My horse leans

[Sarah95]

My horse has recently began leaning on my outside rein on the left rein but only in canter, he never has done this before, i've tried numerous bending exercises before commencing into canter but nothing seems to work. Any suggestions on what else i could try?

 

[Cuppatea]

Check his legs. horses can lean or hang due to pain. check his back and your saddle too.

 

[Letslip]

After checking that all good re teeth, tack and back, do you always ride by the boards wondering if he is trying to balance himself on the boards so if riding slightly off them then leaning on you to try to get back to them.

For horses that lean I tend to do lots of up and down transitions on them to get their brain back in gear and using their back end, making sure that each transisition is still full of impulsion and they are engaging especially on the downward transitions, and also giving them the rein when they start to lean so they don't actually have anything to lean on or a slight jiggle on the bit just to say 'get off my hands'.