Wrong canter lead help

tbtess · #1 10th Oct 2005, 12:55 PM

Today when i was riding i noticed that when cantering on the left rein (anti-clockwise) my horse goes on the wrong canter lead. I brought her back to trot and tried again and still got the wrong canter lead, so i tried again and still got it wrong. However on the right rein (clockwise) she always gets the correct canter lead, every time. Is there a correct way to ask so you get the right lead? I think i used my outside leg to ask and my inside leg to stop her coming off the edge of the arena.

mogadoga · #2 10th Oct 2005, 01:29 PM

Ive had that problem and its sorted

I first tried bringing my outside leg a little further back and giving my horsie a little tap on the inside sholder at a corner - only ask for canter at a corner!
If it didnt work id ask in as tight a circle as i knew he could manage, and then straight onto the track. He learned in a matter of weeks what leg ws most comfortable to canter on and im now problem free *touch wood*

tbtess · #3 10th Oct 2005, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogadoga

only ask for canter at a corner!

If it didnt work id ask in as tight a circle as i knew he could manage

Why on a corner? I usually ask just after it.
I was warned not to use tight circles as my horse had a spavin, i use the occasional 10m if she does something i don't ask her to do, i.e after a canter we get to a certain part of the arena and she speeds up as if waiting for the canter so i do the 10m then to slow her down.

#4 10th Oct 2005, 04:10 PM

If you ask on a bend you can shift your weight slightly to the inside thus encouraging the correct lead.

Another way is to put a pole in the corner with the outside end slightly raised and ask for canter as you go over it, again they are more likely to start correctly with this aid.

Have a go

wanabe · #5 10th Oct 2005, 04:19 PM

Mareish, would you mind expanding on your last post? I don't understand why these would work -- I suppose because I don't understand leads very well.

Teddy1 · #6 10th Oct 2005, 04:41 PM

You are supposed to slide your outside bum cheek into the centre of the saddle i.e towards the inside of your circle, so that your inside hip is in a 'collapsed' position, apply your inside heel on the girth and your outside heel slightly behind the girth, (always ask for canter on a bend) and therefore your weight is shifted slightly to the inside and the horse can therefore take off on the correct lead.

momofsix · #7 10th Oct 2005, 06:08 PM

I have the exact problem with my mare. She always wants to lead with the right and has done it that way for 11 years due to an injury as a foal, it's very hard to retrain for me. Although I got her to do it right this weekend without kicking out!
Someone on this forum suggested going over a pole to me and I don't know why it works, but it works for me also. My RI also told me to point her head slightly to the outside, but that doesn't always work for me.

jUmPingIsLifE · #8 10th Oct 2005, 06:16 PM

if you have tried everything else people have said there is one other trick i know if, not really ideal but it does work

first, switch your diagnol so that you are posting on the wrong one this will help with your timing of the aids and before asking bend the horse to the outside so basically he has no choice but to go off on that correct lead.

thats my 'if all else fails' route and often how i got autumn onto his left lead until he was stronger on it and started picking it up by himself.

Kate F. · #9 10th Oct 2005, 06:31 PM

The horse doesn't know there's a "correct" and "incorrect" lead. For the horse it's "comfortable" and "uncomfortable" - and it always picks the "comfortable". If "comfortable" isn't the rider's idea of "correct" it's almost always a matter of the rider's balance that is making "correct" "uncomfortable". (It can also be things such as back pain or other physical problems with the horse, badly fitting saddle etc. - but 99% or the time it's down to balance.)

The most usual reason for the "incorrect" lead is that the rider is putting the outside heel too far back, and tipping his/her weight forwards and to the outside to compensate. If you stay more upright and just imagine you are "cantering" yourself - ie your inside hip forwards and outside hip a little back, the legs (the horse's and yours!) will generally sort themselves out by themselves.

Cheers

Kate

smaggi · #10 10th Oct 2005, 06:53 PM

This is what my friend does when she has a horse that is picking the wrong cantering lead. If you are going to canter to the left, hold the reins in your left hand, twist at the waist and reach your right hand to swat your horse's butt. Then twist back and ride the canter. It doesn't take very long for the horse to figure it out and you can initiate the canter normally. I don't know if this will help or not when riding english.

tbtess · #11 10th Oct 2005, 07:18 PM

Thanks everyone for all of your tips, i'll be giving some of them a go tomorrow and a friend of mine is going to see if she can help me on wednesday so i'm certain that one way or another we'll get it sorted. If anyone has any more tips they'll be greatfully received as were all the ohters. Many thanks

#12 12th Oct 2005, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanabe

Mareish, would you mind expanding on your last post? I don't understand why these would work -- I suppose because I don't understand leads very well.

If having trouble striking off on the correct lead, over exagerate the weight shift a few times and your horse will soon get the hang of it (slightly to the inside of whichever direction you are going in)

Im not saying that it is correct to lean to the inside when asking but it does aid a green horse, I had to over-exagerate by leaning slightly to the inside with my mare, she only had trouble on one rein but I figure they are left handed or right handed just like us so she just needed a little assistance.

It's amazing how much can happen by shifting your weight

#13 12th Oct 2005, 10:02 AM

I've been having exactly the same trouble on one rein he seems ok but on the right rein he just feels wrong.
Some great tips, I'm going to try some of them tonight.

Jessey · #14 12th Oct 2005, 10:40 AM

Just one more tip, Bo could never get the correct lead, he's well balanced, he can do corners on the wrong lead

It took me an age to figure out what made sense to him, what I do is:

ask normally, outside leg back a bit and inside leg on (this says, we are going up a gear get ready) then I release the inside leg (this is the most important bit, as you release it frees up that side of the horse and means they will, almost always, take that lead). To start with you may have to bump that inside leg a couple of times, but the trick is not to hold it.

I can get the correct lead all the time now and its easy to do.

Best of Luck

J x

wanabe · #15 12th Oct 2005, 11:47 AM

When you say shift your weight to the inside, do you mean actually put more weight on your inside seat bone? That's easy to try!

In theory, you are supposed to bend the horse in the direction of the way you are riding, I think. That means the inside leg on the girth and outside leg behind the girth are meant to BEND. They should also be accompanied by a turn of the head to the inside. In practice, it's not so simple. kedwards has a great post on this that I'll try to locate.

BTW, I've never had a good explanation of why bending the horse like that would make it get the right lead, but I guess it's the usual explanation of "balance".

EDIT: Here's the link to that post of kedwards that impressed me -- it's not totally relevant to this discussion but still worth a read.

It's post #25.

Canter Aids

#16 12th Oct 2005, 12:12 PM

Ok, I just follwed the instructions of the first post of that old thread and I looked like I was having a fit!! How can you do all those things at once. I tried most of them last night and was unable to kick with my inside leg on the girth and my outside leg back. HOW HOW HOW?????????? All I want is a nice collected canter on the right leg.

wanabe · #17 12th Oct 2005, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1ST TIME MUM

Ok, I just follwed the instructions of the first post of that old thread and I looked like I was having a fit!! How can you do all those things at once. I tried most of them last night and was unable to kick with my inside leg on the girth and my outside leg back. HOW HOW HOW?????????? All I want is a nice collected canter on the right leg.

It's really not hard. Some say don't kick, just squeeze, but I think that depends on how the horse has been trained. My RI always says kick, on her lesson horses. If you can squeeze, though, you can kick.