How to teach a stubborn horse to canter?

Draft crosses occasionally are reluctant to canter. So this may be an example of that, and there are ways to help.

BUT - your description makes me suspect your horse has a soundness/pain issue more than stubborness. Years ago my daughter owned a pony that would NOT lope in a small ring, but loped quite well going straight. The pony's hooves looked normal, but she had lightly foundered in the past. I am 100% certain that the reason she would not canter in a circle was a pain issue. Small circles apply pressure unevenly to their feet and joints, this pressure makes pain. It may be much less, or even almost gone when she canters going straight.

So I would first of all try to work in an arena with a long, long side so that you can canter on the straight. And I would get her vet checked by a good equine vet. I think they'll find something. And I suspect that also shows why she will lope one direction occasionally, but not the other. Obviously one leg/side is worse than the other.

But if by chance your mare vets perfectly, then there are some solutions to teaching her to lope. Draft horses have been bred for generations to be walkers and trotters, and many struggle physically and maybe even mentally with loping. One thing that I have seen work is to teach the horse to trot over ground poles (obviously when going straight) Spend a week or so getting her good at this. After she trots through well, set up a small cross rail jump at the end, just high enough that she will eventually have to canter/stride/jump over it. This almost always makes them lope a stride or two after the jump. Let her canter that stride or two, then gently guide her back to a trot. I have seen this technique work - it is kinda like a distraction more than anything. The horse quits thinking "they keep kicking me to make me canter and I just won't do it" and starts thinking "woops, I better canter a few steps after that jump" and can settle into it. Then start cantering her off a bit farther each time after the jump.

I suspect she could really benefit from truly learning the "speed up" cue, using either a crop or spurs. If you do it right - applying strong pressure if needed and IMMEDIANT relief when she complies, she should start getting softer and softer in her speed up responses. I would work at speeding up her trot at first, and doing lots of walk/trot transitions so she understands the concept before going to the lope.

Good luck. I think your horse may be lazy and that may be contributing to the problem, but I also think there's more to it than that.

Drafts aren't too lazy to canter, they can just be a bit stubborn. I've been working with my friend and her Percheron mix mare who's a struggle just to get to trot!

Definitely have a vet check her out, you don't want to be punishing her for not doing something because it hurts her, or because she can't.

Will she canter on the longe? Will she canter at liberty/ in a pasture on her own?

If she will canter on the longe, start riding her on the longe and enforcing the cue with the assistance of someone on the ground.

If she won't canter on the longe, the fault can lie in the circle, or the corners. This could be because she's unbalanced, or that she physically doesn't have enough room where she's comfortable cantering.

If she'll canter on her own and on the longe, she may be ignoring your cues, so reinforcing with a whip or spurs might help. If she's not responding to them, however, there's no sense in pushing it, it will only make her dull-sided. Have you tried having someone on the ground with a whip? This is my job with my friend's mare, if she isn't responding to the rider's cues, we use the noise from a dressage or even longe whip to give her some more encouragement.

If she DOES canter, praise praise praise! Drafts aren't the most intelligent horses, and it takes a lot of repetition for them to get things sorted in their heads. And most importantly, if she does canter, stop her before she tries to stop herself, don't let her think she can go then stop as she pleases.

Definitely keep working on flexion and lateral motion to soften up her sides and rebalance her. Longe with a surcingle if it will help.

Good luck!

So far your doing just about the only thing you can. I own an ex trail ranch horse, that wasn't aloud to canter on trails because of the mix of riders it would carry everyday. So for me it took several weeks to get him to understand that its ok to canter and now he loves it

Ok so i did it like this. I found a trail that i would ride, prefrably with no cars, i would ride this trail alot, and it had hills, and right before we get to the hills i get him into a trot, but some of the hills needed more than a trot, so without me telling him, he would push himself into a canter to get up the hill... And while were cantering i shout GOOD BOY really enthusiastically, and for the first few times he would stop as soon as we reach the top, but after this all i would have to do is keep coaxing him and sort of dig into his sides and he'd take off like a rocket...

I know that this is just my method but it really did work so i hope this might help

Try doing ground work with him. Lunging him is a good way to, 1: Gain trust and 2: Work on his riding habits. When using the long line, walk him a bit using voice commands first dont use the whip on the horse just on the ground. While walking get him to change direction saying "Turn" and putting the whip in front of him to show him to turn, do that again with the trot and then with the canter. Hope i helped!

Counterclockwise is obviously her weak direction so work on it longer than clockwise. Is she in good shape? She has a lot of weight to run around in a tight circle... she may not be able to..... larger horses dont like to lunge too much on a line... I dont use one at all... and I lunge in an arena not a round pen. I put cones at four corners...and he stays along the edge and around the cones... it took me about about three or four times to teach him to not cut through the cones... he is 17.2 and 1500lbs... too large to canter in a round pen in my opinion... and yes, he is lazy, I have to keep the commands going and the whip cracking for him to stay in a canter.... if she trots, keep her doing a fast trot for awhile ... then work her into a canter.... but she has to be in decent shap... and balanced... maybe she isnt balanced (bad farrier?????) It might not just be laziness. As well you said you hate to nag... she so picks up on cues from you... your body language is probably giving away your frustration... relax... and nag... and crack the whip.... she will eventually get it..

Oh, and I use a circingle with rubber reins to keep him in flexion.

Added: to those who think whips are abuse: nobody actually hits the horses with the lunge whip "cracking the whip is a term.... its cracked in the air. And spurs are rounded nubs.. not cowboy shanks..... they are lightly used to create pressure...... after its all done my horse comes right over to me and rests his head on my shoulder... that isnt the behavior or any abused animal.

get out the dressage whip and when she doesn't listen to you the first time, show her you mean business. she taking advantage of the fact that you cannot get her moving. my trainer has told me the very same thing. if they don't listen to you the first time nicely, show them you mean it the second time!

then when you ask for it again they will not want the annoyance of you kicking them and go right into the transition.

usually a good kick or a tap With the whip gives the wake up call.

when your working on flat work the horse mustn't get away with being lazy, your mare can happily bolt off in the paddock XD

-and no this isn't mean ( for anyone who doesn't like the fact of whips etc) these tips are Your horse" magazine aswell :D

first, make sure theres not a medical reason why she won't canter.

have her checked out by a vet.

if you still cant get her to do it take a lesson with a trainer and see if they can help you out.

i would just keep using spurs and a whip. i know you said you have, but just be persistent.

stop abusing animals