From: PJ
Hi Jessica!
After many, many months of searching I have finally found a horse :) My main concern was finding one that had a good disposition and willing. I've been riding about 3 years now (I'm one of your "Riding for the Rest of Us" fans) and was trained to ride hunt seat. The horse I purchased is a 9 yo. Paint gelding that has been used mainly western. When I went out to see him, the trainer who purchased him (for resale) let me ride him around the indoor ring a little while (rode him at a walk and trot) and then took me out on the trails. Buck is a wonderful trail horse. Doesn't spook at anything, crosses water, etc.. He had a great rocking horse canter out in the fields.
So, I bought him (after the vet check). I have now learned that Buck was never ridden in a ring. As a matter of fact, he had only been ridden maybe 6 times in the past year. I discovered that ring work was totally new to him. We had a rough start as I was trying to ride him in a western saddle and I just didn't feel comfortable. I switched to my english saddle and things started going much smoother :) I've been working on getting him to bend and listen to my leg cues. He'll trot off by voice command and a squeeze now and will stop on a dime when you tell him to. My problem is that he doesn't understand a canter cue. I can sometimes get him into a canter from a very fast trot but this is not what I want. FYI, I'm riding him in a snaffle with a shank and curb chain (modified Tom Thumb?) which is what I'm told he was always ridden in. He does not know how to neck rein. Should I switch to a snaffle with D rings for ringwork?
Buck is very willing to learn and please but I don't know if I have the ability to teach him to canter on cue. Do you have any suggestions on how to accomplish this or do you think I should send him to a trainer to be finished off? I'm not looking to do any showing and ride mainly for pleasure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
PJ Bailey and Buck
Since he has a lovely canter in the fields, I'm guessing that he just may not know that you WANT him to canter in the arena. It's also very likely that he isn't balanced enough to manage a canter on the turns and circles that you would do in an arena.
The cure for this condition is balance and fitness: build him up by doing a lot of trot work, and a lot of walk-trot transitions, and a lot of BOTH on large circles in both directions. Every good walk-trot transition on a circle will help him become a little more fit and a little more physically able to make that trot-canter transition.
You're right NOT to want him to run into the canter from a fast trot. You need to build him up so that he can "power" into the canter from a slower, more balanced trot; that way, he can go into a comfortable canter. If he trots faster and faster until he FALLS into a canter, the canter won't be a comfortable one, and he won't develop good muscles OR good habits.
When he's stronger, and when he's quite comfortable and coordinated doing circles and figure-8s and serpentines in the arena at walk and trot, he'll be ready for cantering. You can help prepare him by using very clear canter cues when you are riding on the trails -- sit up, squeeze your inside rein, and ask for the canter with your outside leg as you release the rein. Then be ready to RIDE the canter. If it helps, teach him to associate a verbal cue with picking up the canter -- once he really understands to pick up the canter outdoors, on either lead, from your position, your physical aids, and your verbal cue, he'll be able to understand what you want in the arena. Just don't CHANGE anything. ;-)
You will have to decide whether you're going to ride him on contact, English-style, or off contact, Western-style. The bit you are using now is a curb, not a snaffle -- if it has leverage and a curb chain, it's a curb. ;-) I know that the bit is CALLED a "cowboy snaffle" or an "Argentine snaffle" at some Western stores, but it is NOT a snaffle. If you are going to ride ON contact, you'll need a snaffle; if you decide that you'd rather ride OFF contact, and perhaps neck-rein your horse, the curb will be fine. If you go that route, though, you might want to get something a little more gentle, like a low-port grazing bit or "colt bit" -- a broken-mouth curb is quite a severe bit. My suggestion, since he is so happy in your English saddle, is that you get him a comfortable snaffle (French-links are comfortable for most horses) and ride him English-style. He may be more comfortable this way in any case, since he doesn't know how to neck-rein.
If you want Buck to neck-rein, it would be worth it for you to arrange to take a few lessons with a good trainer with a lot of experience in this area. It usually doesn't take long. Horses that are Western-trained generally ARE taught to neck-rein, so it's a little surprising that Buck doesn't already know this -- perhaps it's another good reason to ride him English-style, since he seems to understand direct-reining. Either way, a good trainer will be able to help you. Perhaps you could arrange to have a few sessions with the trainer who had Buck before you bought him!
The important thing is to keep Buck sound and happy while the two of you adjust to one another, and while he learns how to work comfortable in an arena. Take your time, be patient, and try to make every session enjoyable for your horse. You'll be amazed at how quickly he comes along.
Jessica
Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org
Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.