Constant falling in

[~*sugarlump*~]

My boy constantly falls in whilst doing corners or circles.
He COMPLETELY ignores my leg aids and will fix his head to the outside and cuts off the corner. Happens worst in trot and canter. No matter how much flexion I do with him whilst warming up, he still does it. His back is fine.
I'm thinking it could be abit of a lack of balance as he isn't really used to having a small school to work in.
Any suggestions on what to do?:confused:
Thanks

[Iron Maiden]

P was like this when I bought her & she still regresses sometimes :o Will he do carrot stretches? Try a carrot stretch on horseback - get him to stretch round to take a treat out your hand, then go a step further & see if he will walk & take a treat. Bet he will! This will get you started, and a penny might drop with your horse. What I do with P when she starts throwing her shoulder & motorbiking is an exercise where you walk or trot in a straight line but bend the horse's head & neck gradually each way, without the horse changing direction. You shouldn't need tons & tons of leg to keep the horse straight, if you do the horse doesn't actually understand what you want so you need to go back a step. There might also be something about the way you sit that encourages the horse to go like this - make sure you are bending, & you're not crossing your hands over the back of his neck. I'm a horror for doing this! The underlying problem here is likely to be the horse not wanting to engage it's bum and being on the forehand so you won't solve it overnight (I've been at it for 3 years :o) but if you take baby steps you ought to get there...good luck! :)

[Dooley]

I'd do lots of lateral work - works well to straighten them. Shoulder fore/in both on straight lines and on circles. Legyield in/out on circles and on straight lines....
And lots of half halts to rebalance before every turn (and as and when required on circles).

[Julz]

Im thinking it sounds like something my lad used to do (on the right rein) he was blooming awful, he would just refuse point blank to look the right way, so would stick his shoulder out, cut the corner, he'd end up in walk because his body angle was all wrong, and he couldnt move his legs as he should have been able too.. I have a vid of him doing this, but computer has hidden it! we would literally end up in the middle of the school, he was evading it so much.. had lessons with a dressage judge to correct it, he even did it with her!!

From what i can remember, she had us in walk - to start with - then trot, placed a cone somewhere off track at H or F, and i had to really push him forward, lift inside hand high to keep his nose straight, ride him as straight as poss, as far into the corner as poss, then allow him to come around the corner, do not use legs more than you would normally, as he will just ignore them eventually, and use your voice... in an encouraging tone, when you get round the corner, lots of praise..

He also used to try and cut when doing a change of rein from left to right, to combat that I did a short change of rein, from say H - B, making sure he was straight before going onto the corner... within a couple weeks he was trotting beautifully round the corner. But I have to add, with S, this was extreme, your pony might not be as extreme.

[alwaysfallingof]

Yep...Max and I have been there as well. I would echo Iron Maiden's suggestion about straightness - if they can't move straight, then they can't bend either. We did LOTS of 3/4 lines, just riding absolutely straight, making sure you have '2 legs into 2 hands' because it's so easy if your horse is moving crookedly to sit crookedly to try and correct it which just compounds the problem.
Another exercise I'd recommend is riding 'diamond shapes' where you go A-B-C-E, making sure you hit the track exactly at the marker and riding the outside of the horse to make the sharp turns.
You can also trot the long sides of the arena then bring him back to walk to the corners, walk round the corners in correct bend and then trot the next long side etc. Always carry the whip in your right hand and use it to back up your right leg if he ignores it. Oh, and if he does throw his shoulder and dive off the track, make sure you use your inside hand, inside leg to move him back out again keeping your outside hand really still.
If I'm honest, I'd recommend to stay away from the lateral work until you've got this sorted - IMO it only works to straighten and supple up a horse if it's done correctly. I know that when Max was going through his wonky phase and he couldn't even do a corner properly; I wouldn't have attempted any shoulder in because I know he'd only do it badly and would make him even more confused!!
Sorry for the essay, this really struck a chord as I've spent hours battling trying to get him to listen to my right leg!! Hope some of it's helpful:)

[Tnavas]

Ponies fall in for a variety of reasons
They are stiff and find the bend difficult
The rider is using too much outside rein so that the horse is unable to move the outside shoulder forward enough.
The rider is not using her inside leg effectively.

Start by checking your position. Then check your aids.
Look where you want to go, feel a little with the inside rein to bring the head around slightly, outside rein controls the pace and also prevents the pony from turning its head too far to the inside. Inside leg at the girth encourages the pony to keep moving forwards and ensures that he keeps his weight evenly on both front legs. Outside leg is back behind the girth to control the hind quarters. Make sure that you don't lean into the turn, keep hips square to your ponies quarters, shoulder square to his shoulders. Make sure that you are thinking positive thoughts.

Make circles nice and big to start with and work on both reins, change the rein through straight lines as this gives the pony time to straighten and be ready to bend the opposite way. As well as circles do lots of Loops and serpentines of different sizes.

[xloopylozzax]

work on straight lines, and i also use my stick on there shoulder to remind them not to fall in.

sometimes just having it there is good enough, if they are falling in alot then a tap will push them away from it :)

[Crazy Mare]

Yep...Max and I have been there as well. I would echo Iron Maiden's suggestion about straightness - if they can't move straight, then they can't bend either. We did LOTS of 3/4 lines, just riding absolutely straight, making sure you have '2 legs into 2 hands' because it's so easy if your horse is moving crookedly to sit crookedly to try and correct it which just compounds the problem.
Another exercise I'd recommend is riding 'diamond shapes' where you go A-B-C-E, making sure you hit the track exactly at the marker and riding the outside of the horse to make the sharp turns.
You can also trot the long sides of the arena then bring him back to walk to the corners, walk round the corners in correct bend and then trot the next long side etc. Always carry the whip in your right hand and use it to back up your right leg if he ignores it. Oh, and if he does throw his shoulder and dive off the track, make sure you use your inside hand, inside leg to move him back out again keeping your outside hand really still.
If I'm honest, I'd recommend to stay away from the lateral work until you've got this sorted - IMO it only works to straighten and supple up a horse if it's done correctly. I know that when Max was going through his wonky phase and he couldn't even do a corner properly; I wouldn't have attempted any shoulder in because I know he'd only do it badly and would make him even more confused!!
Sorry for the essay, this really struck a chord as I've spent hours battling trying to get him to listen to my right leg!! Hope some of it's helpful:)


I was having a similar problem with my mare, particularly in canter and after trying all sorts was starting to wonder if it was just me.

I've been having lessons with my current instructor for the past couple of months and we have been working on straightness.

She has taught me to feel when my girl is crooked and correct it using the aids mentioned by alwaysfallingoff in her post above.

Already things have improved significantly and we are now cantering a reasonable 20m circle with no falling in/dropping back to trot etc (I know it doesn't sound like much but honestly we could barely make it down the long side of the school a couple of months ago!).

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.