Disunited canter :(

[Marigold43]

My 5 yo pacer mare has suddenly started to disunite in her canter on the left rein!! Her left rein is her weaker rein. She canters beautifully on the right rein. Had massage therapist and chiropractor out to her 4 weeks ago. Doesn't disunite when lunged or loose schooled. Doesn't do it with saddle on and no rider. Does do it with rider and saddle and also with rider bare back!!
Feet being done next week. Common denominator here seems to be weight....would her back need looking at again or is she unbalanced following realignment??? 😩😩

 

[be positive]

The common denominator seems to be the rider, do you sit totally straight, as the horse has now been treated it may be that you are not sitting as evenly as you should, possibly due to the horse previously being wrong, so she now feels uncomfortable.

The treatment she had may have allowed her to loosen up so she needs to build up her muscles slowly, has she had her follow up yet? many horses respond well initially but require several treatments to fully sort them out along with a careful plan of exercise to build up the muscles that were not right, I am very wary of any therapist that only comes out once and says the horse is fixed, they should come back fairly quickly, usually within 2 weeks, to see how the horse has responded to treatment and do any fine tuning that is necessary, the only exception would be if nothing needed doing, it is part of a longer term rehab or they see the horse regularly and really know it, if you are having issues the therapist needs to know so they can come back ASAP.

It would also be worth checking the saddle as at her age she will be changing shape so it may require tweaking, even though she does it when bareback it is possible the saddle is not quite right.

 

[spike123]

make sure the rider isn't blocking with their inside hand and is asking clearly and correctly. As the common denominator is the rider then it's more than likely a rider issue.

 

[Marigold43]

Thanks both - I got a more experienced rider to ride her as tbh, thought the problem might lie with me! My posture needs work, which I am focusing on. I also saw the osteopath at the same time my horse was seen. Didn't see the point of trying to get her right if I was then all bent out of shape! So we both started with a clean slate so to speak. So I think then I need to go back to the chiropractor and get the saddle fitter out.....

 

[sasquatch]

canter is a difficult gait for pacers to hold comfortably - and as she is young now is the time to make sure she learns to canter and builds up her muscles.

Disuniting is normally a sign of being unbalanced, if she is worse on her left then you need to do more work in walk and trot to help her balance and build up her muscles. As she is young, she may also be getting confused if you are giving her mixed signals, leading to her becoming disunited.

If you feel you are the problem, then a saddle fitter and chiropractor won't do much help if for another rider she has no problem - I would maybe look at getting someone experienced to school her, and an instructor who would be able to work with you and her so you don't end up creating an issue in her canter, and possibly creating more problems further down the line

 

[Marigold43]

I was out on her again today and I have to say, she wasn't as disunited as she was yesterday. Her main problem today was wrong canter lead!! The funny thing is that before her back was done, she was fine on the left rein. It was never as smooth as the right but she wasn't disunited or on the wrong canter lead. I have lessons every week with an instructor and even put a more experienced rider on her yesterday, but the disunited thing still occurred. I think I will contact the chiropractor and see what he says - it may be that she's having to find her rhythm again after having her back done??? 😁😁