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Natural101
Natural101
Right Lead
Oct 28 2009, 9:48 AM EDT | Post edited: Oct 28 2009, 9:48 AM EDT
Hey there! I have a mare, who used to not pick up her right lead whatsoever. We worked and work and she will now pick up that lead when I ask her to. Sometimes, however, when I'm loping circles to the right, she actually pulls her hindquarters muscles...I'm not sure why. It seems like she's straining to keep her body arched to the right. What do you all think? Do you find this valuable?    
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MustangMike
MustangMike
1. RE: Right Lead
Oct 29 2009, 11:08 AM EDT | Post edited: Oct 29 2009, 11:08 AM EDT
Have her checked for back and neck alignment issues. If your mare is generally well mannered and eager to please, this sort of "misbehavior" can generally be attributed to a physical issue. Otherwise, I'd suggest using the normal lead departure cue for the right lead and, everytime she crossfires or picks up the wrong lead, execute a hindquarters disengage, and back her up to the start point. Keep at that until she gets the point.

Cheers,

Michael
 2  out of 2 found this valuable. Do you?    
Nancyhudson
Nancyhudson
2. RE: Right Lead
Oct 29 2009, 8:59 PM EDT | Post edited: Oct 29 2009, 8:59 PM EDT
Dear Natural101, Is your mare supple when working at the trot to the right in small circles ? You need to rule out a physical reson for her to react in this way. When she pulls her hindquarter muscles is she lame on them? Jut wondering too where the problem is there. Ground exercise to the right , suppling up that side seems like it might help her. Nancy Hudson 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
Natural101
Natural101
3. RE: Right Lead
Oct 30 2009, 11:11 AM EDT | Post edited: Oct 30 2009, 11:11 AM EDT
"Dear Natural101, Is your mare supple when working at the trot to the right in small circles ? You need to rule out a physical reson for her to react in this way. When she pulls her hindquarter muscles is she lame on them? Jut wondering too where the problem is there. Ground exercise to the right , suppling up that side seems like it might help her. Nancy Hudson"
She's actually very supple to the right...even moreso than to the left. It's very strange. When she pulls the right side of her HQs she is very sore...she can't extend her leg very far. Almost as if she has a charlie horse. I usually will get off and then lead her around, because if she just stands there it gets worse. I might start doing some ground exercises to the right, like you suggested and see if that helps. The only time she has this problem is when she canters, and it's not every time, but I can feel that she's stiff going to the right a a canter. Do you find this valuable?    
Natural101
Natural101
4. RE: Right Lead
Oct 30 2009, 11:14 AM EDT | Post edited: Oct 30 2009, 11:14 AM EDT
"Have her checked for back and neck alignment issues. If your mare is generally well mannered and eager to please, this sort of "misbehavior" can generally be attributed to a physical issue. Otherwise, I'd suggest using the normal lead departure cue for the right lead and, everytime she crossfires or picks up the wrong lead, execute a hindquarters disengage, and back her up to the start point. Keep at that until she gets the point.

Cheers,

Michael
"
I definitely need to get someone to check her out. She's definitely eager to please and is very well-mannered. I do believe it's physical because she just doesn't fight me in anything I ask of her.

She's very front-end heavy - when I ask for a lead-departure, especially at a stand still, she has to really lift her frontend up to take off. She's not working off her hindquarters. When I went to Chris' place in April, he noted that she seemed out of balance (and this was cantering in his roundpen to the right). I'm also wondering if it's me that's throwing her out of balance b/c I'm afraid that she's going to pull something; maybe my body is causing her to do that. Do you find this valuable?    
Naildrivingman
Naildrivingman
5. RE: Right Lead
Oct 31 2009, 8:43 PM EDT | Post edited: Oct 31 2009, 8:43 PM EDT
I'm not going to dispute anything above, but my horse does poorer in a right lead than left. I am more comfortable in the left lead as a rider. I'm absolutely sure that part of my horse's crossfire is due to my balance issues in a right lead. What I did was have a more experienced rider get on my horse and he still did crossfire, but not everytime. The concensus was that the problem was likely me and if I don't have to ride a right lead (I don't) then, just monitor his condition and have him checked out if it seems to worsen. Bottom line is let your conscience be your guide.

Chris Do you find this valuable?    
vermonthorsegirl
vermonthorsegirl
6. RE: Right Lead
Nov 6 2009, 10:07 PM EST | Post edited: Nov 6 2009, 10:07 PM EST
I actually went through something similar to this with my horse recently. I found the problem to be a balance issue. She needed to learn to balance herself so for a while I had to help her. I did lots of work at the walk then trot. It takes a long time we did this all summer. In the begining I had to put a lot of weight in my out side stirup while bending. Don't allow her to evade the bend by throwing her shoulders in. What happens is when she does that it actually weakens the hind end. My mare actually pulled each of her legs at different times because of this. Luckly I have found an awesome instructor that has helped my through all of this. Hope this helps. ~Ann Do you find this valuable?