From: Pam
Jessica, First of all, I want to say thanks for all the help you have indirectly given me through your Horse Sense and Equine-L postings.
Now to my problem. I have a 9 year old, 14. 2 grade Quarter horse gelding named JR. He is actually quite good, considering his owner could use some lessons. Up until this spring, I've never concentrated on what lead he was on, especially since I never had lessons to know about leads and never had an arena to work with him. With the help of videotape and your clues to look for the inside leg leading, I see that he is always taking his left lead. This is true on a longe line as well as under saddle so it's not completely the riders fault :-) (although I'm sure I contributed since I never corrected him before). I have been able to get the right lead about once in about 6-8 tries. If he does it, I immediately tell him he's a good boy and let him come down to a walk on a loose rein. It never seems as comfortable as his left lead which is very smooth. It's amazing how well he can counter canter to the right.
What about physical reasons? When he had his spring shots, I had the vet check his right hind and he had a small reaction to the flexion test. He was also tracking wide with this leg. Since we have been working, that tracking wide has now gone away and he seems to be tracking correctly, both directions on the longe line. I talked to my farrier and he seemed to think the left front is off, causing some problems in the right hind. Before he put his front shoes on, I noticed he was wearing his left front hoof more to the outside than his right front. He suggested I have the vet look at it when he is here for some other reason.
To net this out: I would like to narrow down this problem and try to seperate behavior from physical. If possible before the vet comes, are there certain tests that could be done to give him a clue where to start? I hate to get him here and have no clue. If you could give me a list of possibilities that would be great!
It won't hurt to talk to your vet -- that's usually a good idea. But it sounds as though JR is in good shape, and simply isn't in the HABIT of using himself equally in both directions. That's a matter of training -- and as long as he seems sound and comfortable, it would be a good idea to try some training solutions to what may very well be a training problem! If re-training doesn't get you anywhere, you'll have something else to tell the vet. In the meantime, he can tell YOU if there's any overt physical reason why JR would have difficulty taking his right lead.
Many horses have this problem -- often because they haven't been systematically developed through exercises that stretch and strengthen both sides equally. If JR has been cantering on his left lead ONLY, and doing it for years, he's probably very good at it -- and NOT very good at his right lead. Many horses have a preferred lead, and a preferred diagonal at the trot, and unless their riders are aware of the difference and determined to work the horse on both leads or diagonals, the horses frequently do ALL their cantering on one lead, and convince the rider to do all the posting on one particular diagonal, because the rider wants to be comfortable.
It's normal for a horse's canter to be much more comfortable in ONE direction (usually to the left) than in the other. The horse's muscles are less flexible on his left side, and it's easier for his RIGHT side to stretch, as it must do for him to flex to the left. When you take him to the right, it's the less flexible LEFT side that has to stretch, and that takes more effort.
The fact that he does the same thing on the longe tells you that he is used to cantering only on one lead -- this doesn't mean that he can't learn to use the other lead, but it does mean that he will need a lot of practice, and that it won't be as comfortable at first, for him or for you. You'll have to be patient. If you're getting your right lead canter once in 6-8 times, he CAN do it -- he just needs to do it more often, and do more of it, and understand that he can do it, and that this is what you want and what you expect.
Here are some ideas:
First, an exercise to get that right-lead canter. Do a lot of preliminary work to the right -- circles are great. Walk-trot-walk transitions are also very useful.
ALL the time that you work to the right, be sure that his nose is just slightly to the inside -- not much, but enough for you to see his inside eyelashes and nostril. And while you work on a large circle at the trot, think about keeping JR bent like a banana from nose to tail -- evenly, through his whole body (not just a bent neck attached to a straight body). And remember that this is WORK for him, so let him stretch his head and neck down every few minutes (you can do this at the walk and at the trot).
If he gets too strung out and onto the forehand at the trot, he won't be able to pick up his right lead at the canter -- he'll fall into the canter on his preferred lead. This is where half-halts come in. As you trot, help him stay round and energetic by rebalancing him with half-halts. Once or twice on each circle (and more often if you can do it comfortably), stretch your legs down around him and add a little pressure. You should feel his response immediately -- he should step up under himself and lift his back a little more. When he does this -- when you feel that extra energy -- you must close your fingers tightly for a moment (don't move your hands back, just squeeze your fists tight) and then relax them again. That tells him to step up, rebalance, and keep moving forward in his new, rounder frame. Never close your fists tight until you FEEL that energy surge, and always relax your hands after that one- or two-second squeeze.
As you work on a circle in either direction, remember to allow your inside shoulder to come BACK, so that your shoulders parallel your horse's shoulders, with the outside shoulder ahead of the inside one.
When you can keep him in an energetic, rhythmic (sing while you trot, it helps!), forward trot, and keep him softly bent on a circle, practice sitting a few strides, then posting, then sitting, then posting. You'll need to sit before you ask for canter, but it's important to sit sometimes when you are NOT going to canter. Otherwise, JR will anticipate a canter each time you sit for a few strides of trot! If he does this, he will canter because you sat, not because you asked for the canter, and he will probably strike off on his preferred lead -- the left!
When he is comfortable with your going smoothly back and forth between posting and sitting trot, you can ask him to canter. For a right-lead canter, start with a trot circle to the right. Half-halt a couple of times on the circle to get your best possible balanced trot, then sit again, half-halt again, and this time, as you relax your hands, bring your outside leg back and ask him to strike off with that left hind leg. If you get the wrong lead, bring him back to a trot, get your best possible trot again, and try again, calmly. When you get the right-lead canter, sit up, keep your legs long, and rock along with the movement. And praise your horse!
One thing I'd like you to do a little differently is this: Instead of letting him walk again immediately when you've asked for and gotten a right lead canter, praise him, pat him, and KEEP CANTERING! He may not know that you were happy to get that canter -- he needs to do enough of it to be sure that a canter was indeed what you wanted. If you walk right away, he won't think he's being rewarded for cantering on the right lead, he'll think that he made a mistake, and that you didn't want the canter after all, you wanted a walk. . . . and it will actually make it harder to get the canter next time, because if he's a clever horse, he'll probably try to go directly to walk!
And do keep your OWN position in mind -- straight and tall, with your inside shoulder back. A horse that's stiff to the right, ridden by a rider who is also stiff to the right, is going to take some work and some time to fix. Most riders, like most horses, are one-sided -- I'll bet that YOU find it easier to bring your LEFT shoulder back! Try it, test it, let me know.
Jessica
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