Help me out with left lead canter problems :(

charleysummer

charleysummer

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My 8 year old mare is a right sided horse anyway and finds the right rein a lot easier, she will bend left if forced to but would really rather not ! i have been practising shoulder in left and circles but nothing seems to work, she is better in trot and walk but in canter she has a slight (not really noticeable unless she speeds up) bend right and is very very strong in left lead canter! which is horrid as she is in a kimblewick and i have to take quite a hold on the mouth to bring her back, or 'haul' her in to a circle ! - have tried her in various bits but only gets on with the kimblewick. What can i do to improve the canter balance and help her out?

Now she does have a bursitis on her poll (same as a capped hock but on her head) so i know she will not have the bend in her head very easy- but she flexes/bends in walk and trot, and she had a poorly fitting saddle for a while so this gave her muscle wastage through compensation which makes it difficult- master saddlers are still baffled how the saddle caused a lot of problems (including huge white marks on the areas of muscle wastage) as it seems to fit perfectly! She will get correct lead every time (huge improvement from a while ago) just need to improve balance.

So any suggestions? tried lunging in equiami but a bit counter productive and she still bends to the outside, she also cannot change canter leads and ends up disunited if asked.
 
Try and ride the body of the horse and don't worry so much about the head and concentrate on holding the horse straight with your legs (upper) and making sure you are straight. Get someone to video you to make sure you don't sit too far forward/drop a shoulder, etc, etc.

Try sitting trot and getting the horse straight and relaxed - if you can sort out problems in sitting trot, its easier when it comes to the canter.
 
charleysummer said:
My 8 year old mare is a right sided horse anyway and finds the right rein a lot easier, she will bend left if forced to but would really rather not ! i have been practising shoulder in left and circles but nothing seems to work, she is better in trot and walk but in canter she has a slight (not really noticeable unless she speeds up) bend right and is very very strong in left lead canter! which is horrid as she is in a kimblewick and i have to take quite a hold on the mouth to bring her back, or 'haul' her in to a circle ! - have tried her in various bits but only gets on with the kimblewick. What can i do to improve the canter balance and help her out?

Now she does have a bursitis on her poll (same as a capped hock but on her head) so i know she will not have the bend in her head very easy- but she flexes/bends in walk and trot, and she had a poorly fitting saddle for a while so this gave her muscle wastage through compensation which makes it difficult- master saddlers are still baffled how the saddle caused a lot of problems (including huge white marks on the areas of muscle wastage) as it seems to fit perfectly! She will get correct lead every time (huge improvement from a while ago) just need to improve balance.

So any suggestions? tried lunging in equiami but a bit counter productive and she still bends to the outside, she also cannot change canter leads and ends up disunited if asked.
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Before you do anything, get yourself a qualified practitioner to check her thoroughly. My mare was exactly the same. Use someone qualified, and experienced with excellent reccomendations, I used a lady who is a Mctimoney practitioner, she really loosened Ebony up, (I seem to remember that her problem originated in her shoulder) The next day I walked her in from the field and I could even tell the difference leading her in, she was walking like a catwalk model (She had never seemed to have a problem in walk, but I really noticed the difference) Her natural head carriage was far lower, she was a bit wobbley because working without the tension she needed to build correct muscle in some areas, but the change was fantastic. I would also have yourself looked at, I noticed that I had become a bit lopsided because my riding technique had compensated for her stiffness.
 
Firstly rule out and back or leg / poll injuries as to why she wont give left lead canter.

How is her basic flat work??

I would do lots of supplying exercises like 20 m then 15 the 10 moving her out larger and smaller .

If she is being a baggage about it ask on the corner or do a 10 meter circle first and ask her as your coming out of it.

Its what we are doing with one of mine.
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Do some turrets and castles to supple her up ,

also if she is unbalanced try asking her on the lunge first. When she hasnt got to worry about balancing the ride as well.Make sure she has an active trot too
 
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