Left canter problems!

[Lifeofapiebaldcob]

Afternoon!

My 15 year old cob gelding has always struggled on his left canter.
He’s had recent arthramid (September) in his coffin joints and stifles and has since had a clean bill of health… no sign of pain anywhere.

On the lunge he picks up the correct lead pretty much every time however with a rider on (me) he seems to struggle. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m getting myself a bit uppity knowing when I ask for left canter it’s going to be banana shaped and off balance which makes me less confident.

We are having some lessons to address the issues but just wondering if anyone had any advice or any other hints/tips I could try?

Thanks

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Your trainer who can see what’s happening in real time should be able to help but what was helpful for our youngster was to ask on a 20 m circle or work on a figure of 8 shape anywhere in the arena and the slightly sharper left turns helped to strike off on correct leg.

 

[KikiDee]

I struggle with right lead canter and seeing as all my horses have had this problem I suspect I’m a very large part of the problem! My trainer has helped me get past it, it was mostly due to my horse not being truly supple on his right rein and then subtly falling in through his right shoulder during the transition and I agree eyes on the ground will be the best bet. But a couple of small things that helped me also which you might want to play around with between lessons.

1 - I also overthink the transition and unconsciously shift my weight, glancing over your outside shoulder a stride before the transition can help you make sure you’re not pitching your weight onto the inside shoulder.

2 - my trainer says a lot of people don’t really ‘ride’ canter transitions and get a lovely trot then just put their leg on and hope for the best. Working on sitting trot for a 10m circle before hand can help you to really feel what the horse is doing better and set them up for the transition, it also gives you more control to correct the bend and support through your seat as you don’t lose that split second of connection while rising.

3 - my horses trick is to subtly snatch the inside rein off me during the transition and choose the wrong leg, so I have to be very aware of getting him truly soft and around my inside leg through the transition and riding all the way through the transition asking inside flexion and not allowing that to happen.

When there’s been a lameness issue there’s also some remembered pain and incorrect muscle from compensatory movement, so be aware you’re almost ‘retraining’ that lead. A lot of people are tempted once you get the correct leg to cling onto it and do as much in canter as possible while you have them there (and I’ve had trainers with this approach too!), but this can just make ‘getting it right’ unrewarding for your horse. At first, just a few correct strides or half a circle might be plenty and then go and do something easy and repeat again later on. It’s my belief if you make it hard for the horse they’re less willing to try again next time.

 

[smurf]

My tip would be if you ask for left canter and he gives right, DON'T panic and go back to trot. Instead work the counter canter for a circle and then back to trot.
Counter canter will improve his overall suppleness and give you something to do other than getting stressed. Also, counter canter is harder than true canter so if he knows a wrong lead will result in hard work, he's more likely to want to offer the correct lead.
Also don't just focus on this in the school, try and get equal canter leads out hacking to stop him developing strength on just one side.
Above all, don't stress and make a big deal of it, tension is the enemy of good transitions.

 

[KikiDee]

Just to agree with the above on over-thinking and making a big deal of the transition, another thing that helps me is doing 'impromptu' canter transitions. So rather than thinking to myself "I'll trot this 15m circle, then leg-yield to the track and then I'm going to ask for canter" - I'll just be trotting around and think "this trot is good, let's canter a few strides", 9/10 when I only give myself half a second to think about the canter transition, I don't have time to sabotage it by over-thinking what I'm doing and changing the way I'm riding. Interestingly we almost never struggle to get the correct lead when jumping, so it's almost definitely me messing up the transition rather than letting it come naturally.