Having trouble on the left rein on the flat

[MandyMoo]

i've always been slightly one sided, but have nearly been equal as really tried to rectify myself by working on the left rein (the one i'm worse on) more.

on the right rein i can get bugsy to soften, bend round my inside leg but not fall through on his shoulders. however, when it comes to the left rein, i find it so hard for him to soften as well, he is always stiffer (not with my mum, JUST ME!!! urgh) and he seems tenser through his back and less willing to accept the contact and listen to me on a circle, and can sometimes fall in on his inside shoulder quite a bit.

it got better when i was always riding as i just really worked on it, but it was never completely sorted... and now i have had a long break from riding due to my ankle injury, it is worse than ever now!!! the other day he took about 50minutes to finally soften and go nicely on the left rein...unfortunately i always seem to ride ok on the left rein when in lessons, so it never gets sorted there!!

any ideas guys? exercises i can try? i think my left arm is maybe stiffer? or doesnt give as much so he may tend to tense up? not sure... any help would be great!!! so i can sort this sooner rather than later now i'm pretty much starting from scratch after a looooonnng time off the horses!! (i'm so unfit right now... nightmare!! haha)

thankyou for reading, and same as ever - apologies for rambling!!

 

[YardGeek]

I have a similar problem with my big warmblood who ends up going round with his nose to the right, left shoulder falling in and with the general look of a donkey!
I worked out that I was opening my outside hand a fraction too much which was in turn tipping my weight over the outside shoulder and causing my inside leg to creep backwards, not good!
To try and combat this I use a long crop balanced under my thumbs to try and keep my hands together and still, I also do lots of no stirrup work to make my seat more stable and independent to try and keep my balance more central to the movement.
This is quite specific to me but maybe it will help, good luck

 

[YardGeek]

Good exercises I find are things like ten metre circles at each letter around the school, serpentines, ten metre figure of eight at B and E ( so E half ten metre circle to X, X half ten metre circle to B) basically anything that requires collection and bend has worked really well for me

 

[kerilli]

i'm guessing you're right handed (90% chance you are!), if so your right hand and arm will be stronger and also more obedient, so on the right rein your inside contact will be much more consistent, i suspect that this is the why he's so much better on that rein. on the left, your inside left hand is less obedient and consistent, so the contact alters more, enabling him to evade it. the outside hand contact can be more intermittent (should be, imho) which works fine when you're going to the right...
(i'm left handed, so i'm the other way around, but when i get on horses that are used to being ridden by very right-dominant people sometimes there's quite a major difference).
ditto leg aids, your dominant side will be stronger and more controlled, so your inside leg on the right rein will be more effective... but, having said which, which ankle did you hurt? if you spent a long time off it, that leg won't be anything like as strong...
lots of work on evening up obv, and really concentrating on keeping the inside rein contact constant and elastic, and your inside leg active and responsive when required, i think.

 

[Supanova]

Ooh I know exactly how you feel as I have exactly the same problem. Definitely me and not the horse as both mine are harder to bend to the left. I have read a lot of books on the subject of position in the past couple of years and have learnt a lot from it! Most people think this is caused by either the arm or the leg (which may be correct in some cases) , however it can actually be caused by the seat bones, position of your ribs etc. I have spent a long time analysing myself to try and work out what I do so that I can put it right and this has really helped me to minimise the issue.

Best advice I can give is to sit on a gym ball in front of a mirror in a "on-horse position". Take your feet off the floor and try to balance. Watch how your body, seat bones, rib cage contorts. Try to work out if you sit on both seat bones evenly. I sit on my left seat bone a bit heavier and point it back slightly which I believe inhibits the left side of my horses back and therefore they are less willing to bend left and push through from left hind. I have also found pointing the left side of my rib cage diagonally away from my right hip as I am turning really helps to ensure that my rib cage is properly stacked. It is easy to collapse one side and whilst you are asking your horse to turn left your rib cage is actually weighted over to the right so they are getting a confused message.

The other thing I have worked out is that my left leg is less stable (i believe because of my slightly wonky left seat bone. My left leg therefore moves around quite a lot but is weaker as well, which gives my horse confusing aids. I work at trying to keep my left leg stable by imagining an iron bar from just below my left knee into the saddle and making sure that I actually use it to ask my horse to bend round it.

Hope some of the above is helpful. I am quite obsessed my the subject of straightness as you might be able to tell!

 

[MandyMoo]

Good exercises I find are things like ten metre circles at each letter around the school, serpentines, ten metre figure of eight at B and E ( so E half ten metre circle to X, X half ten metre circle to B) basically anything that requires collection and bend has worked really well for me

thankyou

i'm guessing you're right handed (90% chance you are!), if so your right hand and arm will be stronger and also more obedient, so on the right rein your inside contact will be much more consistent, i suspect that this is the why he's so much better on that rein. on the left, your inside left hand is less obedient and consistent, so the contact alters more, enabling him to evade it. the outside hand contact can be more intermittent (should be, imho) which works fine when you're going to the right...
(i'm left handed, so i'm the other way around, but when i get on horses that are used to being ridden by very right-dominant people sometimes there's quite a major difference).
ditto leg aids, your dominant side will be stronger and more controlled, so your inside leg on the right rein will be more effective... but, having said which, which ankle did you hurt? if you spent a long time off it, that leg won't be anything like as strong...
lots of work on evening up obv, and really concentrating on keeping the inside rein contact constant and elastic, and your inside leg active and responsive when required, i think.

yes i am right handed! haha, but i understand what you're saying! although i did injure my right ankle... which doesnt really make sense with my theory that my right side is stronger...haha.. odd. but thankyou - i shall take your advice!

Ooh I know exactly how you feel as I have exactly the same problem. Definitely me and not the horse as both mine are harder to bend to the left. I have read a lot of books on the subject of position in the past couple of years and have learnt a lot from it! Most people think this is caused by either the arm or the leg (which may be correct in some cases) , however it can actually be caused by the seat bones, position of your ribs etc. I have spent a long time analysing myself to try and work out what I do so that I can put it right and this has really helped me to minimise the issue.

Best advice I can give is to sit on a gym ball in front of a mirror in a "on-horse position". Take your feet off the floor and try to balance. Watch how your body, seat bones, rib cage contorts. Try to work out if you sit on both seat bones evenly. I sit on my left seat bone a bit heavier and point it back slightly which I believe inhibits the left side of my horses back and therefore they are less willing to bend left and push through from left hind. I have also found pointing the left side of my rib cage diagonally away from my right hip as I am turning really helps to ensure that my rib cage is properly stacked. It is easy to collapse one side and whilst you are asking your horse to turn left your rib cage is actually weighted over to the right so they are getting a confused message.

The other thing I have worked out is that my left leg is less stable (i believe because of my slightly wonky left seat bone. My left leg therefore moves around quite a lot but is weaker as well, which gives my horse confusing aids. I work at trying to keep my left leg stable by imagining an iron bar from just below my left knee into the saddle and making sure that I actually use it to ask my horse to bend round it.

Hope some of the above is helpful. I am quite obsessed my the subject of straightness as you might be able to tell!

haha not obsessed, just a perfectionist its a good thing i'm sure!!!! haha, but in all seriousness, thankyou for all your advice!! i shall take it on board!! maybe i have a wonky bum as oppose to legs/arms

 

[KatB]

Would agree with Supanova... make sure you are sitting square, and not dropping your left shoulder in at effort to use more inside rein to corrcet him!

What I have found HUGELY helpful is making sure I am always riding with thumbs on top, with a stright line from elbow to bit, and to only ask for flexion through moving your elbow back, and not inverting the hand, or crossing it across you body AT ALL. This has made me a lot squarer, and means I can ride to have an even weight in both elbows instead of riding inside hand to outside rein... and therefore ask for the horse to be a lot straighter, and s more correct in their bend!

 

[MandyMoo]

Would agree with Supanova... make sure you are sitting square, and not dropping your left shoulder in at effort to use more inside rein to corrcet him!

What I have found HUGELY helpful is making sure I am always riding with thumbs on top, with a stright line from elbow to bit, and to only ask for flexion through moving your elbow back, and not inverting the hand, or crossing it across you body AT ALL. This has made me a lot squarer, and means I can ride to have an even weight in both elbows instead of riding inside hand to outside rein... and therefore ask for the horse to be a lot straighter, and s more correct in their bend!

oo thanks kat!! yea i think when he doesnt relax in the left rein, i tend to over compensate and may invert thumbs/over cross or even drop my shoulder aswell (wow, sounds so terrible!!). will really try and ride straight through my body and seat!!!