Crooked Horse

[Strangeways]

Hello – Longtime lurker here looking for advice. I ride a pony on behalf of his owner. We don’t know his background, but he appears to have experience jumping. I’m trying to put some dressage basics on him with the help of my instructor. The big roadblock right now is that pony is very crooked. He’s over-bent to the right; counter-bent to the left. For a little guy, he can put a tremendous amount of pressure on the left rein.

I attempt to address this by using my left leg to him into the right rein. Sometimes I tap his left shoulder with a crop. I also try to align the hindquarters with the shoulders, but I’m less adroit with this. These efforts do help, but I feel like I have to correct the bend every 1 to 3 steps. And corrections at the trot and canter are more difficult.

Any tips? Just patience? Anything I can do on the ground? I should add that he does get massaged every six weeks or so. He definitely has a lot of tension points, but the masseuse has never connected her findings with his crookedness per se. And let me underscore tension. This is a very tense, distractible pony with a spook. Sometimes I think the left rein acts like his security blanket.

[endlessclimb]

After ruling out physical issues and saddle fit…

I always found the best visual for this isn’t to “lighten” the heavy rein, but to rather add weight to the light rein. Keep the outside rein connection (even when he’s counterbent), and keep moving weight over to it. Once he’s straight, practice floating the left rein for a fleeting second while keeping the weight over into the outside rein.

I think if he’s gone this way for a long time, it will take a while before he learns self carriage this way. I personally wouldn’t try to get him bent to “perfectly” left for a good while, I’d just focus on being better than his usual. Lots of muscles need to relearn where to be and how to balance that way. Lots of figures, shoulder in, leg yields. Just getting that spine flexibility back, as well as teaching him to get off your leg pronto.

I’m no pro, but that’s what I’d do!

[Scribbler]

I would suggest teaching lateral flexion and then shoulder in on the ground in hand at the walk. Lines, circles, diagonal. Mix it up. Then under saddle at the walk. Obviously he will find it easier to his curved side, but will also fall on the outside shoulder that way. Once he has basics spiralling in and out and bend/counter bend circles are great.

This is physiotherapy or horse yoga and you will be remodeling how he uses his body so he may be very tight and resistant at first.

[SuzieQNutter]

To stop bulging you need a steady outside rein. The outside rein will not work if he is not in the outside rein, which starts with your seat and then your inside leg into the outside rein.

To counter bend you are changing the inside and outside of the horse so the leg on the outside of the circle is now being used as the inside leg on the inside of the horse which is on the outside of the circle, so you now have to give the inside rein that is now on the inside of the horse on the outside of the circle.

Is that as clear as mud?

[2tempe]

No other ideas as you have some good ones here, but I would add that if you have to correct every few strides at this point, its not unusual. Also, short sets rather than longer. Keep his brain and his body for a little bit, then reward and take a break. Rinse, repeat. Lastly - I am a big fan of work at the walk; it gives both of you a chance to think about the aid and the response.

[Strangeways]

Thanks for all of the responses. My instructor has recommended making the contact even in both reins, which works to a certain extent. I find it harder going to the right when the hollow rein is to the inside. He seems to twist his head so I never get much contact. I guess this means that I’m not maintaining the outside rein. It’s hard to imagine having more pressure on that left rein.

I do try use my left leg to push him into the right rein. But perhaps I’m not effective. I make an effort to use my entire leg – seat bone, calf, some thigh. He does respond, but maybe it’s just a matter of asking for more – that electric response to the leg.

We do many of the exercises suggested here – leg yielding, which oddly frustrates him, shoulder-fore, which he’s surprisingly good at, spirals. Maybe we should just focus on moving off the leg. Keep it simple. I don’t mind working at the walk. And I certainly don’t expect a proper left bend; mostly straight would do.

As for vet, he’s not my horse, so that makes it difficult. What types of things would you expect the vet to find? Also, are there any specific ground exercises?

[endlessclimb]

Carrot stretches certainly can’t hurt. Do two to the left for every one to the right to really get his body loosened up over there.

@2tempe is spot on with short sets. Using his body correct is hard work! Reward a good try, it doesn’t have to be perfect. One percent better a day is great, in 100 days he’s a new horse.

[merrygoround]

You don’t mention pony’s age. The older an animal is the more difficult it will be to ask him to go straight.

Otherwise, you’ve gottten some excellent suggestions.

[hoopoe]

this is not going to correct quickly. It may take many months to get the body to stretch and get back in to balance. Pay careful attention to need changes in the feet and saddle as the body condition changes

If possible consider good trail hacks that encourage stretch and forward and rear end loading, up and down

[blue_heron]

Any chance he is out/stiff behind? My little mare gets so crooked when her hock arthritis is worse in the cold or she’s having an off day. It’s like her entire body curls right to avoid bearing weight on the right hock, but she’s not visibly lame, just stiff. If he is a tense distractable pony, that can also point to some underlying issue.

Can you longe this pony some to see if you can see what’s going on and help him understand the contact? Are you crooked?

When the crookedness is habitual, sometimes I find that I actually need more outside rein on the crooked side. I can pull my horse’s head to the inside, add indirect rein, or lift my spur on the inside all I want, but if the outside rein isn’t there to “grab” it, then all my hard work is for naught. It seems like maybe you need to grab the right rein a little more and let go of the left, if he wants you to hold on the left.

[Strangeways]

Thanks again for the comments. My instructor and I had a chat, and she agreed we need to prioritize straightness. She noticed that when pony moves his shoulder/ribs right in response to my aids, he doesn’t really move his neck. Because he’s shoulder is left, the neck is right, and it’s really stuck there. So she had me move both hands to the left. This seemed to help quite a bit! And outside rein. A couple of you mentioned this, and as always, it was a necessary reminder. Of course, pony is compensating for his new posture by curling himself on the forehand even more than before. I try to push him up, but I’m not worrying about it too much yet.

To answer some of the questions – Am I crooked? Probably! But I don’t think I’m the main problem. I’ve ridden other horses recently, and none were as crooked as the pony. They had their stiff/hollow sides to varying degrees, but I usually could straighten them decently. Also, the pony goes crooked for my instructor too, although she doesn’t get on often or for long.

Could the pony have hind end issues? I’m sure he does to a certain extent, but getting a vet’s opinion is difficult because he’s not mine. In my opinion, and my instructor’s, he seems most stiff in the shoulder neck. I embarrassed to admit…I don’t know if he can longe? It’s something we can work on as it gets colder. I should say, that for a crooked pony of unknown origins, he moves quite well. He has a long stride for 13hh, and feels fluid