Drifting and shooting

[Miriam]

When peter comes down the centre line of has to do a straight line even anywhere except where he has a fence he tends to drift to the right. I keep my right leg on him to keep him over and keep a left rein on him any tips how I can stop him doing it.

Also when going from walk to trot he seems to shoot forward as if he is going to go off. he has not and only goes into trot but its a little off putting to start off with.

[Ladyknight]

Not too sure what you mean for the first one- are you saying he can be ridden in a straight line anywhere except on the left rail where he tends to drift to the right?

For the second one I can suggest making sure that you walk is calm and when you make a transition, you suggest to him how you would like it done. e.g steady leg pressure calmly applied. Also make sure you are not anticipating the trot too much, and tensing which leads him to get excited etc.

Make sense? Hope I helped:)

[Miriam]

No when he is ridden down the center line or away from the fence he drifts over towards the right. It's like he needs the fence to keep him straight

[Ladyknight]

Okay, well what you could do is fix your eyes on the centre of the end of the arena, and focus there so your horse has no choice but to basically see where you want to go. Ride purposefully there maintianing your focus, and when he starts drifting to the right, gently lift your left rein and correct him each time he does it, returining to neutral position once he obeys.

its basiccaly a minimal version of making the right thing easy (staying in the middle no pressure is increased) and the wrong thing harder (no majorly, but he gets a signal from your rein that he is to return to his previous position where no correctiosn were made)

Im not sure what riding level you are at, so please forgive me if this is too simple or complicated.
:)

[Miriam]

My last horse Rhi was a horse I tended to drive more than ride so this is really the big test of learning more things on the riding side so I'm greatful for any little thing