Outside Rein on the 'Good' Side

[nato]

I am aware of the principles of inside rein, outside hand, and that you can give away the inside as a reward but the outside must stay consistent.

However, interested to hear from the more experienced on here, thoughts on the use of the outside rein on the 'good' or 'banana' rein? For example my horse leans on my right hand as he struggles to bend through his left side - his right rein is a struggle so I focus on keeping a solid left rein (outside) contact and using inside leg an indirect inside rein aid to encourage him over and into my outside/left hand.

However, on the left rein, he 'bananas' - so I don't really want him stepping more into my right (outside) rein, I want him more even and stepping into the left rein. I know all the exercises such as counterbending and lateral work, but for the most basic of schooling (as he is young), are we still considering that the right rein must be a still outside contact?

My gut feel is that I need to use my left rein as my 'outside' rein and continue to almost counterbend him slightly for straightness - thus abandoning the inside leg - outside hand mantra on this rein.

Thoughts/expertise?

 

[Equestrienne]

I was taught that the 'inside hand only' gives pressure, the same as you, but recently I have been taught the opposite. How I'm viewing it now is that so long as I'm staying consistent I can choose whichever works best for me.

 

[be positive]

It is early but your post contradicts itself, you say he "bananas" to the left yet also say he struggles to bend left, he will struggle to stretch his left side if that is the way he bananas/ hollows to so his right side is the one that is not bending due to the stiff left side, the left rein is not his "good" side although at the moment it may be the rein he and you find things easiest, longer term it will probably prove to be his more difficult rein as he is stiffer that side.

I think with a young horse you want to find a light even contact and if they are one sided be using a soft hand on both sides to encourage straightness into both hands, you can take a tiny amount of flexion to either side but the outside hand should rarely feel "solid" more supporting, do plenty of work in straight lines to encourage them to build up evenly and not become too bent either way.

Some stretching exercises on the ground may be useful to help him stretch the stiffer side, done every day they can really make a difference.

 

[milliepops]

I think all of these 'rules' are ideals for us to aim for in our training, but you can't stick to them rigidly because that would assume that neither horse nor rider had any asymmetries, previous training issues, mental blocks etc, and require a horse that has read the manual

Riding outside leg to inside hand as a training exercise is perfectly valid if the horse has vanished from the inside contact.

You don't need to counterflex him particularly as this will probably result in him dropping out of the outside rein too, and falling on the inside shoulder. It's that feeling you want but try to achieve it by riding into the inside rein more. The aim is to have an even feel in both hands eventually.
I never fully give the inside rein as a 'reward' on a trained horse, as I want them to take the contact forwards always and seek it, dropping it would reward the wrong thing.

 

[milliepops]

Also think about leg yield and shoulder in towards the 'empty' rein.

 

[nato]

Thanks all. Millipops the leg yield to inside rein is pretty much what I've been doing, treating the right heavy rein as an inside and giving when he softens.

bepositive sorry if my post seemed contradictive, what you are saying is what's happening and what I'm trying to get across. He is weaker travelling to the right/on the right rein due to a weakness on his left hand side. He struggles to stretch his left side. He is stronger travelling to the left because his right side is stronger.

 

[nato]

Also yes we do lots of stretching exercises before and after we ride, back to his tummy back to his bum and between his legs. Our Physio is happy with how he's progressing but as I'm starting to learn to 'think for myself' rather than taking theory as gospel, it seems to make sense when travelling to the left that I push him into my left 'inside' hand more to encourage straightness