Correcting counter bend

Elanorg

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Hi, hope someone can help. I have an 8yo cob mare I've bought recently to bring on, all she's ever done is hack so very green in the school. When I'm on the right rein in trot she bananas to the left when going large.

I do flexions at halt which she is fine with, I'm working at getting her more off the inside leg which she's responding to well. When I first starting schooling she did the banana in walk but now I can maintain a straight line, and even a slight inside bend/almost shoulder in at walk. However, as soon as we go into trot bending out to the left. If I put her on a circle she will go soft and begin to bend nicely (been working on spirals) but as soon as we go large it's out the window.

I've found hacking out she tends to have a slight left bend, often being nosey. I think the main issue is that as she has only ever been hacked it's never been noticed and corrected.

Any ideas on exercises that will help fix this would be most appreciated! I'm taking the view at the moment that going large won't help so working on lots of circles/figures of eight/serpentines thinking that bending correctly will help with straightness.
 
You need to get her left side more supple so she can bend right more easily, it is often easier for them to be hollow on their stiffer side when it is to the outside so do some work with her on the left rein with a counter flexion, bending to the outside, to encourage her to stretch in a way she may find easier to grasp rather than on the rein she finds more tricky.
Being stiff on the left is fairly common in horses that have done a lot of hacking with the rider using the reins to hold them to the side of the road rather than the leg, mine learn to leg yield off the right leg early on so they move over from the leg and remain straight, leg yielding would benefit your mare so she starts to listen more to the leg, leans less on the hand and begins to straighten through her length.
Some stretching exercises on the ground would also help her realise she can stretch both ways.
 
That makes a lot of sense, thanks! Whilst she gets bending from the leg she isn't so good at moving away from it so what you say at her being held to the left by hand makes sense. I'm used to breaking/starting my own and when I start hacking I want an inside bend and them to be able to give a shoulder in and yield so they can't spook into traffic.
I think I've been wary about introducing lateral work as she was underweight with no muscle but now much improved so will start working on that.
 
I've been having a similar problem with my 16year old. He's always done it as an evasion technique "kinking" himself at the withers to avoid tracking up and working through correctly. He is well schooled, he's just a monkey. Recently I've got a new dressage instructor and seen a massive improvement. I think I must chant more inside leg more outside rein in my sleep now... We've been doing loads of leg yielding and trying to stop him falling out through his shoulder leg yielding (another evasion technique for him, drop the shoulders and leave his bum a few strides behind!). Shoulder in we've found to be detrimental to his straightness, so lots of leg yielding and transitions!
 
Serpentines, start shallow and increase bend as horse starts "giving" to the aids. Leg yielding in and out of circles. The problem usually comes from one lazy hind leg, use turns on the forehand to activate the guilty hind leg. Alternate turns on the forehand with turns on the haunches, few steps forward and again...
 
Look up Marijke de jong and straightness training - this is exactly what her programme helps with!

Counter bend is something different to me - counter bend is asked for and required by the rider where what you describe is the horse falling on it's shoulder!

There are many things that can help correct this including neck reining and shoulder (on a circle and straight line) and can be tackled on the lunge, ridden and during groundwork sessions
 
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