One of the most common questions I hear from gaited horse owners is whether it is all right to canter, or to trot, their gaited horse. In regard to both questions, the answer is, "that depends."

Someone who rides a laterally oriented horse may do well to encourage the horse to canter, as it will teach it how to break up that addictive, lazy habit of pacing or step pacing, and teach it the basics of working off the haunches and rounding up through the back. The stronger and better conditioned the horse, the less likely it is to pace. It's unlikely that an animal with a very strong tendency toward pace would learn to trot before establishing a more square gait, and this would not be as productive as cantering, in any case.

On the other hand, a horse with a strong natural tendency to trot will have difficulty learning to gait if allowed to do so, while encouraging the diagonally oriented animal to canter often leads to a specific gait problem that is difficult to fix, once the habit has been started.

A primary challenge when trying to teach laterally oriented horses to canter is their tendency to cross canter; that is, take up opposite leads in the front and back legs. There is a very strong possibility that a horse doing this will trip itself up, which may result in a very nasty somersault-type tumble for both horse and rider. Therefore, if you canter your horse, but feel as though you're being violently pushed out of the seat of the saddle with each stride, immediately bring the horse to a halt or walk, and start over again. If cross firing persists, then give up teaching the canter until the basics of collection are more well established.

One of the easiest methods for teaching a pacey horse to canter is to ask for the gait on a hill or incline. This gets the horse's weight over its haunches and lightens up the front end, making the strike off for a canter lead much easier. If you have a riding friend with a horse that canters, so much the better - often if a lead horse starts to canter, the horse following behind will come up into that gait as well.

If you have no hills where you ride, then you'll want to begin teaching your horse how to balance its weight more rearward, and round up through the back. This means you're virtually 'collecting energy' through the horse's body. . .which energy can then be utilized for a correct canter take-off. The way to do this is to practice correct half halts. Half halts not only enable the horse to correctly distribute its weight, but over time greatly enhance the animal's overall balance and condition. I recommend that all riders learn this very simple technique, and utilize it regularly.