From: Lois
Dear Jessica, I have adopted a wonderful rescue horse. He was bad off when I got him but now he is sound and healthy and even though he is not a great mover my vet says he has athletic conformation. I'm interested in doing some dressage with him (only the basic lower level stuff) and although he has gotten much better about walking and trotting, his canter is horrible. I found out that he used to be a Western Pleasure horse so was trained to carry his head very low and hardly move his legs at all, and he did what they call a "four-beat lope". I've seen him do a real canter in the pasture, so I know he can do it, he looks so pretty when he canters up the hill, but whenever I ask him to canter, he goes right into that four-beat lope. I've tried asking him to go faster and faster in the hopes that he would fall into a real canter, but nothing works.
Do you think he is just wrecked for riding (at the canter)? I have only asked one trainer for help, and she wasn't at all encouraging, she tried to canter him out of that lope and it didn't work, and she said that he would never have a normal canter and that he probably couldn't do dressage anyway because he is a Quarter Horse and they can't do dressage. Can you suggest some way I can fix his canter problem, or else tell me that I shouldn't try, and I will quit pestering my nice horse? I don't want to do anything with him that would hurt him or make him unhappy, he is such a sweet, dear horse. If he can't do a real canter, he will still have a home for life, but I really would like to do some Training Level Dressage with him someday, and I know we will have to have a three-beat canter for that. Your information and advice are always the best. If you tell me that it isn't fair for me to ask him to do this, I will believe you.
Your fan in Arizona, Lois
The four-beat lope you're trying to fix is a very common problem amongst Western Pleasure horses - it's what happens when a trainer takes a horse with a nice normal canter and tries to make it canter extremely slowly. When the canter becomes too slow, the second phase breaks down - the inside hind and outside fore become disconnected and step separately instead of working together, because the inside hind is taking little pitty-pat steps instead of reaching deep under the horse's body. Because this discombobulated "gait" is too slow, it's very natural to think that the solution would be to ask the horse for more speed, but as you've already discovered, that doesn't work. Insisting on speed will just get you the same short-stepping, pitty-patting scramble, AND you'll feel as though the horse is scrambling down a hill.
Here's my suggestion for the next few months: Work on walk, trot, and thousands of transitions, and don't worry about the canter for a while. It's there - he does it in the field, and he can learn to do it under saddle when the time is right. Some horses DO have a natural tendency to canter flat, but since yours canters normally in the field, you can be sure that he canters badly under saddle because that's what he was trained to do. Just now, he may not be strong enough to offer you a real, three-beat canter under saddle. To canter correctly, he needs to have a stronger set of belly muscles, a more relaxed back, and the ability to reach under himself with his inside hind leg. All of these things can be achieved by good walk and trot work, including lengthenings, and by performing many, many energetic transitions. You can help him make even better progress by doing belly-lifts when you're grooming him, just to get him into the habit of engaging his belly muscles and lifting and stretching his back. Plus, if you think that his walk and trot have already improved - look out! After a few months of such work, indoors and out in the field, his walk and trot will be so much improved that you'll barely recognize them. At that point, you'll be able to ask for the canter with a real expectation of getting it, but I would strongly suggest that you set your horse up for success by asking for the canter that first time when you're about to go UP the hill.
Take your time with him, and don't let anyone push you into hurrying his retraining schedule. Quarter Horses typically have such good natures that they will try their best to do what you want even if it isn't easy or comfortable for them. Don't underestimate the amount of time it takes for a horse to regain its strength (bone, muscle, and support structures) when it's been unfit and malnourished - as your rescue horse undoubtedly was. Give him the time he needs to rebuild his body, and remember that muscle is relatively quick to build, whereas support structures and bones require a year or more. So don't be fooled by attractive muscles, because they will appear long before the rest of his body is able to handle the stress of heavy training. And speaking of muscle - Quarter Horses also typically look nicely-muscled even when they've simply gained fat - even an extremely out-of-shape, flabby Quarter Horse can look quite well-muscled until you get near enough to see the wobble! So if you get help from anyone, be sure that the person understands Quarter Horses well enough to ask only what's reasonable for the horse's actual level of fitness.
I think that if you'll keep your new horse happy and help him to build his strength and flexibility over time, he'll have every chance of becoming the athlete he was always meant to be, and you'll have every chance of enjoying his performance and companionship for many years to come. See you in the dressage arena!
Jessica
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