Does she canter freely and cleanly in the pasture, at liberty? Do you have a place to practice letting her canter where you can ride her without a "competitor"?
She cantered when she came to me, but had trouble with the corners of the arena - that's why I have been working on it outside on the straight trail. I've noticed that even Atli, takes some time to balance himself without a strong lead cue from me - he will canter and switch leads through some odd reorganizing of his feet, 2 or 3 times and then settle on the lead he wants. I can cue a lead and he will take and keep it so long as I maintain the cue, but on the trail I like to give the horse the opportunity to choose the lead he prefers (as long as we still use both eventually and if we go long enough he will switch) so I usually cue canter as go faster - so maybe I have answered my own question and this is the problem. Atli has great gaits (I am biased) and is very responsive to me - I really only have to think what I want and he usually offers it, and conversely he subtly lets me know when he doesn't like what's requested - he does it, but I get the reluctance and usually back off. Bjalla is much more straightforward, but she does have a wicked sense of humour -(forgive my anthropomorphism) and will perform a 'rider check" if she feels you are paying insufficient attention. She will also happily babysit a child on her back. I think you are right about the racing - she can do flying pace faster than canter - and she clearly enjoys the gait. What cues do you use to distinguish the 2 gaits other than a diagonal placement of your legs and pelvis etc. to cue a canter lead? I think that the Icelanders request the pace from the canter, but drop back to canter for corners when performing on the track. Is there a balance point of the rider's body that encourages one gait or the other? Bjalla is fairly comfortable in canter now, I guess I am just unsure how to cue it to continue once it is established; I work on the premist that once established gait should be held with only half halt reminders, but I think that doesn't work as well with horses that have way more than 3 choices of gait. I have seen her canter in the pasture, but not too much, it tends to mix with other gaits - they can tolt as fast as canter I think. Laura.
