lramsden1
New User
Hiya!
I've just come in from riding my hunter, he's 17hh, Irish Draught and 12 years old. Before I took him hunting we had no problems, or very little in the way of problems. I've had him since the start of September, but have previously hunted and generally ridden him before then.
This is a really basic question with probably a very easy answer from someone who has been riding for 10 years but, I like second opinions for peace of mind.
When schooling him on the right rein he's fine, on the left however we have issues. He simply goes off on the wrong leg, and when he does go correctly (which is very rare and hard to achieve), it almost seems like he really tries hard to go back into trot, or even flying change to the other lead. I know that loads of horses do this (i.e. favour a leg), and my very [hopeful] opinion is that he's just forgot schooling a little bit because he's mainly hunted since the start of the month. That's the thing though, he's only been twice this season!
He isn't lame, not in the slightest. I went down ALL of his legs and there isn't any heat, he has no lumps, rubs or whatever that cause him any problems. Also to look at, all of his legs seem as fit as each other. So is it just a psychological thing? Obviously when I'm hunting I don't take too much notice of what lead he's on, but it could be that because he favours the right leg he always uses it when hunting, and obviously resulting in the other lead hardly being used.
The literal feeling on that left rein, is like when you've just backed a horse, got it trotting and are now trying to teach it to canter with a rider. I'm squeezing and squeezing with my legs and using a dressage crop, and it still doesn't work, or he'll go into that really fast trot and then break into the wrong lead again.
Any opinions are much appreciated so thanks in advance!
I've just come in from riding my hunter, he's 17hh, Irish Draught and 12 years old. Before I took him hunting we had no problems, or very little in the way of problems. I've had him since the start of September, but have previously hunted and generally ridden him before then.
This is a really basic question with probably a very easy answer from someone who has been riding for 10 years but, I like second opinions for peace of mind.
When schooling him on the right rein he's fine, on the left however we have issues. He simply goes off on the wrong leg, and when he does go correctly (which is very rare and hard to achieve), it almost seems like he really tries hard to go back into trot, or even flying change to the other lead. I know that loads of horses do this (i.e. favour a leg), and my very [hopeful] opinion is that he's just forgot schooling a little bit because he's mainly hunted since the start of the month. That's the thing though, he's only been twice this season!
He isn't lame, not in the slightest. I went down ALL of his legs and there isn't any heat, he has no lumps, rubs or whatever that cause him any problems. Also to look at, all of his legs seem as fit as each other. So is it just a psychological thing? Obviously when I'm hunting I don't take too much notice of what lead he's on, but it could be that because he favours the right leg he always uses it when hunting, and obviously resulting in the other lead hardly being used.
The literal feeling on that left rein, is like when you've just backed a horse, got it trotting and are now trying to teach it to canter with a rider. I'm squeezing and squeezing with my legs and using a dressage crop, and it still doesn't work, or he'll go into that really fast trot and then break into the wrong lead again.
Any opinions are much appreciated so thanks in advance!
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