Crooked horse…

[saddlesore]

… what would you look to correct: move shoulders or move the quarters?

i know what I’d do but friend has been advised to do the opposite. Just curious what you would do and why?

 

[Red-1]

I think both are a bit simplistic. I would look to firstly identify why the horse is crooked. It could be lameness, tack, strength (as in they are usually stronger one way than the other), shoeing/trimming, if the aids are more responsive one way than the other, the rider, are they right handed/left handed/ sit crooked / accustomed to riding in a particular way. I would also look at roadwork, many horses are ridden predominantly on the right bend to as to be safer in traffic. Also, road cambers are steeper on some roads than others. In our village, cambers are enormous on the single track lanes.

 

[TheMule]

Move the shoulders

 

[sbloom]

It depends, as said before. It can be interesting to assess the rotation of the horse's ribcage, improving that can be key, and looking at how well the horse abudcts and adducts on each side, front and back, before deciding how to improve it.

 

[saddlesore]

Move the shoulders

That’s what I would do too.
Horse is booked in with saddle fitter as a starting point and will go from there btw so I guess it was just more of a general question if you’re riding along and feel a need for a correction rather than an ongoing issue as such.

 

[Boulty]

Whichever part is crooked I guess. The Welsh used to need reminding to step under with his hind leg more going one way (I forget which). The fuzzball is definitely most in need of shoulder control a lot of the time as he’s young & wiggly & they can be a bit wayward (but mostly he needs me to ride both sides of him & sit straight myself, leave the damn reins alone, not Jack knife him around corners etc) If it’s a recurring thing then worth looking into why. (Eg I find it much easier to keep everything straight & nice when my saddle has just been adjusted than when it’s needing a check)

 

[Goldenstar]

It depends, it really is what feel is really about. As you develop feel you begin to have a unconscious ability to make judgements and and see what happens .

 

[sbloom]

I was working with my mentor recently on a showjumping horse and he was crooked, with the main symptom being an inability to abduct with one hind leg. Working travers on a circle helped massively, moving the shoulders would not have done.