How can I stop her leaning?

[ihatework]

My initial reaction would be that this is not likely to be a primary issue with mouth/fixed jaw, but most likely about balance. The symptoms you are seeing are just her way of dealing with being out of balance and not sure what to do with her body!!

First thing I'd suggest would be to slow everything down under saddle, really regulate the rhythm & tempo, this should increase her confidence to release her topline and just stretch and drape down. From there you can start to play with transitions, and baby lateral stuff but the key to that will be the initial mental and physical release/relaxation and it's worth being patient on that.

 

[Mlini]

Mine leans! Usually when he rushes.

I try to ride as slow as possible (in whatever gait) and do lots of turns/transitions/circles etc. I keep the leg on firmly, as he can be extremely lazy! and 'sponge' down the rein, he relaxes immediatley if you have enough leg on and is nice and light in your hands. It is much easier on a circle, I did a lot of 20m circles and spiralled in to as small as he could go in a very slow trot. This helps loads with his balance. He still leans, when I'm not riding up to scratch, if I tip forwards or am lazy with my leg. If he starts pulling, I go back to walk, bend him inside then outside (with my legs) give a little sponge down the rein, get him walking out nicely then go back up to trot. The trick with mine is to get him listening and if it goes wrong just go back to walk and start again. Sometimes, if I can feel him about to lean, I give and take the rein a couple of times and that keeps him where I want him.

If you feel like nothing is working, try get an instructor experienced with ex racers. I have a jockey that teaches me! He's brilliant

 

[Kokopelli]

I understand what tiger tail is saying. You need to get the horse off your hand and teach it to carry itself. Yes, it should be going forward and over its back but also, you don't want it balancing itself on your hands. It has to learn to carry itself at sometime and occasionally this means a false outline. So long as the rider recognises this they can then ride the horse forward and repeat the presure release. Personally, I don't do the alternate squeezing. I respond to what the horse is doing. Usually, a horse that is taking a hold will be leaning on one rein more than the other, and that is the rein that needs the correction. I do plenty of half halts and transitions. Half halts can be with two reins or just one rein, so long as your other hand is supporting the opposite rein. Take a half halt but drop the horse in the split second where it will try to take hold again. Then take up the softer contact. All this happens in a split second and is not very visible. The rider is not 'fiddling'. It takes a lot of practice to get right, and it should become instinctive and automatic.

Although I agree with most of this I have often found that when a horse leans particulary on one rein it is not the heavy rein that needs fixing it is the other one as they are not accepting any form of contact in the light rein and quite often that rein will feel too light.

It is this rein that needs the focus of the rider, being playful with it trying to encourage the horse to accept it and bending them the opposite way so they have to accept it. Lots of leg yeilding, shoulder in and transitions will help with this. Once the horse accepts the light rein the heavy rein will lighten as the contact will be evenly spread in both reins.

 

[Tonks]

I'm sure TigerTail will be along with a better explaination, but I think it's more about teaching the horse how to respond to our requests - just the same as teaching them to move away from pressure when working on the ground. If the horse isn't taught initially how to react to the rein aids then you're going to get confusion and resistance. It's not about bringing them into a forced outline but knowing that you can ask for flexion either way and also being able to ask them to relax and soften through the neck and jaw.

Agree.

Horse riding is actually pretty simple and I wish the equine world was a bit more like the canine world....as there's a bit more understanding in how animals actually respond to pressure and release. (which is what we use all the time to ride a horse.)

When we ride we use Negative reinforcement. That is, we use pressure to ask for a movement, say stop, and then we SHOULD release that pressure the moment the horse does as we ask. It is the release that tells (rewards) the horse they have done the correct thing, ie, stop.

When horse 'leans/hard in the mouth/bolts/run through the reins' or whatever term you want to use, they have simply not been taught the correct use of the pressure and release. (I'm sure I'll get a barrage of replies telling me how this is not the case.) In other words, the RELEASE has not be given at the precise time to tell the horse it has done the correct thing, ie, stop.

For example, if the pressure if kept on for a fraction too long when the horse has actually stopped travelling (or at an incorrect time - when the horse is supposed to be parked/stopped but it's feet are moving and you are allowing this but still have the pressure on for a 'stop) the horse is not thanked/rewarded (with a release) for performing that stop. Rather the pressure is kept on - the horse stops - the pressure is still on - and the horse doesn't then understand what it has to do to get that reward (release.)

This is where LEANING comes from. It is also where hard mouthed, bolting, poor downward transitions, inability to shorten, rushing, etc, etc, originates from. It is all a failure on the horses part to comply to your requests because he/she is confused as to what it has to do to relieve that bit pressure.

Yes, some horse need greater amounts of pressure than others as some horses can tolerate quite a bit of pressure in the mouth just as some can tolerate quite a bit of pressure on their sides. However, what is important is the timing of the release to tell the horse it has done what you want.

POOR TIMMING - POOR SLOW/STOP

LEANING is a sign that your horse does not understand that stronger bit pressure mean slow or stop. In other words, he has got used to wrong timing or a too strong contact without the release to tell him he's done the correct thing. In effect he's doing two things a) trying to relieve the pressure by pulling on the reins himself and b) given up somewhat as to what he really should do. I'm sure some people on here will tell me that if a horse is naturally on the forehand it will lean - don't buy that one. Yes, we should aim for a redistribution of weight onto the quarters but this type of horse is more than capable of performing a good slow/stop because bio-mechanically it can hold it's head in a constant [if not lower than desired] position without needing to lower it to 'lean'.

So, if your horse is LEANING, I would suggest that you get another person to look at your ridden work and every time you perform and slow or a stop - get that person to assess your timing of the release as soon as the horse slows or stops. Are you quick enough? When you are, you horse will then be re-trained in the stop/slow aid, he'll then have a better understanding of what bit pressure is and reform the required behaviour as he'll know he'll get a reward for doing it (release of pressure.)