Lungeing advice required.

[irishdraft]

I have recently bought a horse that is always traveling / drifting left. With constant correction in the school I can get him much improved. I generally lunge once a week with elastic side reins clipped to the bit but lunge off the headcollar so it's not pulling on the mouth. On the right rein he has his head noticeably turned to the left ie I can see inside side rein is taught and outside is flapping . So would you tighten up the right side rein to stop him turning his head to the left or leave him to get on with it ?

 

[Gloi]

Have you had his teeth done since you got him?

 

[irishdraft]

No I haven't i bought from someone I knew who kept everything up to date but he had been on loan for 8 months previous so may not have been looked at for a year

 

[Wheels]

No, don't tighten the side reins - in fact take them off altogether!

first of all I would get the teeth done and probably a physio session too as if she's been doing this a while then it will be difficult to straighten her otherwise

to get right bend on the right rein you have to teach her to move the shoulders over to the left. Start off by walking with her on a 20m square. In the corners then you can just use gentle pressure with a finger on the middle of her shoulder to ask her to step the shoulders over to the left, this will help to start promoting inside bend. Let her re-balance on the straight sections. Once she starts to get the hang of it you can move further away and use the end of the solid part of the lunge whip to ask her to step the shoulders away. She should soon pick it up and then you can move on to just pointing the whip at the shoulder and she will move it away.

 

[Shay]

Agree with that - not only take the side reins off - stop lunging on a single rein completely. You need to sort teeth/ tack / back. Whatever the cause she has worked wrongly for a while so it is going to hurt her to get straight - just as it would with us if we had become accustomed to using our muscles incorrectly. You need to find out why she is crooked in the first place, fix that, then sort out getting it corrected.

Teeth are an easy start - so go with that. But the head tilt makes me think more deep seated skeletal pain or neurological. Finding out is going to be expensive -so rule out the easy stuff first. teeth. Then a vet / physio to assess muscle damage.

Wheels advice is right to teach suppleness from the ground. Lunging with a single rein will only make this worse so either lunge with two reins or long line. My preference would be longlining - lunging with 2 reins gives you more refinement but you could still end up forcing something which won't help in the long run.

 

[scats]

I’d put money on it that the problem is that the horse is loading on to the left shoulder. The neck isn’t the issue, it’s simply a by-product of the crookedness and any attempt to correct the neck bend will cause resistance and will only paper-over the actual problem and cause you problems as you try to progress with training.

For the time being, scrap the lunging. No amount of tightening side reins is going to help and when they are at this stage, you need control of that shoulder, which you won’t be off single line lunging.

Take a look at what the back end is doing. Diva was dreadfully loaded to the left shoulder and had a ridiculous banana bend in one direction. I realised that she had one hind leg ever so slightly more inactive than the other, which was tilting her pelvis a little and she was throwing her weight onto her shoulder in order to compensate. The neck bend came as a result of that. I sorted the back end out, straightened her up from behind first and then I was able to move her shoulders in front of her hips without any resistance. The neck sorted itself out then.

Sorting crooked horses out is my favourite thing! Currently doing the same with Millie at the moment.

 

[JillA]

Most horses who constantly bend to the left do it because having been led from the left since they were halter broken their musculature is slightly shorter on the left than the right. Lead him from the offside and lunge him more on the right rein for a while to stretch his left side

 

[irishdraft]

Yes this is what I think in ridden work he does not bend his head to the left but we are continually travelling left ie losing the shoulder . I do a lot of corrective work ie squares etc and can get reasonably straight . He is weak behind and runs into canter which I have been trying to correct and thought lungeing would help but I feel there's no benefit with this head turned to the left going on. I know it's hard for him as he's 11 and I think been like this all his ridden career although I bought him as a made horse he has done lots of RC/ hunting etc sometimes I wonder if it's best to let him go as he's used to but I find it very hard to live with the left thing.My other riding horse who I've had since a foal is extremely straight so I really notice it. I think I will stop the lungeing anyhow and get a physio to look at him. Thankyou gorgeous your comment

 

[SpringArising]

Lots of carrot stretching, lots of hacking, pole-work and leg-yield in walk. By fixing the side-rein tighter you're going to make matters worse. If you couldn't touch your toes would you be happy if someone came along and said "I'm going to force you to anyway!"?

 

[Woah]

Take off side reins, or at least if you have them only very loose so she can choose to reach down into a contact if she wishes and definitely NOT tighten up on one side to force a correction on the bend.
My pony was same as yours at first but with opposite side. She was hollow on her right side veering right all the time and her hind feet not on same track as fronts over to the right. lunging two to three times a week (no side reins) this gradually corrected. But loads of walking too on lunge and working equally on both reins, on initially a big circle. She still has her easier side but they all do to some extent anyway I guess.

 

[teapot]

You need to work on straightness, straightness and more straightness, and getting the weight off the forehand and back onto his hocks, with minimal contact and off the track if possible so there's nothing to lean towards/evade to. Is the loading on the hocks uneven? Should be able to feel it or at least see it.

Spent the best part of 40 minutes riding a horse like this morn who constantly drifts. Walk, halt, walk, halt on straight lines and squares. Forgot about circles for a while and just work on getting that horse in front of you.

 

[irishdraft]

You need to work on straightness, straightness and more straightness, and getting the weight off the forehand and back onto his hocks, with minimal contact and off the track if possible so there's nothing to lean towards/evade to. Is the loading on the hocks uneven? Should be able to feel it or at least see it.

Spent the best part of 40 minutes riding a horse like this morn who constantly drifts. Walk, halt, walk, halt on straight lines and squares. Forgot about circles for a while and just work on getting that horse in front of you.

Yes this is what I have been doing unfortunately the horse drifted left so much last week on a hack he fell over and rolled over my left leg so cannot ride so hence started the lungeing but anyhow I've decided to stop and get a physio to give him the once over. I don't think there's anything seriously wrong just he hasn't been ridden correctly for many years but has still managed to perform thankyou for your reply

 

[Mule]

Yes this is what I have been doing unfortunately the horse drifted left so much last week on a hack he fell over and rolled over my left leg so cannot ride so hence started the lungeing but anyhow I've decided to stop and get a physio to give him the once over. I don't think there's anything seriously wrong just he hasn't been ridden correctly for many years but has still managed to perform thankyou for your reply

That sounds extreme.

 

[SpringArising]

Yes this is what I have been doing unfortunately the horse drifted left so much last week on a hack he fell over and rolled over my left leg so cannot ride so hence started the lungeing but anyhow I've decided to stop and get a physio to give him the once over.

If he drifted so quickly/far that he fell over, he needs a vet, not a physio. Sounds like a neurological issue...

 

[irishdraft]

If he drifted so quickly/far that he fell over, he needs a vet, not a physio. Sounds like a neurological issue...

I should have said were trotting thru an orchard and there was a deep tractor rut on the left side I think he drifted left and probably just fell off the edge of it ground is extremely hard and slippery we haven't had any rain since may . Anyhow I am going to get him checked out.