Building right side strength and flexibility

[oldernewbie]

Background
Horse: 3/4 Arab, 1/4 Saddlebred, 16.1. Very fun to ride, transitioning to dressage after being well trained by a main ring Arab trainer. I showed him a bit last year in Training level and took a lot of lessons. Spent some time over the fall and winter chasing down some issues - he seemed uncomfortable in the fall, we couldn’t figure out if it was ulcers (had him scoped, he was OK) or what. Switched him to a low starch feed and voila! When I started him back under saddle after his winter break he was soft and on the bit. So riding him lately has been a blast.

Question: He is very stiff to the right. Doing carrot stretches before work under saddle has helped a lot, wonder what else I can do to improve his flexibility? I use the 101 exercises book a lot to find things to do, but if you have some specific suggestions for this issue, I would really appreciate hearing them. Starting to school some first level stuff now that he feels so good.

Thanks for any and all help!

[outerbanks77]

@oldernewbie

was soft and on the bit. So riding him lately has been a blast.

Question: He is

Stiff to the right is not usually stiff the the right, but more that the horse is contracted on the left side, making the right side the long/stretched out side. Rethinking it that way has helped me better address the root problem.
My mare is also stiff to the right, but has physical asymmetry to overcome from high/low feet and a low left hip/hunter’s bump, so I have spent a lot of time on this issue. Carrot stretches just hypermobilize the neck if done to excess (I do Masterson type cervical bend with my horses occasionally, but it’s not to develop bend through the body).

So that is the YMMV and your horse might have different root causes. My mare is really weak on her left hind, and also doesn’t like to carry much with her left front. So rather than just focusing directly on the right bend, I find it a lot more helpful to really watch what her shoulders are doing, and incorporate exercises that get her carrying on her left hind such as SI both directions, travers, renvers, haunches in. This can all be done in walk if your horse isn’t ready to do it at the trot (bonus: it will be much easier when you start wanting to do the trot/canter show movements). Spiraling or leg yielding out on a circle should also help because it will get those outside legs carrying, which helps to free up the inside legs. In turn, the barrel can start to swing more freely, and barrel rotation is really what we are thinking of when we try to achieve “bend through the body” since the thoracic vertebrae don’t really bend much. Later on you can work towards some haunches in on a circle to really increase the bend and engagement.