Suggestions for one-sided horse and rider??

[daydreamer]

I just wondered if anyone had any suggestions that might help me….

I recently started riding a new share horse and so far it is going well on the right rein, I can get him bending and working through his back nicely on the right rein in walk and trot (canter needs lots of work all round) but am having problems on the left rein. On the left he doesn’t seem to want to bend and often falls out through his shoulder or hollows and is generally argumentative. I always find the left rein harder anyway and find my inside hand drawing back too much and my outside hand going forward and not maintaining the contact.

So my question is twofold, 1) does anyone have any suggestions for how to improve my coordination on the left rein (I do try and “think” myself correct but can’t seem to get it all right at once) and 2) can anyone suggest any exercises that will encourage him to bend and work through his back on the left rein?

Thankyou very much

 

[the watcher]

for you I would recommend holding a riding crop across your hands for short spells to help you see when your hands are becoming unbalanced. Bear in mind that if you are physically uneven there may be an arguement for you to hold the reins at slightly different lengths in order to have the correct even pressure - an instructor on the ground could advise.

for the horse this is something I prefer to work on from the ground, so that you can then judge whether the horse has the problem or this is something you are inducing. You should also consider having the teeth and back checked for reasons for this unevenness

 

[daydreamer]

thanks....

I will try riding with a short whip, hopefully that will help.

I have never done much groundwork before so wouldn't be sure quite how to approach it. At the end of my last ride I did do some turn about the forehand from the ground to see how well he moved away from the left, he did step through well but there was plenty of tail swishing to let me know he wasn't happy about it! Unfortunately someone else had the school booked so I didn't get chance to do any the other way for comparison, I will do that next time.

His owner is very knowledgable so I am confident she will have had his teeth and back checked, as it is quite a new share I am worried about seeming like I am disagreeing with how she keeps her horse!

 

[jendie]

I sympathise. I have a left sided horse and I'm very 'right sided'. I have to keep thinking about putting weight into the left side. I recently fractured my right wrist and an unexpected bonus is that I'm more balanced and the horse is going better. And I'm sure things will be even better when my pllaster is off >g<

 

[katherine1975]

I am one sided, having a lunge lesson on a balanced horse helped me a lot to correct imbalance. Am hoping to have a lesson on a horse simulator! This also helps with balance and where you are going wrong without the worry of the horse being out of balance too. Have a look at www.felicitymann.co.uk

 

[Oldred]

Sounds like the typical rider one-sidedness issues that are affecting the horse - although he may have one-sidedness issues too. It seems that if we are right handed, we like to sit to the right. We then like to rotate to the left, so the right hand, shoulder and other bits go forward. Often combined with a hoicked up left seatbone and a raised up right shoulder just to balance it out! So, going right rein/circle this is not so much of a problem as we are roughly in the correct alignment. But going left, poor horse, we are still sitting in 'right' alignment and how they can bend at all is hard to imagine. So, usually the rider tries to bend the horse with the left rein, and hey presto, out goes the right shoulder.

Getting yourself ambidextrous, symmetrical, completely straight, etc etc is a long journey but at least knowing what's happening helps, I think!