Will only go into left rein?

[eponacelt]

I have a young horse (coming 5) and I've thought that two steps forward and one step back was a good description of our overall training path. We get some things really clicking, and then something new develops to set us back a little...Well, we've had our one step back for this month. After finally "finding" his canter and becoming very steady on the bit at the trot, we seem to have an over-bending problem to the right. The horse will honestly go into the the left rein from the right leg, and despite completely giving with the right rein, will remain over bent to the left.

Going to the left, we get a reasonable bend, but he's not really going into the outside (right) rein, and the bend is more a response to the left (inside) rein. I know this is bad. But it'll unfortunately be a week or two before I can see my trainer and was hoping I might be able to solicit some advice and exercises to help correct this.

Any thoughts are welcome!

[Ambrey]

From what I understand it's totally normal for a horse to be one-sided. You actually have to do a lot of gymnastic exercise to stretch the tight side (the side your horse naturally bends toward). Hopefully you'll get some suggestions.

In one of the videos on her subscription site, Jane Savoie actually suggested doing more of the suppling work on the tight side by doing some of the work done in the "good" direction while counterbent, if that makes any sense.

[AnotherRound]

I don't see the problem descibed as being one-sided. I feel that you may not be supporting him with your inside leg, and he's falling in and then not receiving the outside leg and and so he is bending away from the inside leg. There must be a constant adjustment of your legs and support to put him correctly around the circle, and he can't bend away from your inside leg if the outside leg supports the circle correctly. There may be much more to what is happening than that, but that is the general tenor of things. Your outside leg and rein are what support him around the circle.

Also, he is young, and as each lesson is learned another aspect of the exercise is shown to need learning. There is a complexity to bending, holding, circling, which involves the horse responding to your seat, your legs, hands, using muscles he has not had the years yet to develop. I beleive consistency is not easy to expect with new skills, and engaging his back, comeing through the bit, responding to your aids involves putting many things together, pieces of which he only is learning, as you observe.

Either he is evading you on the circle or believes he is doing as you ask. Either way, you are not giving him the support/instruction he needs to do it correctly. You need to ride him, not watch for his responses, he must be ridden through the circle.

Also, and you may not be doing this, but I would caution over doing it - if you ask and you get, leave it at that. He may only be able to give you part of a circle at this time. When he does it well, stop and move on to something else.

The difficulties with the other side are "sidedness" but even that he can do if you are asking and supporting him correctly. Just maybe only for afew strides at first. Just be honest about what he is giving you, and try not to evaluate him on his inabiltiy to give more at this time.

That's my immediate impression.

[Petstorejunkie]

It sounds to me like YOUR weak side is your left side... join the club :lol:

To the right: Try more contact with your outside rein than you currently feel is necessary and see how that helps you. Also be conscious of your weight distribution between your seat bones, you may find you need to focus on yoru left one and really allow that left leg to sink down and back.

To the left: Think of your inside leg as a pole that needs to touch the ground in order for your horse to bend around it. Sink down from the hip to the floor. Also make sure you are not dropping your inside rein.

[Equa]

Also remember that bending is not merely contracting the inside - more importantly, it is stretching and lengthening the outside.

[slc2]

There isn't any short answer.

Horses DO tend to be 'one sided', but everything the rider does in dressage is designed to make the two sides more alike. If that is not happening, a more general change in training approach is needed.

Onesidedness does NOT come from the horse being stiff in his neck or jaw on one side. That's also why 'suppling' the neck is not the solution.

Treating it as a 'neck problem' (bending the neck) just winds up making the horse crooked in the other direction and not getting at the problem. The problem really comes from the hind legs, not the neck. Suppling has its place, but not as a complete solution.

" and becoming very steady on the bit at the trot"

"Steady" means not tossing the head up and down? But the horse has no contact on one rein much of the time, so he can't truly be 'steady on the bit' - because he isn't on the bit. He is holding his head still; that doesn't mean he's 'on the bit'. He can't be, if he doesn't contact both reins.

", we seem to have an over-bending problem to the right. The horse will honestly go into the the left rein from the right leg, and despite completely giving with the right rein, will remain over bent to the left."

This is the classic problem; the horse does not connect to one rein, quite often the right. He never completely has his head straight; he makes little to no contact on the right rein, but isn't ever straight on the left either. Can't be, because he is only on one rein.

This is called the 'soft side'. The horse gives too readily to any contact on that side, either falling in or over bending or both. The horse is longer, more sprawled out, when going to the right, the lead on that side is less balanced and longer. To the left, he may actually be 'easier to ride', he is stiffer and more upright, people often prefer the left esp at the canter.

If you are longeing the horse, even the slightest pull on the longe line will cause him to come in to a smaller circle or lean in or both, where as to the left, the person feels like he has to work much harder to get the horse to make a smaller circle.

"Going to the left, we get a reasonable bend, but he's not really going into the outside (right) rein, and the bend is more a response to the left (inside) rein. "

The only total solution is having someone on the ground who's knowledgeable, help you.

There isn't one single exercise, but more a general adjustment in how you ride all the time.

You need to activate the right hind leg (weak side), by using your right leg. When one side of the horse does not step up to the bit, ride it up to the bit. Don't try to solve it by bend more on the side that already has a contact, try to bring the weak side to the bit. The answer is to get the horse on both reins, but it comes not from 'suppling the neck', but suppling the hind legs.

And 'suppling' the hind legs means getting them to bend in their joints more, and carry the horse more equally, with both hind legs doing the same things - both hind legs pushing equally, that means your legs have to get to work.

Just giving more rein on the soft side does not solve the problem. Just giving more rein on the hard side does not solve the problem.

[goeslikestink]

op-- the short of it-- give on your strongest side as in you give
then the horse wont advade you and he will be even
in other words dont ride as you write

[Janet]

Just going from your description, and my previous experience with a couple of babies, I would second the idea of doing some counterbending circles, especially of the "good" side.

Also spiraling in and out (both wih true bend and counterbend, both directions) can help to get the horse "using" himself better.

[Movin Artfully]

There isn't any short answer.

Horses DO tend to be 'one sided', but everything the rider does in dressage is designed to make the two sides more alike. If that is not happening, a more general change in training approach is needed.

Onesidedness does NOT come from the horse being stiff in his neck or jaw on one side. That's also why 'suppling' the neck is not the solution.

Treating it as a 'neck problem' (bending the neck) just winds up making the horse crooked in the other direction and not getting at the problem. The problem really comes from the hind legs, not the neck. Suppling has its place, but not as a complete solution.

" and becoming very steady on the bit at the trot"

"Steady" means not tossing the head up and down? But the horse has no contact on one rein much of the time, so he can't truly be 'steady on the bit' - because he isn't on the bit. He is holding his head still; that doesn't mean he's 'on the bit'. He can't be, if he doesn't contact both reins.

", we seem to have an over-bending problem to the right. The horse will honestly go into the the left rein from the right leg, and despite completely giving with the right rein, will remain over bent to the left."

This is the classic problem; the horse does not connect to one rein, quite often the right. He never completely has his head straight; he makes little to no contact on the right rein, but isn't ever straight on the left either. Can't be, because he is only on one rein.

This is called the 'soft side'. The horse gives too readily to any contact on that side, either falling in or over bending or both. The horse is longer, more sprawled out, when going to the right, the lead on that side is less balanced and longer. To the left, he may actually be 'easier to ride', he is stiffer and more upright, people often prefer the left esp at the canter.

If you are longeing the horse, even the slightest pull on the longe line will cause him to come in to a smaller circle or lean in or both, where as to the left, the person feels like he has to work much harder to get the horse to make a smaller circle.

"Going to the left, we get a reasonable bend, but he's not really going into the outside (right) rein, and the bend is more a response to the left (inside) rein. "

The only total solution is having someone on the ground who's knowledgeable, help you.

There isn't one single exercise, but more a general adjustment in how you ride all the time.

You need to activate the right hind leg (weak side), by using your right leg. When one side of the horse does not step up to the bit, ride it up to the bit. Don't try to solve it by bend more on the side that already has a contact, try to bring the weak side to the bit. The answer is to get the horse on both reins, but it comes not from 'suppling the neck', but suppling the hind legs.

And 'suppling' the hind legs means getting them to bend in their joints more, and carry the horse more equally, with both hind legs doing the same things - both hind legs pushing equally, that means your legs have to get to work.

Just giving more rein on the soft side does not solve the problem. Just giving more rein on the hard side does not solve the problem.

I am new to this forum- but have read several of slc2's posts and she has a wealth of knowledge. Kudos to you my friend.

This has very little to do with head or neck- what you lack in this instance is hind end control. Your hind end is your everything- your engine, your steer, your accelerator, your stop. With the problem you are describing it is not possible to have an honest headset "steady on the bit". The R hind is the culprit if you are not finding the suppleness you want in a L circle.

This exercise is a little outside the box...
The problem is the R hind (outside) not fully/honestly driving up for your L circles which is causing the stiffness and rigidity to travel through the horse's back and into the bit. From the ground, try to back your horse in a R circle with his head tipped slightly to the outside of the circle. Position yourself on his R side (facing backward to back him) with your forearm between his head and you in case he slings it (don't let him). A horse with this problem will have two problems with this exercise 1) his feet will get stuck and he will simply refuse to back up and 2) he will try to bring his head to the middle to avoid keeping the bend and the circle will look like a many sided star. He will do this to avoid driving deep up under himself with his R hind.

When you can get him to back supple, consistent circles- your side stiffness will go away and your L circles will be considerably better. He should be able to do them slow or fast. This does require you have a horse that backs up lightly and is soft in the face. If you don't have that- you need to go back to basics and start there first. No side reins.

Many horses who can back easily in a straight line from the ground have a lot of difficulty backing in an arc/circle. If you can teach your horse to back up lightly, you will develop a better downward transition. If his downward transition is lacking- backing up will be hard for him. You will find that if his R side is his easy side- backing a L circle will be easier.

[grayarabpony]

slc2 are you your own best friend?

[slc2]

No, I never pull tricks like that and don't know tht poster from Adam. Further, I would not give the advice given by the 'best friend', and don't agree with it. It isn't training I'd do - 'slow and fast circles', and 'soft in the face'. The last thing I'd do is try to get at this by backing up and doing slow circles or getting this horse 'soft in the face', further, this horse is evading contact on the right side by doing exactly as the above person advocates - counter bending, so no, I wouldn't do that either, not as a specific remedy for this problem, anyway. Not saying everyone should agree, or that the other person is wrong - only that our ideas are very different, making it seem very odd to suggest we are one and the same.

[merrygoround]

slc2, I seldom read your posts--too long to say too little.

However here I must agree with you. Rein back is not a dressage problem solver.

The rider just needs to teach her horse to respect both her legs, she also needs to learn to better control the shoulder on the stiff side, while simultaneously controlling the quarters with her outside leg.

Learning to keep a horse straight between your legs while counterbending, explains it to the rider, who then must explain it to the horse :sigh: :lol:

[lstevenson]

It sounds like the problem is a lazy/weak left hind leg, which is very common.

Basic lateral excercises like TOF, leg yield, and spiral out off of the left leg will get the horse to engage his left hind leg and stretch the right side of his body.

When traveling to the right, try riding in a slight counterbend and focusing on riding the left hind leg under his body.

[EqTrainer]

It helps to stop thinking of it as being "this side does that" and "that side does this". The horse is ONE UNIT and he does the exact same thing no matter what direction he is going in. Think about that. He overbends one way.. and he is still overbent in that direction, when he is going the other way. He does not change because you changed rein.

You need to think about NOT bending the side you think he bends well on. Just make his neck straight. Let go of the inside rein on that side and straighten on your outside rein. Same thing for the side you think he doesn't bend well on. Just get a teeny bit of bend there. Whatever rein you think he hangs on, put your hand forward quickly and drop it. It makes you stop pulling, too :) Make your goal that when you change rein that he only moves at the poll. Once you get his neck straight, and he is even in the reins, then you can start bending his body more. Once you have indulged in overbending a neck instead of controlling the shoulders, you have to go to just having the horse be straight in the neck and reaching onto both reins.

Be honest with yourself. Can you ride w/no hands? Can you let go of the rein you think he is heavy on/steps into/goes into? If not, then you are a big part of the problem. Are your hands even? Does your outside hand go forward on the side you think he overbends on? Slowing down and paying close attention to what you do will give you a lot of clues on how to fix it. Once you identify what you do w/your hands, and what his part in this is, then you can start working back to your shoulders/hips.

Dressage riders are a little obsessed with bending. Then all of a sudden it's overbend and they cannot control the shoulders and it's finally an oh shit! moment. It should be an oh shit! moment as soon as the horse is not reaching into the reins evenly, not just when it becomes a big problem. Not directed at you necessarily, OP, just saying - you need to have equal contact to have a straight horse. If you remember to maintain this no matter what else you are doing, a lot less will go wrong.

[Movin Artfully]

slc2 are you your own best friend?

Never knew paying someone a compliment could get them accused of "stacking the deck" so to speak. Good Lord, ...A special thanks to grayarabpony for my initiation ;)

And no, it's not a dressage exercise in the least- but we are talking about a training issue that affects every riding discipline. One correction to my above post- you should be on the inside of the circle :) Maybe that helps? I'm not a huge ground work, la la carrot stick type person, and I'm not pretending to be the Messiah...just something that someone very knowledgeable shared with me one time and I couldn't believe when it worked.

The key is for the horse to be bent to the outside with the outside hind crossing behind the inside. It's the deep, reaching crossover. You might be surprised.

I agree with above posts that you can also get it by in and out spirals with heavy monitoring of the inside shoulder, forward, and driving the outside hind... it will take longer and is harder for most riders to consistently catch the lag.

[rileyt]

One other tip:

In order for your horse to be stretching into the outside rein (well, really either rein, but most notably on the outside)... the same side of his back must be up, and stretching as well. Otherwise you get a false "neck only" bend, or have other problems.

Make sure that when you are making sure he is respecting your driving/forward aids (your lower legs) that you are giving his back some place to go (up). In other words, when you are going to the right, and your are driving him from your inside (right) leg, into your outside (left) hand, that you are also giving him ROOM with your LEFT THIGH AND SEATBONE for his back to come up and stretch.

Frequently, people push really hard with that inside (right) leg, and to keep themselves stable, they clamp down with their opposite (left) thigh and seatbone. This is like pushing against yourself... you're getting nowhere, no matter how hard you push, and your poor horse is frustrated.

[grayarabpony]

Never knew paying someone a compliment could get them accused of "stacking the deck" so to speak. Good Lord, ...A special thanks to grayarabpony for my initiation ;)

And no, it's not a dressage exercise in the least- but we are talking about a training issue that affects every riding discipline. One correction to my above post- you should be on the inside of the circle :) Maybe that helps? I'm not a huge ground work, la la carrot stick type person, and I'm not pretending to be the Messiah...just something that someone very knowledgeable shared with me one time and I couldn't believe when it worked.

The key is for the horse to be bent to the outside with the outside hind crossing behind the inside. It's the deep, reaching crossover. You might be surprised.

I agree with above posts that you can also get it by in and out spirals with heavy monitoring of the inside shoulder, forward, and driving the outside hind... it will take longer and is harder for most riders to consistently catch the lag.

You're welcome, slc2. ;)

To the OP: You have the most basic of problems: your horse is crooked. Hopefully your dressage instructor can help you out with this.

[Moderator 1]

To help clear up any confusion, there's no similarity in IP addresses between our new member and slc2, so let's please end the speculation on that front, welcome her to the forums and continue on with the discussion. ;)

Thanks!
Mod 1

[slc2]

Movin' Artfully, welcome to the bb and thanks for a good lively discussion. Good to hear different ideas and points of view, keep it up!

[eponacelt]

You need to activate the right hind leg (weak side), by using your right leg. When one side of the horse does not step up to the bit, ride it up to the bit. Don't try to solve it by bend more on the side that already has a contact, try to bring the weak side to the bit. The answer is to get the horse on both reins, but it comes not from 'suppling the neck', but suppling the hind legs.

Just giving more rein on the soft side does not solve the problem. Just giving more rein on the hard side does not solve the problem.

All -

I appreciate the suggestions and advice. Thus far (and having gone back and ridden, playing around with various exercises) I have to say that SLC hits the nail on the head here...I just apparently needed someone else to point it out. We get even, steady contact when he's going forward strongly from behind. Unfortunately, his favorite evasion is sucking back to some degree. If he's having a particularly rank day (which, thankfully, are few and far between), he'll stop and buck. On a normal day, he'll be just a smidge behind my leg. When I went back and analyzed the times when we felt the most problem with overbending to the soft side, it was GREATLY helped by just riding forward, and especially riding that hind leg up to the bridle. Once he goes fully forward, we don't have nearly the problem we did before.

[slc2]

Nice to hear your horse is going well! That's cool! I really like that horse.

horses have the steadiest carriage and the evenest contact when they are going forward into the bridle.