Calm down horse after canter?

Hey everyone, I have an 8 yr old QH that I just recently bought and I'm having one particular issue. Before I bought him, he was a western/trail horse that was always ridden with draw reins or a martingale. After buying him, I focused less on headset and more on getting him forward and reaching to contact, which he is starting to do nicely. There is a LOT of stiffness in the neck so I have been working on a lot of bending and stretching exercises, (circling in and out, serpentines, transitions) and he is really starting to losen up and relax. However, once I get him into the canter, everything seems to fly out the window. He braces and runs off with me, and if I use a leg cue to push him out, he thinks it means go faster. At the walk and trot he doesnt speed up but moves away from my leg, so I'm not really sure what to do. Then once I manage to bring him back to the trot, he gets into the "go go go" mindset and will try to break back into canter. What can I do to help the canter and downward transition?


Sorry for the lengthy post! Any help is much appreciated. :)

My guess is he was leaning on the artificial aids to keep his balance so since you took it away from him, he's struggling. He's gotta gain it over time.

Best of luck, just do lots of trot to canter and canter to trot transitions. Keep on bendy curvy figures, not straight lines (really hard for a horse)

When I was working with my greenie we did large circles. At the beginning I just let him canter wherever the heck he wanted but that turned into a disaster because his balance made it hard for him to stay on a sensible course lol..

But after you bring him back to a trot, put him straight into some figures. I like figure eights, weaving, serpentines, half circles to change direction. Make him think about where his feet are going. Don't haul on the reins, but half halt every now with your body (and rein if need be) and then he should eventually slow down. Praise lots when he gets it right!

My guy was similar - stiff and got stupid with speed. After doing two things, he has improved tremendously. 1. Canter. A lot. Until he gets winded and wants to stop, then a little more before letting him actually stop. 2. A million canter trot transitions. And for this, I mean trot- canter 2 strides - trot. Just long enough to say yes, that's a canter.
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