I agree that it is a good thing to teach horses to canter in harness,
The fellow who trains all our fjords (Ken Demers from Clarksburg,
Mass.) will only allow them to canter short distances going
up hill (and pulling a wagon with four wheel hydraulic brakes).
Especially for Fjords, it's pretty hard for them to get away from you
under those conditions. Personnaly, even though our teams are well
behaved, I've never had sufficient courage to canter our wagon on
the flat.
We also find that training them to ride is much easier
after they've been in harness.
