Seriously unbalanced!!

R

rosieg

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Oct 11, 2009
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Hi - I need some advice please. I have a 16.3 X race horse, thorobred that I have recently been given to ride. I am just trying to get him sorted and have noticed in particular that he is only balanced at a trot on my nearside rein and when trotting on the offside he is very unbalanced and throws me all over the place. What should I do to start correcting this?

:rolleyes:
 
Get building those muscles! Unfortunately when a horse is unbalanced it isn't just a case of giving a cue to get him to move over correct himself because physically he struggles to do it.

I'm sure Newforest and several others on here will have other exercises and advice for you to try but I would be asking him to 'find the bit' by stretching long and low to start off with and asking him to do lots of bending in walk with a long and low head carriage. Cones, 20m/10m circles, serpentines all in walk whilst on his back. Walking over poles to get him to lift his legs up. Shoulder in, sideway, halfpass, travers all in walk just ask for a couple of steps every now and again and don't over do it.

On the ground long reining and circling asking him to step under with the inside hingleg and almost bend at the ribcage (this is quite impossible for a horse to do but it gives you an idea of the bend). Sideways and shoulder in on the ground is a good one as you can see the horse for your self.

So in summary lots of bending in walk until he's comfortable in the trot getting him to use all his muscles especially the ones in his stomach. Just do little and often and the main thing is time. Give him time.
 
Great many thanks for that I will start tomorrow, he has acquired some strange habits from the racing stables and how he has been ridden I guess, but I am a good schooler so will do my best - I really appreciate your thoughts, regards, R
 
Hi Rosieg, the most important think for any horse is to be perfect on the lunge,and on top of it you can put the schooling, the first year of the schooling for any discipline is the air & water of the horse, this is the most important for him to be happy & sound, when i have a horse coming to me for schooling first i like to see how he is going on the lunge, even if he is advanced horse.
www.faibishclassicaltrainer.com
 
16.3hh that's big for an x racehorse, do they have any comformational issues such as feet?

I'd be starting on the ground first, if they are unbalanced online they will be unbalanced when ridden. I'm guessing he/she lacks bend and looks out on the circle?
Is anything out, hips, bad back? Dumb thought but you are rising on the correct leg? Are they tracking up in walk?

You can teach sideways on the ground which lifts the stomach muscles gets them crossing, but this takes times and you only ask one step at a time and don't be too fussing on straightness early on.

If you lunge up to you, but i circle which is similar and i have a change of direction, the horse would do a turn on forehand or flying change if your cantering to double back. I only use halter or nothing.

Another thing i like to do is observe the horse freely, loosely in the school or i the field, the unbalanced trot you mention could actually be lameness?

Muscles take time to build up so i wouldn't do excessive work in the school i'd be out hacking building up tendons and hillwork.
 
A lot of ex racehorses are very one sided and often give problems in canter for this reason. In training horses work in straight lines and will use their preferred leg which is allowed as in racing it is insignificant.

I would be asking several questions, how long out of training is he, why did he stop racing (leg problems) and since racing has he been seen by an osteopath or similar. Many racehorses have fundemental problems and particulary at his size if he has been a chaser may had some falls causing damage.
 
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