Can't get right lead in right canter

[skylady99]

I have a 6 year old traditional cob who I bought from a riding school 3 months ago. She is an amazing little horse, very responsive, forward & loves to please. The only problem is I cannot get to strike off in right canter on the right leg! On the left rein I can get walk to canter, halt to canter no problem but not so on the right. In fact if she does (very rare) strike off on the correct leg she does a flying change within 2 strides onto the incorrect leg!
I've been told it's because she has been worked more on the left in the riding school & just feels wrong when asked to work on the right rein (it is her & my worst rein)
Anybody got any ideas as otherwise she is a really lovely girl! ;D
Thanks

[skylady99]

Incidently I have had the vet out; back & teeth both fine.

[xxshowponyxx]

If it is just down to always working on the left and due to the fact it is your worst rein as well you may be contributing to the problem so I would work her on the lunge first to try and slowly build her up on that rein. Passoas are fantastic if you have one - but bear in mind she will need to build up the correct muscles so slowly does it.

[sageandonion]

I would personally think that is a physical issue and would ask for a second opinion.

Failing that, I would get my instructor aboard as I know she will pick up any niggles the pony might be feeling. She also will pick up the anticipation of the change of leg and would be able to correct that before it actually happens, whereas I would feel when it happens which is too late if you are trying to retrain.

Once pony has been helped by a really good rider to realise what is wanted, there are lots of exercises such as leg yielding into the corner, exaggerating slightly the correct bend, placing weight a little too much to the inside, etc. all to reinforce what the prof rider has trained.

It is definitely quicker, cheaper and stress free to have this 'habit' broken by a prof rider.

[tom1313]

I had some great advice from Eric Lette on wrong leads, he said don't correct incorrect leads instead just ride counter canter if you persist the horse will eventually decide that going off on the correct lead is easier.

Since I have ridden/taught this way I have had very few problems with wrong leads, I have also seen when teaching that most incorrect leads are caused by the rider trying to make the horse go off correctly! I have had many pupils who can't get their horses off correctly but when I tell them not to worry which leg they go off on and just to concentrate on asking the horse off straight and forward the horse goes off correctly.

[penny2010]

Hi, I would advise to get a second opinion from a vet. I have had this problem myself, and it went undetected for months until a different vet pin pointed the problem.

The horse would not strike off to the right. If she did she quickly changed to the other leg and avoided cantering on that right leg no matter what exercises we did as advised.

turned out that she had pain deep in the sacroilliac joint, which chiro/physio can not put right as there is so much muscle around it. The vet identified it as she had seen another horse exactly the same, and advised a bone scan which was going to cost £1000 to detect what was going on inside her. As she was not insured and I could not afford this at all, she said that for £180 she could inject steroids and a painkiller into the joint with long needles from on top, and then to work her straight away while the pain killer was in there. 3 months on, we have a lovely balanced horse who obviously has no pain any longer, as the steroids had treated the inflammation etc.

Might not be the same thing, but it is the opposite hind which may have the problem not the fore leg, as it is the hind leg which drives them to strike off if you get what I mean.

I gave this vet a huge cuddle at the re examination, as I had wasted loads of money on consultations to check the normal things like back/saddle but it was the sacroilliac joint.

Good Luck x