Canter Issue on right rein

[skydancer]

Hi,
My horse can canter lovely on the left rein but on the right she rushes and when we get to a corner she is like a giraffe and very unbalanced. She feels like she will just fall 9n her left side on the ground. Her back has been checked - no problems. She had her saddle checked and when we cantered on the right rein the saddler said she was weak on her right rein. I have been doing circles and working more on the right rein but it doesnt seem to be working - does anyone have anymore exercises i can try?
Cheers and chocs all round!

 

[skydancer]

anyone?
pretty please...

 

[skydancer]

shameless BUMP x

 

[horseless jorge!]

Wow, looks like someone's not getting any luck with help tonight!
Good job I logged on. ;D

Do you have an instructor/ trainer/ anything like that? I used to have same issue with a pony I rode. When I school him he went wonderfully on one rein, and then on the other he just seemed very confused and reluctant. When I got an eye on the ground, my teacher Zoe said that it was in fact my problem. The pony was naturally favouring one rein a little more than the other, and in my attempt to 'fix' this, I was riding one rein completely different to the other.

That would be my advice, instructor.

 

[skydancer]

Cheers Horseless Jorge! I know what you mean - do you think it was something i said?????

 

[horseless jorge!]

Haha no no, not at all!! Think some people just have 'them days'.

 

[Housemouse]

You need to be able to control the horses shoulders.

A really good exercise is a 20m figure of 8. The first circle you ride with the bend to the inside, change the rein, but don't change the bend.

Do this with the bend in each direction. First in walk and if she gets it, then move to trot, but be careful to keep her balanced.

If you stand still, and you look down at your horse's shoulders, is one bigger than the other? Might be part of your problem.

 

[irish_only]

I've had this problem on the left rein, and decided to give myself a kick up the bum with some decent lessons. Horsey was on a scale of 1-10 plankometer 10 all my fault because I've been too lazy to school him properly. Sorted the problem (just about). He had no clue how to bend to the left, so when I asked for left canter his quarters swung out making it impossible. We've done loads of bending and flexing schooling and when hacking out, quarters in etc and in 5-6 lessons plankometer has gone down to 2 and occasionally 1. Jumping has improved too!!

 

[celia]

I am assuming she is also worse on the right rein in walk and trot? Although this may not be as noticable. I'm no expert but personally I would forget about the canter for a little while and work on doing lots of bending and suppling exercises in walk and trot. Rushing is always an evasion - if you're sure there is nothing physically wrong with her then it will be because it is much easier for her to work like this than to carry herself properly. You need to work on building up the right muscles and showing her that it can be comfortable to work this way. I would start with the basics - correct bend on circles of various sizes, serpentines, shallow loops, flexing either way while straight, etc, then move on to leg yield, spiralling in and out of circles, shoulder in, etc. You want to teach her to bend from your leg properly and to start learning to balance herself on bends and circles. If possible I would do any canter work out hacking and mainly in straight lines - up hills if you can - as this will all help to strengthen her muscles. Once you feel you're making good progress in the other paces you can then start asking for short bursts of canter. Again, I would start slowly - working mainly on the transition and just cantering maybe half the side before coming back to trot and re-balancing. The better the transition the stronger the canter will be so you can then start keeping the canter for a little longer. I would always try to bring her back to trot before she starts rushing or feeling uncomfortable. If she does start running on bring her back to trot, rebalance and then canter again for a shorter stretch. Once she's keeping the nice canter for longer you can then start turning across the school, again bringing her back and rebalancing if this makes her rush. Eventually you should be able to do all the exercises you were using in walk and trot, which will help to improve the canter even more. Make sure you do everything on both reins equally - it's tempting to work more on the stiff side (or even to avoid it sometimes!) but you need to keep things even. It will probably take a while but she will need to build up the correct muscles and learn how to balance herself properly.

Sorry I've rambled on a bit. I'm sure you'll get some more knowledgable advice from others but this is how I would try to tackle the problem. Hope you can find something of use in there! I would agree that an instructor will be a major help as they'll be able to see exactly what is going on. You might find that you sit slightly one way which may not be helping. It's really difficult to maintain a balanced position when a horse is doing odd things underneath you but it's worth working on as it does help immensely.

 

[Housemouse]

It is also important to remember to allow the horse to bend to the outside during the canter transition.

Until the horse has found it's own balance, you will not be able to ask for inside flexion and maintain self carriage.

 

[canteron]

Ha I have a horse who can canter on the right and not on the left - do you think if we swopped for a while we could solve each others problems??

Seriously thought, I know that part of my problem is I am a bit twisted and quite right sided - if you horse finds it difficult to canter then that may be part of your problem too? Just to check, make sure your position is good (ie your abs contracted and holding your body weight) and think left hip to horses right ear. If that helps, then it could be that you have to concentrate on straightness?

Good luck.

 

[skydancer]

Many thanx guys there are a few things n your replies i can try out! I know you are right when you say just walk and trot and canter only on hacks etc - i have been doing this up to this week just thought i would try te canter in the school and as it hadnt changed just felt a bit disheartened. Many thanx everone

 

[loopylass]

As well as schooling, you might want to consider getting the hocks x-rayed. I had a 5 yo TB with very similar issues - used poles and all sorts of schooling exercises to try and resolve right canter problems. It turned out he had 1/10 lameness originating from the hock. He just couldn't sustain the canter through the joint. He's now living the life of Riley as a hack and is much happier now he's not forced to try and canter on the right canter lead.