Disunited Canter/ wrong leg any ideas??? (sorry long!)

[Dirty_D]

I'm currently having issues with Charlie's canter, he's a 13yr old ex-racer who im in the process of re-schooling.

We dont have a great deal of space at our yard and so we are more or less constantly on a circle (indoor school is approx 20m length by 13m width, out door 20m x 15m and field is so uneven with tracks in circles from previous riding school use!)

He can now manage to canter in the indoor school on his left leg, leans a little but is gradually getting better (started off loose schooling and then built it up to now do under rider).

My problem is he struggles on the right lead. I've tried loose schooling (with and without side reins) and lunging and i would say 1 out of 10 times he gets it right but the other 9 he is either wrong leg totally or right leg but disunited.

I've tried placing a pole and this seems to work (this is my 1 in 10!) now and again but it seems more fluke than anything! I'm going to try looseschooling over jumps tomorrow to see how he lands but i wondered if anyone else had any other ideas?

I also think he's struggling to understand when he does get it right as normally i would praise them with voice and by letting them contiue round but he either breaks out of it into trot or goes disunited so i dont think he actually understands when he's done it right or wrong!

I'm trying to work more on my right rein than my left which as soon as he's got it i'll stop doing and treat the same.

Can anyone think of anything else????

 

[ester]

Have you had his back checked.

Frank gets increasinly disunited and if left will only strike off on the wrong leg when on a right circle if his pelvis gets tight.

This first happened 3 years ago and I didn't realise thats what it was as he would still strike off ok jumping and jump ok.

Now I know the signs.

Once sorted it did take some reschooling. For a while we only asked for canter when his balance etc was exactly right as otherwise the more he did wrong leg the more it became the norm. we went from right none of the time. through half of the time, through to all of the time in a couple of months (he was older and more experienced at that point though)

Now if he starts to go disunited more when jumping I get him checked straight away.

 

[Festive_Felicitations]

I agree with checking him physically, but if you cannot find anything wrong..
At a walk and trot practice flexing/ bending him to the right so that he gets used to going slightly bent that way, and having the inside leg take more weight/ do more work (I hope that makes sense, not very good at explaining).

In terms of schooling it is not very educational /practicle but a trick to get stubborn riding school horses on to the right lead is in a corner bend them to the out side and then at the point of the corner ask them to canter, they have to lead off on the inside leg or fall over. Once they are cantering let them straighten up.
As an ex-racehorse I dont know what his attitude to hacking is, but is there anywhere straight on a trail that you could 1/2 circle at the begining and get him on to the right leg and then go straight for a bit as he might find it easier to hold than on a circle.
If you do get the right lead, may be praise him instantly and stop before he has time to disunite so that it is your decision and he might cotton on to what he was doing right!

Hope that was of some help.

 

[Dirty_D]

Thank you both for your advice, I'll definitely get his back checked as soon as I can.

He's fine hacking so I'll have a go at the straightening up as it does seem to be as soon as he hits the corner he then struggles and goes disunited. We should have some stubble fields cut shortly so lots of time to practice!

I had another ex-racer previously to charlie and we sorted the wrong leg issue but its just so different with the disunited side! At least it will keep me busy!

Many thanks again, and I'll let you know how we get on . . .

!!!