ponies4ever
Well-Known Member
well my cob has decided that left canter is impossible. she's green and only 6 so her finding things difficult is understandable. however she's in an outline walk trot and sometimes right canter as well. she will do walk to canter in right rein but she won't do right canter at all. she just goes into the wrong leg but is perfectly balanced on it and will even do circles with and inward bend! after about ten attempts she might go into it or just do the front legs or something but i can't work out how she will go into it!! i make sure i do it in corners, have clear aids, etc but she just struggles. any ideas as to ways to get her to work it out?
what worked for us was putting a raised trotting poles in each corner so he went into canter after he jumped them on the right leg. We practised this lots and then gradually took the poles away and he strikes off on the right leg in both directions now. We also practised bending a lot by trotting him in fairly tight circles on each leg. A fun exercise to practise this is to get your horse cantering a figure of eight with raised trotting poles at each corner (obviously trotting in the middle as you change direction in the figure of eight). I just found it more interesting than going round in circles and my pony seemed to really concentrate and enjoy it as well. Another tip as well is that when your horse does strike off on the right leg don't get her to keep cantering for a long while or else she will think she has to work more when she gets it right rather than when she gets it wrong (hope that made sense!). The key is just to just keep persrvering although i know how fustrating it can be, good luck, hope this helps! 
. she has nothing wrong with her that i know of...she doesn't get free lunged often as she bashes through the gate to get out (last time she smashed through the gate went past the open feed room and then wandered round the yard till she found herself a drink...?) at the moment i am trying to get her straighter as it was an issue when i first got her as she couldn't even walk in a straight line. the main problem is her shoulder falls out and she then goes on the wrong leg so how can i stop that happening?