Horse not cantering when being lunged.?

Question

I just bought my first horse a month ago & have had a horrible time trying to get her to canter while being lunged. I lunged her with the previous owner & saw & learned all the cues she used, but she still will not canter for me. The only possible way I get her to canter is if i bring her close to my with the lunge line & I whip her lightly on the rear with the whip. But I hate doing that. She is not at all lazy, she absolutely loves running any other time. I give her more then enough room to stretch out & canter. Also she respects me & listens perfectly any other time. Any suggestions or tips?

Answer 1

Let someone else do it for you and you observe,watch the horse for soundness too.You do feel her legs ,knees,ankles prior to exercise to feel any unusual heat.Walk her first to warm her up.Did she canter the same way with the other person(up close?) then retrain her otherwise.Try cantering her in the opposite direction. Some times it's not to use the whip at all but the sound of it.  How do you hold your lunge line?The position of the whip is very important,try to see from the horses eyes.Have someone knowledgeable observe you too.Sometimes a few hints can get you in the right direction.She may be used to voice commands as well.  Cluck to her to get her started.continue if she responds. The idea is for her to associate the cluck with cantering.She seems like a nice horse if she is so agreeable to everything else so there is a key to it all.Sounds like she doesn't know what you want of her.

Answer 2

If you have trainer ask for their help they might know some other cues to making a horse canter.

Answer 3

You need to show her who's boss coz i think she is thinking that she can get away with not doing what you want her to do- my horse jade did that so i sat back untill she did what i told her to do - i have never looked bak since

Answer 4

Some horses are not good for lunging.  It might be a physical thing.  The last thing you need to do is to try and make her do it in a small circle.  She is going to hurt herself.

Best thing is to lunge her in the corner of a school and depending on which rein your are working on, determines the end of the school.  When you want to get into canter ask for it in the short corner.  She will not be able to trot off so fast and get unbalanced.

Check that she is wearing all the correct gear.  With boots, cavesson and side reins attached not so tight that her nose is pulled in.  They should be just the right length that the head is virtical.  Side reins help to keep the horse straight and give him or her the feeling of a constant rein contact.

Another trick is to put up a very small fence in that corner and as she goes over it drive on with your voice and your whip - you must never ever hit her with it - you are opening yourself up to more trouble!  Someone was lunging my horse and hit him, so every time we tried to lunge after that he would turn in and attack me, or he would turn round and attack the whip!

Make sure that you are wearing a crash cap and gloves.  Never wear spurs while you are lunging and practice releasing the lunge rein and folding up quickly by attaching the nose bit to a fence or tie ring.  There should be no twists.

Also buy a book on lunging.  It sounds as though you will need some expert lessons.  Lunging is an art and if you do it wrong it can be dangerous for both yourself and the horse!

Good luck.

Answer 5

Your horse needs to learn whos boss.  When you lounge her, keep after her with the whip.  I have a lazy horse too.  Fine out side thepen but when lounging, doesn't want to do anything.  I keep after him and show him I AM THE BOSS!!!!  He finally gives in.  If your horse moves initally, but not the way you want him too, keep him moving.  For example.  My horse will work for about 5 minutes and then stop...back up and throw his head.  So I ask him to move out and trot..when he continues to back up....I get close to him and use the lounge line and make him back up until he figures out that no matter what I do I am going to make him move, his way or my way.  Once he gets tired of backing up...(that tires them out cause they have to use more muscle work) he realizes what I was originally asking him for is going to be a lot eatiser than backing up.  Just be firm.  Make him move...

Answer 6

Well if she canters when your on her i'd say she's fine. She feels more comfortable with you on her back and thats a good sign :]

Answer 7

some horses just hate being lunged its beta than taking off

Answer 8

This sometimes works. Trot her out on the full length of line, then shorten the line by about half to one metre. Just before you ask for canter, give out that extra line, I'm not sure why but for some horse that one or two strides of straightening is enough to encourage them to move into canter.

Also the voice aids for all transition, try this

Aaaannnnd Trot, (once trotting to continue trotting) trot on.

Aaaannnnd Canter, (once cantering to continue cantering) canter on.

Etc, in all transitions and paces up and down.

Most horses will respond and learn quite quickly with these voice cues. The long drawn out 'and' becomes like a half halt and the horse soon learns to prepare for the next transition.

Alternatively horses may oven canter after going over a pole on the ground (just be careful your line can't get under this).

For some horses I've lunged; as you ask for canter, or momentarily before, take a couple of steps out towards the horse (provided the lunge line doesn't get too loose) and this can encourage canter.

Also rather than tap on top of his hindquarters, have you tried using the whip dangly end on the ground, and flicking this dangly end towards the heals of your horse, across the ground.

Try not to loose eye contact with your horse, and make the 'C' for canter very load and hard with your voice.

Best of luck, I hope something from this is helpful.