Too strong in canter

[frankyboy]

Any tips on how I ease my strong intermediate in canter .Do I change the bit ? Do I give him a calmer ?.He walks and trots to perfection but becomes very strong in canter and eventually buzzes right up .
Please help .

[pipandwill]

You could try a calmer, I dont think any of them would stop him being strong though, change of bits perhaps, I wouldn't necessarily go for something with a longer shank immediately, I would try differed mouth pieces, the Myler Pelham is quite good for strong horses, Waterford Pelham, or possibly something with a port? Also might be worth trying a rubber vulcanite Pelham.
In regards to schooling, I know its not easy when they're strong, but try and give and take the reins in canter, even if its just the inside rein

[sageandonionagain]

This is a schooling issue. You will need your trainer in to ascertain the reason why and what is the way to go. Its nothing to do with the bit. For example, if your horse becomes strong because the canter is unbalanced and he is on his forehand, he will either become stronger in the hand with a harsher bit or will back off the bit completely and you will have no connection at all.

[gillwales]

I agree with s& O again, putting your horse in a stronger bit is the wrong way to go, it will omly make him worse. Calmers will not work either and if you intend to show or compete using them.. well basically that is doping.

You need to school him, lots of transition work, half halts, change of bend, if he gets stronger bring him back to trot change the bend and work on the other rein. But to start with just work him in walk and trot for a couple of weeks. It is a matter of communication. You need to get your horse to listen to you again. One trick that will help is to ride to music so you get the 3 time rhymn at the speed you require it.

On your part you need to improve your core strength, does your postition deteriorate when you go into canter? Get someone to give you some help, or at the very least video you while you ride then see what is happening.

[Tracy01]

The horse needs to engage more and take the weight behind to therefore lighten the forehand. At the moment he is strong because he is cantering from the front and not the back, using his shoulders to pull him through as opposed to sitting and engaging the hind leg to them lighten the shoulders. Practice collecting the trot from your seat, keep the rain soft, establish the engaging aid in trot and then introduce it into the canter. Use your core and seat to sit him back and transfer the weight. Plenty of transitions through-out. Good luck!! These things take time.

[dov]

I know this is resurrecting an old post but I have the same issue with my 16'3 ISH. He sees the jump, collected into it 3 - 4 paces out and his head comes up and he takes off and doesnt come back on landing. He can jump but doesnt respect the poles, usually taking several jumps down going through at speed rather than up and over which we know he can do, hes an ex hunter jumped over 1m40 at home but in an arena....disaster. Riding in a pelham without a flash.. Any ideas?
He's a bit heavy in hand and hollow in the back for a 7yo, guessing its training here too, but how do I go about relearning/teaching him. Thought about a bit but cant decide which to use, he's doing flatwork in a snaffle.

Thanks in advance
dov

[Philippa]

Back to basics dov. I've worked for 3 Olympic showjumpers and the one thing they all had in common was polework.

Lots of placement poles, grids with varying striding. There's no need to jump huge heights. If the horse can jump it can jump but practice with a placement pole to a cross pole. Then add in a 2nd part with a stride in. Make the 1st cross bigger and the back part an upright. Again it's all about slowing your horse down and getting him to concerntrate so try 2 placing poles if 1 doesn't work and one in the middle of a double.
Then try a run of bounced where he has no strides in between.

Polework is my most favourite part of schooling. You can get so much out of a horse by having correct placement poles.

It will be trial and error to get them to the ideal stride of your horse but initially we always started with 7.5 heel to toe strides from fence to pole. Hope that's clear enough and makes sense. I'm sure if you need to you can google it and find diagrams. Regards bitting we always schooled in snaffle & flash. Good luck.

[sarahp]

With the benefit of my and daughter's training from a very good SJ trainer I was going to say grids, she had some fiendishly complicated ones to make them think! She also sometimes used a placing pole one canter stride after a jump, although at the time daughter had a very talented but rather wayward horse who would jump fence and placing pole together without touching down if she started to get bored - I've also seen her bounce what should have been a one stride double.

[gillwales]

I agree with grid and pole work, however to start with I would do so via free-schooling or if no arena, on the lunge. This way you avoid any acidents with you on board if he does not respect the pole or small jumps and puts his head in the air, plus it will make him think for himself. Shorten the distance to help slow him up, put in a few bounce small fences to encourage him to look down and concentrate. The main thing is to keep varing what you do and of course lots and lots of flat work. For hollowing the back you need to work him long and low, lots of transitions and half halts.

The other advantage to free schooling or lunging over poles or a gris is that you can observe his way of going.

[ponymum]

Our 7yr old does this , we had his teeth done as they were sharp, and there was an improvement , however....we are selling him and a young girl (12) came to try him and rode with hardly any contact , very wide hands and was super calm. I expected him to do as he does with my daughter and run down to the jump , but when he realised he had nothing to pull against ,( he usually takes a hold and runs into the jump) he seemed to stop and collect himself and jump much better and cleaner. So maybe try this approach? We havent jumped him since that day , but plan to at weekend and I will be asking my daughter to try that method with him.

[gillwales]

Apr 19, 2017 8:44:50 GMT ponymum said:

Our 7yr old does this , we had his teeth done as they were sharp, and there was an improvement , however....we are selling him and a young girl (12) came to try him and rode with hardly any contact , very wide hands and was super calm. I expected him to do as he does with my daughter and run down to the jump , but when he realised he had nothing to pull against ,( he usually takes a hold and runs into the jump) he seemed to stop and collect himself and jump much better and cleaner. So maybe try this approach? We havent jumped him since that day , but plan to at weekend and I will be asking my daughter to try that method with him.

This can work, often because the horse/ pony gets into a battle, however on a word of caution; please make certain this is done to start with in an enclosed arena by a confident rider.

[ponymum]

Tried today and it did work to a certain degree! Thanks