horse dropping inside shoulder in canter

[DWB-lover]

Hi,
Has anyone any advice?
When schooling my mare, on a 20 m circle in canter, she is fine along the fence round the school but then as we canter through the centre and then canter to rejoin the track, she tends to drop her inside shoulder, and bank a little to the inside! She tends to go a little faster too in that spot! She has had everything checked out, and we have only just started to do some serious schooling after just hacking about with the odd days flatwork in the field.
Her canter is noticeably faster too as it used to be so balanced and slow with upward feel. Could it be that we have to go back to basics again? She works in an outline and is a forward ride.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Tootsie4U]

Sorry to say it, but I bet her problems come from her rider ;) That'd be my first guess as that is a common problem. However, her just coming back into work could have alot to do with it as well... you know, not much muscle.

Falling into the circle is usually a result of one of two things. Either the rider is hauling on the inside rein to get the horse to turn or the rider is leaning to the inside and has dropped her own shoulder!

Whatever the reason, help her carry you and herself. As you come off the rail, make sure you're inside shoulder is up, your inside hand is up, and your outside hand is supporting. Suggest the turn off the rail by small tweaks of the inside rein and when she commits to the turn, release the inside rein and drive her with your legs.

She probably has no problems cantering out on the hack because the turns probably aren't as small or your going straight (thus no reason for you to drop your weight to the inside).

[ajhainey]

Thank-you tootsie! I think you've just help me pinpoint my circling issue - I've been sitting here skimming posts and wondering why my circles are so bad recently and as I read 'or the rider is leaning and dropping her OWN shoulder' I had a sudden flash of memory of how I felt on my lesson yesterday and I'm almost sure I'm dropping _badly_ to the inside...no wonder I can't manage even one 20m circle in anything above a steady walk! I do know I'm not supposed too, but I guess at some point I've forgotten to keep checking and fallen into bad habits...

Not really relevant (sorry for thread jacking) but I though you'd like to know you've helped someone even if it was unintentional!

aj xx

[Stella2]

It can also be very helpful to turn you hips to the outside of the cicle while obvioudly looking into the circle (like a fencing stance). This has been termed the 'spiral seat' and it lightens your inside hip - thereby giving your horse more room to raise the inside shoulder! I find it makes a huge difference :)

[FreedomStar]

stella, i've never before heard of the spiral seat before. I am one of those people who leans in on a circle, and i've been working on it every time I ride. I've not yet completely ironed it out, but it's a lot better than before and I am more balanced. What I do is turn my torso slightly to the inside, not leaning, but more like pivoting my middle; kind of a 'belly button to the inside' thing, to help me stay balanced which will help the horse to turn using their whole body.
I understand as to how turning your hips to the outside would lighten up the pressure on the inside, but wouldn't that change your position also?