Not softening on left rein.. Any advise or tricks to try?

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milliepup

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My mare will not soften on the left rein. She has always had a bit of a problem with not working through her back and sticking her head in the air and generally be nosey at everything around her but I have got her going nicely on the right rein but she just wont have it on the left. When I ask her to flex or soften to the left say on a circle she'll do it for a minute then the head goes up and she resists the flex. The whole time I ride on the left rein I am virtually feeling the muscles popping out of my arm just to try to keep her going round. I try to ride inside leg to outside rein so keep the contact on the outside rein but if I let the inside hand relax she just messes about with her head. I have tried riding with draw reins but without the reins going under her belly they go more like side reins and attach to the girth either side, she will work beautifully on both reins with these on without any fighting so would you keep working in these until she understands where her head should be etc or any other tricks you can think of?
Back and teeth checked and all ok. She is worked in a loose ring snaffle.
Thx
 
Dont expect her to hold left flexion for long periods of time if she finds it physically difficult- switch to outside flexion regularly, ask for different degrees of outside and inside flexion- sometimes really ask her left and others just slightly in from straight.
On the right rein use outside flexion too so that you're encouraging the right side to stretch. Mkae sure you never cross youre inside hand over the neck as this creates false flexion and will make her more resistant. Shoulder in is a fab exercise for stretching out the outside of the body but dont be tempted to ride it with too much bend to prove a point.
 
If she really is stiff then I suggest lungeing and carrot stretches

If it's your riding, I suggest you get yourself checked out for one sided riding (so easy to be crooked)

If a young horse, could be wolf teeth, but you'd said you had teeth check.
 
My boy is really resistant on the right rein and when he is being resistant I ride on a circle a few strides of sholder in until he softens, once he is soft I straighten him again. As soon as he becomes evasive I ask for a few strides of shoulder in again and he soon gets the message. It was the only thing I could do to stop him fixing his neck against me with his nose in the air. I agree with not asking for too much neck bend though, you need to get the hind quarters working for it to work. Good luck.
 
I really know what you mean with the muscle popping thing...and it's just soooo frustrating when you're asking for something & don't get it. My horse is just the same.

Can't rem what rein is the bad one - he's been at death's door since Sept but was given the all clear yest, so I've booked an indoor school for 1/2 hour tonight for us to pick up the battle where we left off!!!!

My tip would be to try outside flexion...and as has already been said, outside flexion on the 'good' rein so then you're effectively getting inside flexion on the 'bad' rein...

Then go & do something different frequently so you don't feel stuck in a rut with this one thing or like you're going to explode from frustration...
 
I have a problem too on the left rein, and admit that i am probably weaker myself with my left side of body (according to my instructor this is quite common for right handed people). My horse tries to fix on the inside rein and drop outside contact, so i have to be very concious to not play up to this, and grab inside rein back! Also just make sure there is always an outside contact there.

What has worked well with him is to move his shoulders around before i even bother about getting him in an outline - i will just have a steady contact, and ride round on a square shape, asking him to move shoulders over at each turn. I then move up in to trot and do the same exercise and he starts to soften. If he becomes fixed again, then i just bring him back to walk until he becomes softer, then move up again.

Squares work well for me, and you can keep on changing the rein too so it doesnt get boring!
 
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