Starting Canter On The Lunge
Hello this is Will Faerber from Art2Ride and I am here today to work on the canter. With me today is Amber and her horse Legolas.
Before you ask for the canter while lunging, you must make sure he can work in the trot over his back first. Notice in the video that we have the line over the top of the horse’s head. He is a young horse and before we got him he would yank his head and drag people out of the arena, and that is why we have the line over the top and connected to the bit with this horse. So if he does begin to act out we can control him without a lot of difficulty.
When is the horse ready to canter? He is ready to canter when you can get him over his back in the trot. That doesn’t mean he is going to necessarily work over his back in the canter. Doing a lot of cantering when your horse is hollow will not do any good, in fact it will usually make the horse unsound and sore in the back. Once we get him swinging, then we only want to canter for short periods. In the video, Amber asks the horse to canter and he throws his shoulder to the inside and throws his head up a little bit, but for his first time this is not bad. If he begins to get too fractious on the lunge, she immediately brings him back to the trot. Once again, we want to do short periods of cantering not long periods.
First we get the trot correct and get him stretching into the contact before we move to the canter. During his second attempt into the canter, he threw his head up a little bit but he is working over his back pretty well. Remember the first thing we must insist on in the lunge is that the horse move out and away from us. Be sure that every time we switch between gears so to speak that we make sure that each step is correct along the way. We make sure not to bring him back and let him fall apart in the trot, we must come back and establish that swinging and active trot right away. Each stage must be correct before going to the next stage. Understand that short periods of cantering is what we want to do, not long periods where the horse falls apart. Now that Amber has her horse swinging in the trot, she asks for the canter once more and this time it isn’t too bad of a transition. When she asks him to trot, she immediately gets the trot correct again. We ultimately want the horse to stretch into all three gaits.
The rules then are: Be sure that you have the trot first before you start the canter, and then canter for only short periods of time looking for the horse to stabilize in the bridle and stretch into the contact . Once again this is Will Faerber from Art2Ride with Amber Matusek and her horse Legolas, we will see you next time!!
10 responses to “Starting Canter On The Lunge”
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Anne Chiarelli says: Hi Art2ride,
I think my horse is ready to canter on the lunge based on what he is looking like at the trot. My problem is that he is running into the canter on the lunge line. I watched Legolas with Amber and he is cantering as soon as she is asking him. That is not the case with us! We might have one whole revolution before he canters, the whole time he is accelerating at the trot. Very ugly! Any thoughts?
Anne chiarelli
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Kali says:
At first you have to get what you can so that the horse gets the idea, but don’t do much off it once you get it, a circle or two and then back to the trot. Usually that would mean that the horse is really not ready to canter so keep working the stretch in the trot and only try the canter every few days or so.
Chad Houser says: Just wanted to say thank you to Will for sharing all this information. I’ve begun restarting an OTTB that last raced 8/2016. Trying to stick with the Art2Ride strategy and he is coming along nicely. Long way to go, but the video posts are a huge help!
Thanks Will.
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Cailean May Iseppi says:
I just love learning your method of training
It has given me a deeper understanding of the importance of long and down. Made both my horse so much more relaxed and willing to move onto higher gates without rushing. Thank you for your care and support and sharing you knowledge with us.All riders should view your program.
Amy Gibbs says: Dear Will (and Art2ride team),
Thank you so much for all of your videos. They are a godsend. I have an OTTB who’s back is almost identical to Bailador’s from the first video. We have struggled to see consistent progress. I am starting him back to work after 9 months off due to white line issues in a hoof. You are the first person that has explained things in a way that has made it “click” for me. Your expertise and teaching style is a gift for those of us in areas without many dressage trainers. I am so encouraged and feel I have a much better understanding in how to help him overall as we start back from (almost) ground zero.
Sincerely, Amy
Amy Gibbs says: Arg auto correct , * whose back , not *who’s back……
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Please join our Facebook group: Art2Ride Fans and Followers where you can post videos of your horse and our associate trainers can help you out. Or try our video critique service under the “online training” tab on the website. Just upload your video to YouTube and email your video link to admin@art2ride.com after paying via the PayPal link on the website. Hope this helps and we look forward to working with you!!
Jill Van Patten says: Hi, I have a young horse that I am starting him on a lounge line. He is on the lazy side but we have walk and jog also extended trot, but the canter is another story. He ignores me and the whip. He will sometimes kick out at me. When he does finally start to canter it is way to uncontrolled. This is with a rope halter on him. I need your help please. Thanks much
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I would want to know that the horses is stretching correctly at the walk and trot before you even think about trying to canter. Suggest that you have a look at our premium videos. There’s a three part series on there on how to start Young horses. I suggest you take a look at that. I also teach online using Pivo so that might be the way you’d want to go.
Hi Art2ride,
I think my horse is ready to canter on the lunge based on what he is looking like at the trot. My problem is that he is running into the canter on the lunge line. I watched Legolas with Amber and he is cantering as soon as she is asking him. That is not the case with us! We might have one whole revolution before he canters, the whole time he is accelerating at the trot. Very ugly! Any thoughts?
Anne chiarelli
At first you have to get what you can so that the horse gets the idea, but don’t do much off it once you get it, a circle or two and then back to the trot. Usually that would mean that the horse is really not ready to canter so keep working the stretch in the trot and only try the canter every few days or so.
Just wanted to say thank you to Will for sharing all this information. I’ve begun restarting an OTTB that last raced 8/2016. Trying to stick with the Art2Ride strategy and he is coming along nicely. Long way to go, but the video posts are a huge help!
Thanks Will.
I just love learning your method of training
It has given me a deeper understanding of the importance of long and down. Made both my horse so much more relaxed and willing to move onto higher gates without rushing. Thank you for your care and support and sharing you knowledge with us.All riders should view your program.
Dear Will (and Art2ride team),
Thank you so much for all of your videos. They are a godsend. I have an OTTB who’s back is almost identical to Bailador’s from the first video. We have struggled to see consistent progress. I am starting him back to work after 9 months off due to white line issues in a hoof. You are the first person that has explained things in a way that has made it “click” for me. Your expertise and teaching style is a gift for those of us in areas without many dressage trainers. I am so encouraged and feel I have a much better understanding in how to help him overall as we start back from (almost) ground zero.
Sincerely, Amy
Arg auto correct , * whose back , not *who’s back……
I need help with my quarter horse
Please join our Facebook group: Art2Ride Fans and Followers where you can post videos of your horse and our associate trainers can help you out. Or try our video critique service under the “online training” tab on the website. Just upload your video to YouTube and email your video link to admin@art2ride.com after paying via the PayPal link on the website. Hope this helps and we look forward to working with you!!
Hi, I have a young horse that I am starting him on a lounge line. He is on the lazy side but we have walk and jog also extended trot, but the canter is another story. He ignores me and the whip. He will sometimes kick out at me. When he does finally start to canter it is way to uncontrolled. This is with a rope halter on him. I need your help please. Thanks much
I would want to know that the horses is stretching correctly at the walk and trot before you even think about trying to canter. Suggest that you have a look at our premium videos. There’s a three part series on there on how to start Young horses. I suggest you take a look at that. I also teach online using Pivo so that might be the way you’d want to go.