Horse won't turn right

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tractor

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My 8 year old Oldenburg cross is reluctant to turn right in the school.

Teeth done this week, back checked in March (problem was there then, nothing found by back lady and no change in problem since). Saddle isn't perfect but he's happy in it, jumps etc, no marks on his back. He's happy in himself, not girthy, grumpy, strikes off on either leg when asked. He does change in front on the left rein but I think that is possibly me being wonky not him. He's not shod behind, but is regularly trimmed by the farrier.

Does this sound purely a schooling issue (he's huge, I'm tiny, is he taking the pre? Or does anyone have any vet based suggestions......? He does turn easier when he's occupied - ie jumping, or poles on a serpentine......-any suggestions gratefully received!!
 
Could be a number of things

Grass mumps restricting his movement
Something wrong with his back
poll
teeth
dead mouth (usually school horses)
resiting due to schooling or bad habit


Did she check all of him or just his back?
did you get a edt or just the vet?
 
Refusal to turn right can be a symptom of ulcers because the stomach sits to the right. I would try the horse on some omeprazole or ranitidine and see if he is happier.


If not, I would x ray the back, there's no other way to tell if a horse has kissing spines.
 
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Get a vet to examine the horse - so often we see on here physio examined horse and actually when the vet examines the horse it turns out to be lame. 'back lady' can't diagnose - get an experienced equine vet to do a check
 
If he turns willingly left but consistently not to the right there has to be an external factor. If he were napping whilst he might well have a side preference to do so he would also do it to the left. You've got some good suggestions here. Good luck with finding the cause.
 
Thank you for the suggestions. Teeth were done by an edt not the vet. I've thought a lot about this over the past few days and I think it might be a combination of two things......I am wondering if he does have some mild ulcer problems, despite not showing any of the common symptoms. I think this may be leading him to resistance/spooking type behaviour, which in turn irritates any inflammation in his stomach....and so on. I've ridden him very lightly in loose side reins the past two days, really asking him to flex both ways but letting the side reins deal with any resistance - he's already giving more flexion than I've had for months and is offering flexion once the side reins are off too. He's a sensitive chap that remembers things that hurt him for ages, so think he may have had a mental block around turning right that he just needs schooling out of.

I've bought him some protexin to see if that improves him further, I know it's not the fancy stuff but I'm working on the basis that if it improves him then I'm on the right track and can then look into better things for him.

Thanks for your replies, hopefully we're going the right way now!
 
Why on earth are you not getting a vet? By the time you've spent x amount on supplements you could have had a vet examine your horse and identify the problem.
 
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