help with new horse and his evasion please

[charlie76]

We bought a lovely new horse four weeks ago who we bought knowing he had a habit of crossing his jaw and bogging off!
he has tried it a couple of times and failed so no worries there however he has another trick up his sleeve And There is a difference in opinion in dealing with it.
On the left rein he refuses to go from walk To trot, he goes straight into canter but not a nice canter, he bobs and down and is rude in the hand.
If you stop him he threatens to rear.
My opinion is that he is doing It as he drops behind the leg so if he hops up into canter I send him on in the canter And make him work
If I go back To trot and he bobs up to canter I send him On again and So On So its my idea not his.
However others Think I should stop him And make him trot?
He is having back And teeth done next week

 

[be positive]

If he only does it on one rein it may well be a weakness or sore muscle issue that will resolve after his back has been checked.
I would think he possibly is not pushing through in the transition and that leg yielding,shoulder in before the transition may help.

 

[foxy1]

Sounds like a pain issue, I wouldn't be schooling until I'd had back/teeth etc. checked, and after that start lunging work to strengthen the left side.

 

[kirstyl]

Have you tried working him on the lunge to see if there are similar issues without a rider?

 

[MillionDollar]

My horse did this just before i found out he had heel pain (his pedal bones were ridiculously flat). I would check for pain first before anything else.

 

[kirstyhen]

Mally uses canter as an evasion, she does it because I would take my leg off and slow her down, whereas now I push her forwards into a slightly firmer contact. We have much less of it now, although its her favourite go to when she's tense or excited.

 

[angelish]

after as already said everything is checked and it is an attitude problem

i'd do what you are doing but i'd also really practice walk - canter ,canter - walk and i wouldn't let the bu**** trot even if he offers it at first
i might let him trot if he's been a really good boy and try and change his way of thinking and use trot as a reward for being good

i would in no way try to force him to trot as i think he will throw such a tantrum at you and maybe he is looking for a fight
i had this with a friends naughty pony ,he would run backwards and if you hit him he'd run backwards faster bucking ,it was interesting trying to stay with him

making him back up and using fwd as a reward really worked with him but of course there all different and i'm sure there are people far more experienced than me on here

 

[*Maddy&Occhi*]

I would stop all work until you get teeth, back checked. It sounds a pain related issue. Does your saddle fit? Id also get saddler.

 

[diggerbez]

i think that as long as pain is eliminated then i would agree with your plan. my horse can be a complete PITA...he has a really short attention span when jumps aren't involved and he throws everything he can at me to avoid work...spooking etc etc. i've got a fairly good handle on the spooking but now the new thing is bogging off in canter when i ask for a change of direction or need to ask for bend and he doesn't want to do it....i push him into a canter- very forwards, not especially 'on the bit' but definitely working forwards and i make his life hard- so lots of leg yielding, changes within the pace, simple changes across the middle etc- everytime he drops off the leg a bit he gets a good old PC kick forwards...usually after 5 minutes or so his white flag comes out and we can get on with some proper work....

 

[charlie76]

The previous owners said that teeth etc were done but We are making sure. If the jumps are involved he too is fine! Previous to us he Was show jumped

 

[hrider]

If your horse is taking canter ipo trot on left rein, could he be favouring near hind, or something connected to it?

By taking left canter, near hind will be sharing weight bearing with off fore, whilst off hind bears weight alone for part of stride.

If he takes trot on left rein, we would expect him to bear a little more weight on near hind than off hind. So if there is an issue during the stance phase of near hind, left canter could well seem a good idea to your horse.

Is he happier/more correct in shoulder-in left or right?

If you can analyze exactly what your horse is doing with which bits of his body in order to achieve what is happening, then I believe you are more likely to unravel his problem than just following the usual 'ride it more forwards' method we seem to love in this country!