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[PCOVERS]

I own/ride a Paso. He is a wonderful fellow. He has lots of energy - not unusual in a Paso - but is as sane and controllable as they come, no buck, bolt, rear nonsense. Light mouth and very responsive to cues. He is my second Paso, so I know what I have and I chose Pasos because, at my age, I need a horse I can mount with never needing a step up, and my knees are shot so want a smooth ride with no posting required. He meets those needs very well.

As much as I appreciate the glide ride, for years I had a terrific QH and we would team pen and play around with barrels and he had a terrific canter and would do that all day if I asked. I really like to canter, but my Paso is is the total opposite of smooth when he breaks into a canter for very long. He only takes a few strides and tries to figure out how to gait and canter at the same time. When running in the pasture, he has what looks to be a beautifully smooth canter. But under saddle, clearly has been trained to avoid that gait. I have a method I have just started working with him on, but would appreciate feedback or guidance on what may be a better method.

I have been working with him with barrels. I have let him stay in his comfort zone which is a pretty quick four beat gait. However, as we turn turn the barrel, on his own he will reach out with a couple of canter like strides and then once we straighten up, wants to get back into his fast gait. I have been taking advantage of his willingness to come out of the turn, reaching his front legs out as if to start a canter and I am encouraging him to keep that up longer.

It seems like a reasonable approach, since he will take a couple of steps on his own as we turn the corner, but I really have no experience in this specific training and am hoping there may be others with a gaited horse that was reluctant to maintain a canter under saddle and how you may have worked with your horse to make that transition. It's obvious he can run with the rest of his pasture mates, but when the saddle comes on, he is pretty committed to his gait.

 

[KysaSD]

I would work on the canter from the ground in a round pen.  Make sure he knows this is what you want.  Work him with the saddle on, but no rider.  Once you get canter consistently from the ground, the. I would add the rider.

I also have a Paso Fino, but she cantered under saddle when we got her.  So I don’t have experience, just telling you how I would do it if I had to.

[kckc]

Contact Ivy of Ivy's horses.  She teaches a canter but doing a small jump - she has video's showing it.  Uphill is where mine have always been trained to canter - inclines  - I love a nice canter - congrats on a nice sane paso

[PCOVERS]

Contact Ivy of Ivy's horses.  She teaches a canter but doing a small jump - she has video's showing it.  Uphill is where mine have always been trained to canter - inclines  - I love a nice canter - congrats on a nice sane paso

Thanks. I took a look at her canter video and will give her method a try.

[Walkin45]

I’ve ridden and shown pasos. None of them cantered.

[kckc]

Not sure where you are but there's a Paso trainer in MS and I like a lot of his training methods... Michael Gascon... there's also a trainer in PA but I cannot for the life of me think of the barn name... someone on here will remind me :-)  But both of them may provide a tip or idea.  I have a trainer here that I use as she is an reiner and Michael Gascon trained - I would be glad to give you her contact information to see if she has any direction ideas to share.   Good luck ...and we need horse pictures  :-)

[PCOVERS]

  Good luck ...and we need horse pictures  :-)

Pics

[PCOVERS]

He is third in line here and cantering with the other three. He is the only gaited one.

[KysaSD]

That brings up something I had forgotten. The horse in my profile picture is a very beloved standardbred.  She was off the track, and the standardbreds are trained to never break to a canter while they were in harness.  Many of them, including Shay, carry that over to saddle training. They are reluctant to canter under saddle.  This is a psychological issue they are perfectly capable of doing the gait.  With Shay I finally got her to canter, while following another horse in canter.  I’m not sure that’s the issue with this worse, but it might be worth a try.

 And he certainly is a lovely Horse!

[kckc]

how gorgeous !

[Walkin45]

He’s pretty!

[PCOVERS]

Well, I may have broken through the initial canter hurdle. I tried Ivy's method, but he was reluctant with that setup for a few reasons and. I went back to my barrel method that I had started, and when he made the turns, and he gave me a couple of canter like steps, I encouraged the energy. He started giving me a few more, then more, until I was able to canter him in a circle. However, there is much work still to do as, while he was able to not intermix gaiting with the canter (for the most part but not 100%), his front lead leg reach was very short, which made for a quite bumpy ride. It made that "scoop" movement you make when riding canter, very quick and short stroked.

But I take it as a step forward. He was full of nervous energy throughout, but his energy never translates to unsafe or unmanageable. He turns on a dime and stops pretty much no matter what is happening. We'll see how it progresses. I appreciate all the input.

[kckc]

congrats !  several pasos that I've ridden had a short sort of choppy canter … it seemed the action was "quicker" and more upright than other breeds

[KysaSD]

I will agree with KC.  My Paso has shorter strides than the other breeds.  But still a nice comfortable canter.  I think you will get there with practice.

[zipeddodah]

Good advice from everyone here. I have 2 that I taught to canter under saddle. The racking horse was the most difficult.  I used the round pen at first just to help him bend and collect a little. At first all he could do was charge like crazy, even throwing himself down once. But once he figured out his balance and could do a nice slow canter in there, then I started riding him in there. Later I cantered up a lot of hills with him too. Now he has a great canter. My mountain horse has always been able to canter under saddle but she was rough as a washboard. I cantered her up lots of hills doing fast as she can go canter and slow as she can do canter. She's not as rough now but canter is not her best gait. A round pen would probably help her but I no longer have one and really I don't work with her much anymore, she's my relief horse for when my other guys need a break.
Good luck with your horse, it sounds like you're going in the right direction and making progress.