How to stop horse veering to middle of road

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pachypach

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I have an irish cob (had her for 2 years), and every time we hack out she likes to go towards the middle of the road!
we have quiet roads, but really I would prefer to hack her on the side or verge.
it is a constant struggle all the time to get her to go over.
It makes me wonder if she has also been driven at some point.
she is 13. we dont school, just hack. any tips?
 
I'd be wondering whether she drives as well!

Teach her, or get someone to help you teach her, leg yield and then practice it both into the centre of the road and out to the side of the road. Praise her and pat when she is walking where you want her to - after all, if she's been driven then currently she knows she's good for being in the middle of the road and going down the side is bad.
 
School on the hack, get her to move off your legs, so when you apply pressure from your right leg she moves away. Loads of leg yield, from one side to the other. She needs to respond to your leg, into hand. Carry a schooling whip in your right hand and use that to back up your leg
 
I am not an expert, having been out of horses for over 20 years, she is only my second. she doesnt seem uneven, my etiopath says not, although she seems sometimes stiff especially on her neck (he says). she was also diagnosed with navicular syndrome this year, and we are managing it with barefoot trims, (plus she has had adequan for her arthritis which also showed on the xrays). she has been sound now for 4 months, and I have been gradually riding her out, we are now up to one hour hacks (mainly walk unless soft ground for a trot).
she is very willing and such a sweet pleasant horse. :)
 
Haha I always wonder why horses don't like walking on the left. Do you think on the continent they're the same about walking on the right hand side?!

Mine do the same, i work on leg yielding and so on which does help.
 
Morgan123 said:
Haha I always wonder why horses don't like walking on the left. Do you think on the continent they're the same about walking on the right hand side?!

Mine do the same, i work on leg yielding and so on which does help.
Click to expand...

I am actually in France, so yes in our case it's the right!
 
i had a mare that would only ever settle in the middle of the road, she had never been driven. the camber made things difficult for her but also as it turned out she was starting to go blind in one eye so used the centre lines as a kind of marker.
 
Morgan123 said:
Haha I always wonder why horses don't like walking on the left. Do you think on the continent they're the same about walking on the right hand side?!

Mine do the same, i work on leg yielding and so on which does help.
Click to expand...

We're in Italy and have some Irish horses and they always end up drifting to the left side of the road if you let them! Must be hard for them to understand after years of riding on the left. Teaching them leg yield helps and make sure you are not sitting to the left (or right, whichever way you don't want to go!)
 
Mine always likes to move away from the verge/hedge into the middle of the road (only our lane though not the white line) and she does it on roads or bridleways. In her case though it's because she's convinced something's going to jump out at her...:rolleyes:
 
Morgan123 said:
Haha I always wonder why horses don't like walking on the left. Do you think on the continent they're the same about walking on the right hand side?!
Click to expand...

Mine does, he was insistent that I was doing it wrong for a while when I first got him! It took quite a while to convince him that things had changed :D
 
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