This left rein is really bothering me! Grr

[Tootsie4U]

STILL having troubles with the left rein. It really wouldnt bother me, I'd just tell myself that he needs to work out of it and in time, he'll learn the balance to fix himself. But, going left, especially coming out of a 20 m circle is not a pretty sight. It usually ends up with his neck bent to the inside (too much inside rein!!!) and traveling laterally to the outside (falling out) until we crash into the rail. :(

My instructor says (hasn't seen Bon) that maybe he's just naturally heavy in that direction. Is that a possibility?

I can keep him from doing it at the walk by starting the bend with inside leg and lightly suggesting a turn with the bit. At the end of the bend, I have to catch him with my outside leg, let go of inside leg and increase the contact on the inside rein. Does that sound fishy??

[kelsey]

I have found that horses are almost always naturally stiffer in one direction. It takes an incredible amount of schooling to even them out (my gelding has been in training for over a year and a half and is just starting to be even in the bridle).

I think that is why "straightness" comes relatively late in the training scale.

[Stella2]

Hi,

My young horse Patrick also finds the left rein more difficult than the right and I'm told all horses (like most humans) are one sided to some extent. However, when Patrick was showing resistance as bad as you describe, not long after I got him, I had his back checked and he was stiff and a bit sore on the right side (bending left requires the right side to stretch more). After physio, he improved to some extent, but over time, as he did more work, he got worse. I had him examined by the physio again and it was clear (to both of us at that stage) that he was in pain around his poll. She recommended he see a vet who does chiropracty (sp) for this type of problem. This was done several weeks ago and Patrick is now going better than ever, flexes and bends better and softens and rounds more easily. I, the vet and the physio, think the problem with the poll was longstanding and just became more painful as more work was asked of him.

Maybe worth getting your guy checked out for pain and/or stiffness.

[Tootsie4U]

I hear ya on that one Kelsey. But what is a "normal" symptom of one sidedness then? On any given day, travelling right (clockwise) I am holding the outside rein with about 10x the pressure as the inside. Literally. From my limited experience, only riding about two dozen horses in my lifetime, this isnt normal.

While doing the 20 m circles tracking left (counter clockwise) thats when he does the wet spaghetti noodle thing with his neck to the inside.

I had a hunch that it was me, that I wasn't equal in strength and coordination so I was "teaching" him to lean.

I dont have a qualified instructor where Bon is kept to help me with this. Its driving me nuts!

No matter which way we're travelling, its always the left rein, he's either falling out as a result of it or he's leaning on it. Suspect rider error, so what can I do?

[Dizzy]

I had a similar problem with Breeze, like you on the left rien. Because we normally just hack out (no arena to work in) we had done very little 'circle' work, it had never been a problem.

Anyway last year I started to box her up to my instructor for lessons, and it was the first thing we worked on.

My instructor said she didn't fully understand that she could move her shoulders. She also couldn't walk in straight line, keeping shoulders straight, and flex her head to one side.

My instructor placed 4 cones (markers) to mark out each quarter of a circle, and working on our good rien (right) she told me to ride the square, using my legs and only my outside rien, I could open the inside rien to suggest direction - but I wasn't to close my hand or move it back.

I had to use my legs to direct her, I had to use 'all' of my legs, My upper inside leg (thigh) controlled her inside shoulder and asked her not to fall in, lower inside to ask for the bend and create impulsion.

As I approached a cone I half halted on the outside rien, with my fingers - there was to be absolutely no pull back, my hands had to be still but giving, so there was never a moment that either rien went slack - the contact had to be fluent. To keep the riens 'full' I had to use my legs. On the right rien, my inside leg was redundant - she was brilliant. The left rien was bloody hard work, not only for me, but for her too!

She wasn't being naughty, or lazy - it was difficult for her, and at first she evaded by snaking around and our accuracy was horrendous, but my instructor said don't worry about accuracy, keep asking, when you know all is lost, go large (onto the outside track) and join the circle again at the first available moment, and try again, with clearer aids - use lots more leg, keep her going forward, ride her towards your riens, let them guide her, and allow her forward without restriction.

I hope this is helpful to you, without an instructor I know it will be difficult, we do many things without realising - I've been rollocked so many times for pulling back with the rien, when I haven't been aware that I've done it, its a natural instinct, and learning to respond against what comes natural is hard.

One thing I will add, when you say you're using too much inside rein and he's over turning, you must be giving with the outside rien otherwise he couldn't he couldn't overbend on the inside.

Outside leg into inside rien - inside leg into outside rien. You're thighs influence just as much as your calfs. Imagine that you have a river running between your legs and hands, if you stop it flowing by resticting one side, it will gush out the other side. To become part of the flow, you must understand your aids.

Horses have absolutely no idea of our ambitions for them, we are their teachers, that is why I disagreed with the 'severance technique' and 'the hundred push ups'. I think its unfair to ride them forward with no instruction, then to make life hard for them when they give a wrong response.

Hope I haven't caused offense, thats not what I'm about - I just love horses and what makes them tick:)

[KarinUS]

Horses have absolutely no idea of our ambitions for them, we are their teachers, that is why I disagreed with the 'severance technique' and 'the hundred push ups'. I think its unfair to ride them forward with no instruction, then to make life hard for them when they give a wrong response. Hope I haven't caused offense, thats not what I'm about - I just love horses and what makes them tick
Well said, Dizzy! I feel the same.

Toots, what kinds of exercises do you do to increase his flexibility on his 'bad' side'? I am actually asking out of self-interest here. Years on the race track have made DJ into a great horse- as long as its going counter-clockwise.
But bending the other way at the canter or in lateral work is terrible.
My instructor has given us some exercises to work on developing the muscles on that side but I am open to more ideas! :)

[kelsey]

When my horse and I started doing dressage, he was very stiff (or so I thought) to one side. It turned out that a lot of it was my fault as I was very uneven. Since I went for a week's worth of lessons to work on that, he has gotten much better. Things like Pilates and Alexander Technique also help with this.

Bending work is the best way that I know of to make the horse even and straight. Decreasing/increasing the size of the circle is one that I use a lot (this also tests the evenness of your aids if you go from one bend to the other). And you need to make sure that you work more on the bad side than on the good one (I find that if I don't make a conscious effort to do that, I tend to cheat and switch back to the easier side whenever possible.)

[galadriel]

It can be *really* bad if your bad side and the horse's bad side are the same...the horse is already not so flexible or strong in his bad direction, and you provide even less support & aids because you also are less strong to that side.

If you've got a set of aids that does what you want, that keeps both of you balanced, and that makes the turn work, why knock it? Work from there; try to gradually (over long periods of time) alter it until you eventually are using the aids you'd like to be using.

[galadriel]

Originally posted by KarinUS
My instructor has given us some exercises to work on developing the muscles on that side but I am open to more ideas! :)

Would you believe that I went from major scepticism to total conversion on the usefulness of massage? ;) Particularly sports massage, in that the whole point of it isn't to make you feel good, but rather to support & enhance the muscle performance.

Generally a horse is stronger on one side; the muscles on that side are heavier and more developed, and thus are more contracted much of the time. To help alleviate that imbalance, you can relax (massage) and stretch those muscles.

You're already working him in both directions, and having him do it properly and keeping him balanced, right? (Lunging is good for this as well as riding.) The more you do that, the more muscle he will build properly on his "bad" side. To help tone that muscle and to make sure that it's not being overworked, stretching *also* helps on that side. You're asking for some hard work in muscles that aren't used to it, so massage-type work can also help keep those muscles relaxed (no sudden-over-development, no spasms).

If you do *too* much work on your/his bad side, you'll end up flip/flopping the bad & good side--the formerly bad side will become more developed to the detriment of the formerly good side. If you work both sides approximately equally, you should be able to avoid that.

[Tootsie4U]

Originally posted by KarinUS
what kinds of exercises do you do to increase his flexibility on his 'bad' side'?

Alot of lunging. When that gets boring, alot of lateral groundwork (sidepass, turn on forehand/haunches, shoulder in). Mounted, I try for circles and figure 8's. I try to spiral in and out.

You guys have been wonderful. There's alot here that I can digest.

I am contemplating giving him a month off. He's a very willing horse in all honesty and like Dizzy said, I truly believe he isnt being nasty or ornry. He's confused, Im confused. He's trying, I honestly believe he is and he's going to go sour if everything he tries is the wrong answer.

My other option is trying to find a free-lance instructor, good luck on that one Tootsie :rolleyes:

But, thanks everyone, this has been very useful.

One note on severance, in direct relation to this problem here, I think of it more like, "Ok, Bonfire, you're a bit frazzled with all this contact on your mouth, I'll stop, you can clear your head and we'll work on something else instead (forwardness/responsiveness). " It serves so many purposes.

[clipclop]

Schooling schooling and more schooling will supple your horse.

But if you haven't done already get his teeth checked by a reputable dentist, they may be sharp on one side.

[Dizzy]

Instead of giving him time off, could you not give schooling a rest and hack him out?

If thats not possible, if you have 8 poles, you could place a right angle at each corner of the school, giving him a visual and physical path to follow. So that it takes more physical effort for him to evade, than it would to walk through them.

This will give you the opportunity to experiment with your aids, while he's got the guidance of the poles. You can start with the poles 3 or 4 foot away from the arena fence, and as commication improves, reduce the distance. Vary direction with big figure of 8's, as things improve, create a large serpentine.

A good exercise, that will help you feel how little you have to do to influence his direction, is have him walking forward and relaxed, check your position, make sure you're relaxed, head above your shoulders, shoulders open, arms relaxed, seat bones facing down, hips open, knees aimed at the floor, lower leg wrapped around him like a wet cloth, and weight falling (not pushed) through your heel.

Imagine that your eyes are in the middle of you chest, and LOOK with your imaginary eyes in the direction you want to turn.

Another is to push him into trot, stand up in your stirrups and absorb his stride through your legs, grab a lump of mane if it helps, but stay out of the saddle. Once your balanced, weight your inside stirrup, he'll move towards your weight.

Bon shouldn't and won't be frazzled with the contact on his mouth, unless its confusing or too strong. Horses need consistancy, to learn. If you want him to respond to your aids you must use them all the time. Withdrawing them when he finds things difficult, isn't teaching him anything. I totally agree that you should reduce and simplify your demands, but to withdraw them confirms to him that you are relinquishing responsibilty - saying that you are asking incorrectly and relieving him of the responsibilty to respond.

All the best and good luck.