How to Train a Horse to Canter

Learning to canter properly can take weeks or months of training

Teaching your horse to transition to a balanced canter from a trot usually takes weeks or months of practice. Take into consideration the horse's age and strength. A 3- to 4-year-old horse may not have the strength it takes to maintain this gait, but it can be accomplished with regular, consistent training as his muscles develop. The trot uses a simple, balanced diagonal gait, and shifting to the three-beat canter is a learned transition. Teach a proper canter by using a trot-canter-trot exercise repeatedly.

Things You'll Need

• 60-foot round pen or arena
• Lunge line
• Crop or whip
• Saddle
• Bridle
• Riding helmet
• Riding boots

Instructions

1. Lunge and lope your saddled horse during groundwork in a round pen or a circle the width of an arena. Begin on his "good" side, going the direction in which he naturally performs better and takes an easier lead. Usually the horse will trot when asked. With your voice, tongue clicks or kisses, or, if necessary, the sight or touch of a crop, ask him to canter for a few paces, then transition back to the trot, allowing use of the entire circle before asking for a few more paces of the canter. The inside shoulder should be elevated during the canter, and this is more easily achieved with the hind legs underneath him in a trot (as opposed to a walk). Repeat this exercise several times before changing leads. If the horse is not making these transitions, correct him to a halt from the trot, and begin again.

2. Bridle and mount the horse. Continue with the same exercise, maintaining proper carriage and having a slightly shorter inside rein to keep him in a small circle, with only slight pressure on the bit. When going into the canter, roll your seat, maintaining contact with the saddle, and squeeze with the outside leg. Still use only a few strides in the canter to a half- or whole-circle trot. Reward your horse when he achieves the proper transition.

3. Move to the arena, or use the length of it. Continue the exercise using about a 60-foot circle at each end, with a diagonal cut through the center, or serpentine. Use the outside leg and inside rein. Loose arms allow your body to move with the momentum of the horse's head and neck, which he is using for balance. Use voice and body commands. Increase the length of time you stay in the canter by working up to allow it during the whole diagonal and part of each circle.

Tips & Warnings

• If the horse takes the wrong lead, begin the canter in a small circle to help with balance, and only use the whole circle once that is achieved. If the horse performs consistently with the correct lead on the lunge line but incorrectly with a rider, it is the rider's error. Riders need to learn to keep square shoulders with loose arms, low heels in the stirrups, and first being balanced at a posting trot. Moving into a canter, the rider can maintain leg pressure.

• If your horse is bucking during the transition from trot to canter, check to see that the saddle fits him properly by riding bareback or with a blanket. Pinching of an ill-fitting saddle is a primary cause of bucking.

• In English riding, or dressage, vocal cues and tongue clicks are discouraged.

References

• Horse Channel: In Transition

Resources

• Down Under Horsemanship: The Official Home of Clinton Anderson