!!
Lea-Anne
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2006 - 6:58 am:
Ponying will certainly work Lea-Anne and so will just consistent work in the arena. At 4 she is just trying to figure this out.
Someone experienced at lunging should, by slowly increasing speed / gait, get her comfortable cantering in the arena is a very short time. Once she learns appropriate cues and is comfortable at the canter on lunge it should be easy to transfer it to the saddle. If not try riding while someone lunges, making for a more subtle transition.
DrO
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New Member:
Sean
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2006 - 8:32 am:
Hi , My mare is due to foal any day now, My girlfriend's gelding Connamare pony whom is a bit bossy is in the field with her. They have been together for a long time and appear to know who is boss being the pony !! they get on great other than feeding time !! should i put him in a different field to give her space for foaling ?
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Member:
Sunny66
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2006 - 10:39 am:
Hi Lea-Anne, welcome!!
My two cents... I agree with Holly, continue the canter on the lunge, she may just need to learn balance at four years old ...17.2 is a BIG girl and she may just need more time to figure it out
Sean, again, only my two cents...yes, separate them for foaling...you may also want to start your own thread in the Equine Reproduction forum, you may get more replies
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Member:
Alden
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2006 - 10:43 am:
Sean,
If your mare will separate quietly I'd probably do it. If she gets real anxious away from the pony then I wouldn't.
I'd be really surprised if your mare didn't lay down the law when the time comes. Once the foal is on the ground the pony might be a real good babysitter too.
If you start a new thread rather than post on the bottom of another, you'll probably get more replies. Off topic posts tend to get lost in the chatter .
Good day,
Alden
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Member:
Miamoo
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2006 - 8:51 pm:
Hi Lea-Anne,
I agree with the others. When she feels balanced at the canter she will feel comfortable cantering anywhere. It is just hard to get balanced when your are young and so big.
My only caution is make sure you don't spend too much time doing this. I would not want a huge amount of time on the longe with a young draft breed, they take so long to mature. I would think about 10 to 15 minutes of training time on the longe - about 3 times a week would be enough. It doesn't have to come right away, she is just trying to figure out where to put those big, beautiful, furry feet! (I just think Clydes are wonderful)
Ella
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Member:
Liliana5
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 16, 2006 - 9:12 pm:
Ditto I would think that more than 15/20mins on the lunge with any horse would be too much- I love clysdes and shires too. I once had a skybold clydes mare and a shire x TB gelding great rides so comfy
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New Member:
Mientjie
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Posted on Friday, Mar 17, 2006 - 3:59 am:
Thank you so much for all your advice!
I longe her 2 times a week and never longer than 15 minutes. I'm going to try doing the canter work on outrides 2-3 times per week.
These wonderful Clydesdales and the crosses are amazing to work with!!
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Member:
Maggienm
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Posted on Friday, Mar 17, 2006 - 9:46 am:
Lea-Anne,,
I have a Percheron cross mare that is a wonderful blessing to me. I found that she took about a year longer than most of the other horses I have worked with to figure out where her feet are.
I would start her on a lounge line outside, when she will do transitions halt/walk/trot, mix them up too, increase the length of your lunge line about 5' and work on canter.
When she is comfortable and responds well outside, try it in the arena.
There are a couple of trainers in my area who tease me about taking soooo long to get to the canter stage when I start young horses but too bad. I want my horse balanced and relaxed when I ask for a canter, not head up eyes bugging......
When I did ask my mare for a canter it was in a clinic. She took the canter first try, correct lead (almost always takes the correct lead) was relaxed and showed off her long Arabian stride. The clinician was amazed that that was her first canter undersaddle. She was somewhat on the forehand but hey.
I worked a 14.2 quaterhorse mare that was sure there wasn't enough room for her to turn in the arena. It was too funny. So for her I asked for canter, took a few strides down the long side, then went to trot, it took several weeks befroe she relaxed in a canter.
Good luck
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Member:
Warwick
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Posted on Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - 12:24 pm:
Hi Lea-Anne
Years ago I owned a young Hanoverian mare that I broke as a 4 year old. However she could not hold a canter in the arena. On the other hand, cantering on the trails was no problem. She simply didn't have the ability within the confines of the arena to maintain balance through the corners. My coach at the time was a phenomenal guy from Germany. He told me that there was no point in getting stressed and that she would canter in due time when she was more confident and balanced. He simply told me to carry on working her normally in walk and trot and to test her ability to canter once each month to see whether there was any improvement. Sure enough after almost a year went by, she started to canter comfortably in the arena and never looked back. In fact she went on to become a very successful advanced dressage horse.
Your mare is large and as the owner of a very large gelding, I know from experience that it can take the bigger horses a lot longer to "find their feet". Although I backed my big gelding (he's 18.1) at 4, I then gave him an additional year off before I put him to work as he just wasn't sufficiently coordinated until then to really have a handle on his big body.
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Member:
Cpacer
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Posted on Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - 2:29 pm:
Lori & Sue, I'm so happy to hear someone say that about how long it can take--I can certainly relate!
btw Lori, is your mare is a percheron/arabian cross?!?
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