not happy on left rein, help!

[Lucy J]

ciara historically has had back teeth and saddle problems, however now these have been rectified, she has a made to measure saddle which has been adjusted as she has changed shape and has been visited twice by the chiropractor and dentist in the last 6 months. however, when i try and ride her on her left rein she turns her right ear/head towards the ground so her nose sticks to the inside with her left nostril pointing in the air and she bends the wrong way and is really tense. when i ride her in a cheltenham gag she doesn't do this, she does drop her head and work properly, but i don't like using a gag so i have put her in an eggbutt snaffle which she was fine in to start with but has now started this twisting her neck thing again. its almost as if she is uncomfy, but i have been told by various people there is nothing wrong. is she just trying to evade the bit? i ride her in a cavesson noseband with flash attachement. when she is in the gag i use a drop noseband. we do lots of circles and transitions, but i don't seem to be getting anywhere, why can't i achieve in the snaffle what i can achieve in the gag? please help. (sorry for the length of my post).

i think last night she might have been uncomfy as she didn't want to go over trotting poles that were quite far apart ( making her do a medium/extended trot). but i am at a loss as to what the problem could be. she does try hard to please but there is just something not 100%, all ideas appreciated.

[galadriel]

Does she do this without a rider also?

It could be something related to your dominant side; for example, if you're right handed, you may be using (noticeably) more right rein and leg, just because the right side is stronger. A lot of horses just learn to accomodate this, but if the horse really *needs* equal "support," she may have troubles with flexion.

Tootsie and her Bonfire have just resolved a left rein (I think, maybe right rein) issue which was related to rider-horse communication, not to physical issues.

[Tootsie4U]

Hee, not resolved, but lessened. :D

Yep, was down to communication for the most part.

As Gal said, Im right handed and considerably more agile and strong on that side. My left side is very uncoordinated so I was slow on the rein aids and releases. If you can't coordinate your releases (rewards) on that rein, then the horse will be confused by the contact and adapt by leaning on it.

So, to supplement my rein aids (which were quite ineffective) I had to over supplement with my leg and seat aids. I had to be very obvious about it too. When training young horses you need to be very obvious anyway.

So basically, you've got to re-train your horses' automatic responce and be more aware of what you're doing, which right now is confusing your horse- or at least in my case, thats what it was.

Communication!

[Lucy J]

its just that she never used to do this, but maybe it is me. maybe it has something to do with her seasons, although she did go for a big pee just after we finished (never does that when I'm riding) could it be because she needed a wee?

[Tootsie4U]

Bonfire started this leaning thing with no notice. One day all was fine, the very next I was playing tug of war with him. You can reason away the causes but they're not as important as fixing it. Concentrate on the how, not the why. The why helps to discern, but dont focus on it. :) Keep working, you'll get it.

[kedwards]

its just that she never used to do this, but maybe it is me. maybe it has something to do with her seasons, although she did go for a big pee just after we finished (never does that when I'm riding) could it be because she needed a wee?

I was going to write about my experience with getting Bud past his right-sided difficulties, as I thought it sounded similar at first. However, this last post makes it sound like this was just a one-off thing. If it was just one session, I don't think I'd be too worried about it.

[Lucy J]

its not a one off thing, although sometimes its worse than others. she stopped it / was unable to do it when inthe gag, perhaps now i'm back in a snaffle she has realised she can do it again. she did puncture her sole (front left) about 12 days ago, so perhaps she is not 100%, although she only does this when ridden and was more than happy to charge round the school and loose jump over 4ft the day before! i get the feeling it is a leg or a shoulder that is the problem, but its only when ridden and i can't pin point anything.

[kedwards]

I try not to make too much of what horses are able to do when loose. Even when Bud was clearly uncomfortable in ridden work, he was whooping it up with his pal in turnout. The demands of having a rider (the additional weight, the differences in weight distribution, and the specific ways of going, such as straightness, that we ask) may make problems show up in riding that aren't evident when the horse is out running around on his own terms.

Perhaps you should keep a little log for awhile so that you can clearly monitor how she is responding. I found keeping a short log like that helped me when I was having problems with Bud. In your case, it sounds like there's a lot going on (new bit, punctured sole, coming into season, etc). Having a log to consult can help you to note any patterns.

In the meantime, is she okay on the longe or does she have problems on the left there too?

[Lucy J]

she has been ok on the lunge, but today she was twisting her head on the left rein, only slightly though, and i was only lunging in a headcollar. has a habit of cantering disunited on the lunge too, but after she settled down and relaxed she was fine. i think i will start to keep a log. i am on holiday this week, so she can have a few days off, then i'll try again. i am determined to get to the bottom of this !

[galadriel]

You know, going disunited on the lunge is often a symptom of one-sidedness or simply not enough strength to canter properly in a circle. If a horse cross-canters noticeably more on one side than the other, it's probably more one-sidedness; if it's pretty much the same on both sides, it's probably an indication of an overall lack of strength.

One-sidedness or lack of strength can definitely contribute to some amount of unwillingness to school...doesn't mean you should stop schooling, just that you might want to consider what the cross-cantering is telling you, as you go. It can help you figure out where you need to build strength and flexion, and possibly be an indicator that some resistences under saddle have a physical reason behind them.