Tripping & Cantering on wrong leg - advice?

[doolally_tap]

My 21yr old part-loan horse has been turned away for almost a year before I started part-loaning him a couple of months ago.

He's great for his age and has done a little bit of everything, including a couple of years as an RS horse around 8 years ago.

I'm just getting him back into schooling, hacking and general fitness but have encountered a couple of problems:

1. He trips quite badly. Usually in walk but sometimes in trot too. He practically hits his jaw off the ground when he goes. Luckily (for his sake and mine) he hasn't done it canter. Any hints and tips? His owner says he is just lacking concentration and I need to wake him up more to stop it from happening.

2. The other problem is that he favours a leading leg for canter. So at the moment if I am on the other rein, he will strike off on the wrong leg. I bring him back to trot and try again, but he strikes off on the wrong leg again and again. If I ask too many times, he bucks (just a little cute one :p) The problem isn't so bad in the outdoor menage we use, as it's huge and the circles/corners aren't small enough to unbalance him. But I would like to have lessons on him in a smaller indoor school where I know his 'one legged canter' will cause a few problems.

...... so over to the experts??!!

[IrisSilverMoon]

Does he do the tripping thing with his owner too or just you? i suppose he could just not be paying attention, but i don't think a horse really *wants* to trip, it might be best to get everything checked out to make sure there isn't some underlying health issue there.

as for the canter, he's probably not strong enough on the one leg to really get the correct lead. Things like shoulder-ins, haunches-in, leg yielding and half pass will build up his muscles to where its more comfortable for him to strike off on the correct lead (just lots of bending his whole body also). One thing that you can try is shoulder in/haunches in on the circle, sort of go back and forth, back and forth and then as you are switching from haunches in to shoulder in right as you hit the point where one becomes the other ask for the canter. If he has been doing well at the other things it will be easier for him to pick up the correct lead.

It might also be easier to ask him to canter from the walk so you can take a lot of time to set him up and establish the bend. If he strikes off on the wrong lead immediately stop him and start all over again. he'll find its going to be easier just to pick up the correct lead in the first place. Bucking is probably a frustration thing and him saying its too hard (there's a horse at my stable that does this sometimes, makes me laugh, but all the same he has to work). you can try backing him up if he does this, a horse who isn't on the forehand will find it very hard to buck and will be better balanced for the canter.

One other thing that helps is to ask for the canter right as you are going into a corner, not comming out of one or on the side of the circle where there's just open space. make sure you are pretty close to the rail, it will be hard for the horse to pick up the wrong lead and continue to stay balanced at the canter. They also risk running their legs into the walls of the arena if they pick up the wrong lead.

[lizzy]

Is this just in the school or out hacking.

The reason I ask is because Adam never trips in the school, but always used to trip out hacking. I once hacked out with a far more knowledgable horse person and she saw him tending towards the softer path and said she thought he had tender feet. I spoke to my farrier and since then he has had pads on his feet when the ground was hard and hey presto, very little tripping now, although also like you he only did it in walk and trot and not canter.

[doolally_tap]

Irissilvermoon - his owner says he hasn't done it with her, but then again she rarely rides him - that's what she has me for!! :D

I will try the exercises you have suggested - I'm always looking for new, beneficial things to do in the school anyway. I just need to brush up on the correct aids for many of the lateral work movements in the school.

Lizzie - it is mainly when we are out hacking, although he has done it once or twice in the school as well. However, the times he has tripped in the school are when we have only just gone in there and I still haven't got him properly listening to me. Out on a hack I'm not asking him to do as much - so maybe his owner is right and it is when he is not concentrating.

Though surely he shouldn't need to concentrate to stop tripping! If I tripped over every time I was in a daydream I'd be a walking mass of cuts, grazes and bruises!!

Which part of the foot was tender on your horse?

[Soot]

We have a mare that started tripping with her new loaner because he can't get her to work from behind. She doesn't trip on hacks because is a lively girl, very alert and on her toes. In the school, however, it's like she's pulling herself along from her shoulders rather than pushing through from behind. So at the slightest imbalance from the rider, she goes down forwards.

Sadly, her owner couldn't care less :(.

[Siogfinsceal]

Hi, It could be a symptom of navicular or it could be lack of concentration. 2 horse in our yard used to do it a 5 yr old and a 20 yr old. ironically after getting vet out verdict was the 5yr old was developing early navicular and there was nothing at all wrong with the 20 yr old- just total lack of concentration sometimes. we also used to have a cheeky school pony that learned if you tripped in canter at a corner, kids fall off!
If you are worried it might be worth getting a vet check so you can see if theres a medical reason for it