round circles

[Silvia]

My five year old pony Muppet is doing quite well in schooling, well balanced for his age and on the bit most of the time. However I recently noticed that he is not bending
correctly on circles on the left. His front looks allright, but his rear is pointing a little outwards. He does not have this problem going in the other direction.
I have tried using a lot of outside leg , but when I do this he comes onto the forehand and his shoulder falls in.
(I know it's not logic that this happenes, but it does!)
Sorry, I don't know the proper English terms for all this, but I hope I explained it so that you know what I mean.
He is doing a little better when I trot very slow, but then again he falls on the forehand.
Any suggstions or tips???
Silvia

[Silvia]

Come on!! Any ideas on this. PLEASE!!!
Silvia

[intouch]

Are you keeping your inside leg "on" as you ask for bend? Try bringing your inside hip forward a fraction (see Heather's instructions!) or an exercise I have found useful is asking for quarter turn on the forehand at each corner to encourage the horse to bend round your leg. Is his back OK? or maybe he is a little stiff in a shoulder, that can make for resistance.

[Sharon H]

Most horses are 'one-sided' to a certain extent, do you find that he has a 'favourite' diagonal that he tries to make you ride on? He's young yet, so I wouldn't worry about it too much, as long as you make sure that you always work for equal lengths of time on both reins and make sure that you are creating sufficient impulsion, he should gradually improve. I personally wouldn't slow him down at this stage in order to correct a bend, I would prefer that the horse was moving forward freely, albeit with a less than perfect bend.