Advice please from ex-racer owners - left sided ??

[shmoo]

Sorry for crappy thread name. I have a gorgeous little ex-racer. We are very proud of ourselves for being brave last night but thats a different story..

When we're walking down the roads she really walks out. She's a ickle one at just 15.2 but can outpace every other horse on the yard. Thats all great and good. My question is when she hits that point between a walk and jog she brings her neck in to the verge (left) and by default her bum swings out. Occasionally (like last night ) she comes back to a walk, but mostly when she's jogging she would really like to be galloping and is trying to compromise with me (I think).

We have almost been clipped by cars no end of times as they zoom past - it's all narrow country lanes where we ride.

Anything I can do? When she's doing this she pretty much ignores my leg commands, the only vagely effective thing is doing an exaggerated maneuver with my righ rein to bring her head round.

At a loss...

 

[Lolo]

If she's doing it when she's going at a reasonable lick, could you try and dictate the speed a little more so that she is the one listening to you all the time? So when you're walking out, vary her speed with half halts and things, to keep her attention on you...

Aside from that, use the exaggerated aids if that's what gets her attention. If she's doing something that could be dangerous on the roads, then do whatever it takes to tell her not to. If she's fine in her back/ saddle/ teeth, then I'd keep reiterating whenever she does it that she HAS to listen to you even if that does mean riding in quite a strong way. Eventually, she'll realise that she has to do as you say and your can revert to normal riding.

I know this may not be a popular opinion, but on the roads there's no margin for error IMO. In the school you can be as delicate and subtle as you need but on the roads your horse needs to do as you say when you say it...

 

[be positive]

Spend time when she is relaxed and listening to teach her to leg yield away from your right leg, you may need to exaggerate the right bend to start with, once she has learned to understand this you should be able to control her quarters more easily when she is tense. Turns on the forehand are also useful to help her realise what is required, most racehorses are used to going out in a string and any that are a bit inclined to swing out will just be put on the inside, the riders often have their stirrups too short to really used leg aids effectively.

 

[shmoo]

I've had a look on you tube and found a couple of good leg yielding demos (its been a while) so i'll gen up on it. Thanks.

I totally agree re the roads, I preach to my daughter, then give her a bad example to follow.

Also, she used to be ridden in a fulmer, or full cheek snaffle. Would it be worth in investing in one? I have her in an eggbut at the moment, quite a thin one as she's strong. Never ridden in a fulmer so I don't really know the difference.

PS. Yeah, feet, teeth, back, saddle all checked and ok. She did all this before and after teeth rasping, they were bad but it doesn't seem to have made any difference at all.

 

[Horseymumma]

Mine sometimes does this, it's like his back end is going faster than the front end and trying to overtake!
A couple of times I lunged him breifly before we went out just to take away a little of the freshness he was feeling and it stopped him jogging so much, therefore stopped the whole going sideways episodes. It might be worth trying for a while, whilst you continue to work on it in the school.

 

[Batgirl]

Fulmer can be very good for a bit of extra steering feedback. You can get loose ring or one that mimicks the sort of eggbut side and the bit can come in any joint you would normally get.