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Posted by Franca on 6/12/2008, 2:14 am, in reply to "Re: contol of hip"
85.14.150.1
to get a young horse well along before selling or placing - your intentions are good - but please resist it. Being in a hurry while training is never a good thing; if you're concerned about a young horse's long term future it's not worth it to put pressure on her now and risk making her anxious about any cantering. Better to have a new owner work on teaching something new than maybe create a problem a new owner will have to "fix".
How young and green is this filly? A related anecdote: a horseman I work with has been rehabbing a lovely 4-yo filly with only a handful of rides on her. The owners had unintentionally created huge anxiety in the mare at the canter by asking her for a particular lead instead of just letting her roll into the canter from a fast trot. It was way too soon to make her try to separate that type of request. So he took her back to the trot and got her comfortable again - no anticipation of being asked for a canter - and then started asking for faster trots until she picked up the canter on her own. It took her a few rides to get over her stress about picking up the more difficult (for her) lead because she'd had so much early pressure put on her in that direction. But I got to watch some of those first rides while he worked her through it, and then I got to see him ride her again after several months off to mature more physically and mentally. She was like a different mare. She had grown and filled out, and she was picking up the correct lead with ease and even making some changes because she was ready for that.
Your mare may be farther along in her training than this one was, but basically it's the same idea. Pressing for correct leads and perfect lead changes under saddle too soon can create all kinds of angst in the horse at the canter down the road. The horse already knows how to pick up the correct lead without a saddle and rider - it's our job not to screw that up by asking for too much too soon, or asking under the wrong circumstances (ie. poor saddle fit or other pain). Assuming there are no physical issues in the way other than just youthful lack of strength and balance under saddle, if she crossfires or picks up the wrong lead, just come back to the trot and start again. She should be consistently and comfortably rolling into the canter from the trot in both directions long before she is given any specific lead requests. JMO, of course!
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