Spotting the wrong canter lead - a rookie question!

[Widgeon]

Since I came back to riding as an adult I seem to have lost some of my "feel" for it - basic things, like I can no longer feel when I'm on the "wrong" trot diagonal; instead I have to check down the outside shoulder as we strike off. This has worked fine for me for a couple of years now, but I've never got that "feel" for the diagonal back. It's frustrating and a bit puzzling but I can work around it.

My horse is stiffer on the right hand side, so when I ask for a right hand canter he will sometimes go off on the wrong lead. This is usually down to my mediocre riding; when I've got him properly gathered up and going forwards, and ask with enough determination, we get the right lead. But sometimes we don't. The problem is, that I don't always feel that the lead is wrong. Sometimes I do, but not always. Other times I will think I'm on the wrong leg, but actually it's just a lumpy backwards canter and I need to push him on more. Obviously I need to resolve this, but given that I can't "feel" it yet (I sincerely hope I will get this back!) does anyone have any suggestions for what I ought to be looking for to indicate that I've got it wrong, in terms of where his legs are when, or any others ways of spotting what lead I'm on?

I hope that makes sense - would appreciate any suggestions no matter how daft they may sound.

 

[welshpony216]

I had this problem a few years back. My wild welsh who couldn't trot 2 strides in a relaxed manner so I had been doing a lot of the 'faster' work on my friends other horse, and he is extremely smooth so it was hard for me to tell. My trainer recommended watching other horses canter, and find out what lead they are on, by watching the whole horse, not just the legs. After a while, you start to notice how the horse moves a little more unbalanced on the turns, bent to the outside a little, or even if he moves his back a tiny bit differently, if the horse has a rider does the rider have a harder time sitting when the horse is on the wrong lead. Then try to apply this to your riding. This worked with the canter for me, but at the trot I always looked down, so my trainer forbid me to look at the horses shoulder, then asked me to trot. She told me if I was on the right diagonal (If your alone, you could look at the shoulder) and then I had to try to really feel how that diagonal felt, then changed my diagonal and try to feel the difference (she made me say it out loud too).