Does your horse canter on the correct leg?

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bex1984

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Does your horse canter on the correct leg on both reins?

I'm aiming this question mainly at the leisure riders out there, rather than the people who compete regularly and probably don't have this problem anyway...

Murphy sometimes flatly refuses to canter on the correct leg on one rein and it's so frustrating
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I think I assume that everyone else's horse does it perfectly every time but maybe I'm wrong and I should stop stressing about it so much?
 
Before a new saddle and Bowen....NO!!!!


After...yes!!

when his bowen is due...sometimes....

After...yes!!
 
most horses tht are not regularly schooled will show definate preference to one leg even objection, even if all you do is hack do everthing evenly to sort it, in trot remember to change your diagonal occasionally, aswell as asking for canter on both legs otherwise your horse will always go on preferred and stronger leg, thus making them more and more one sided.
 
I voted yes but the more accurate answer would have been most of the time. She will occassionally go on the wrong leg if I am riding like a numpty but its not common. She's quite a forgiving horse for my riding
 
Axel always canters on the right leg, he always has done even from a 3 year old. However now I'm starting to do counter canter he finds it very hard and quite confusing bless him, he will do a flying change to the correct leg.
 
Bert prefers right leg and will unaided take this as the lead. If I ask correctly for left then he will oblige...he does need to be asked though.

It is like most things in life with Bert....If you ask correctly and clearly you will get it...if you muddle the question he won't help you out with the answer!
 
It's interesting you mention this- we've talked before as one of my horses is so similar to yours! Chance occasionally goes through phases of preferring the left canter lead. I can usually get her to strike correctly when she's in one of her phases, by setting her up in a certain way before asking. Another person who rides her, and is a bit smaller is still having trouble perfecting this though. Chance is especially awkward in a specific corner of our arena at home when on the right rein- we think it's because the sand is much deeper in that corner, and also there were poles etc down the side of the school which encouraged her to bend incorrectly to peer at them! Try a pole in the corner of the school and ask over it. Also make sure you're on the correct diagonal and pony is bending correctly. I've tried several exercises with Chance in the past to help (with varying degrees of success!) so let me know if you want to know them
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I ticked always BUT actually she does get it wrong if I am too heavy with my outside rein it is ALWAYS my fault when she does - according to my trainer who never has this problem!
 
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George always canters on the correct leg on the left rein, but it is a bit hit and miss on the right and I hate to admit it but I often can't tell
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Same as Cropi, leg leg is always spot on, I normally realise on the right rein when I'm bouncing around like a weeble and have 'balance' issues........I then normally just stand up!!!
 
Berlin has been mostly used as a happy hacker until he met me (I'm the evil one who makes him work
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) and he always canters on his "comfortable" right leg first time. If I don't have the trot quite right on the left he won't canter left.
When I first got Maiden she would never canter left, and had only been hacked before really so had had no need to do it. I re-schooled her and later found out exactly why she preferred the right lead to the left - she had an old tendon injury on the left! She must have been anticipating it hurting, poor baby!
IMO even happy hackers should be encouraged to canter equally on both leads, whether on the straight or on a circle. It can't be good for them to be always cantering on one lead and not the other.
 
I'm glad npt everyone's horses always manage it - was getting worried it was just mine. It really does drive me mad because I know he can do it, he's just soooo stubborn.
 
You say in your post that its a problem you're working on, just musing but have you had a chiropacter out to check your pony's back?

I say this because for 7 years my pony was 100% perfect on his canter leads, he too is more of a leisure pony than anything else, so I can hardly assign this to good schooling.
One day he came in from the field having lost 3 of his four shoes - a pretty impressive feat for only 12 hours turnout. I thought nothing of it at the time, but from that point on his was very 50-50 with his canter leads. 6 months down the line this reluctance toi pick up the left canter lead was getting me down, so I got a chiropracter out to give him a once over, she found severeal things wrond with his back, hip & neck. After treating him she said that a relucatance to pick up the correct canter lead is the most common primary symptom of back pain.

Now I know this is a load of random waffle, but perhaps it might be worth getting someone to check your pony's out too. It was a far easier solution than hours of toil in the outdoor school, thats for sure!
 
yep, had him checked by a McTimoney Chiropracter - it seemed to make a difference to other things, but made no difference to his cantering on the wrong leg!!
 
95 % of the time, yes! If he doesn’t he gets brought back to trot and the canter is picked up again. Bodey’s canter transitions are pretty spot on now, even if I do say so myself.
 
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