The canter, however, is a different story entirely. I'm working with a race horse that only canters right! Who whould've thought? ;)
Ryker has been very quiet in the canter, he moves well off my leg and is very responsive for downward transitions. Picking up the right lead is easy for him , which he surprised me with on the lunge line , and continues to do so undersaddle. His left lead however, seems to be much harder for him - He has very little trouble picking it up on the lunge, but with a rider aboard he is a little lost - the lead itself is not overly strong, nor is it balanced like his right lead. At the beginning, before getting frustrated when all the tricks I had up my sleeve didn't work, I simple re-established what I was asking for on the lunge line and called it a day. From there I did a lead change onto it as immediately as possible, which was not very consistent, but got his left lead stronger. Now we can get it occasionally in the corner or off a very small circle - the transition isn't pretty, but its there, and it is wonderful once he picks it up - progress!
Since he is easily bored, I've been adding trot poles, and just recently canter poles, towards the ends of our ride to keep his mind engaged. Those are a non-issue for him, easy as pie, and he tends to make a beeline for them when we first get started walking around the ring. He sure is motivated!