My horse is a green OTTB and she tends to drop her right shoulder on a right turn. What do you do to correct this?
That would be the outside shoulder - on a left turn she would drop the left shoulder and on a right turn the right shoulder if it is the inside shoulder.
Anyway for an inside shoulder you need a strong inside leg and lift the inside rein straight up - you also have to get her off the forehand.
oops I mean the inside shoulder (I suffer from right left confusion).
Use your inside leg and outside rein, and bend the horse less to the inside.
I was taught that you can’t balance a horse by lifting a rein, you must straighten him instead.
The outside rein makes your horse ‘stand up’, the inside makes your horse ‘fall down’.
i agree with produmus, it is a strong inside leg and a lift to the rein… used to ride an OTTB who dropped his inside shoulder more times than not… hope this doesnt start a riot 
Dropped shoulder
My reining horse used to do this and my trainer had me ride a “square” rather than a circle. Keep a strong inside leg, lift the inside rein and keep a steady “feel” on the outside rein, so as not to over flex him. As you approach the turn keep the horse’s body straight and turn a 90 degree angle. This will not only keep the shoulder up, it will force the horse to rock his weight onto his haunches as he turns, thereby lifting his shoulders. I hope I explained this well enough.
Yup! I would use that inside leg, especially the upper leg to block that shoulder. You will probably notice that the same horse tends to drift outward on a 20 m circle to the L. And again you will need to guard that shoulder.
I would try to avoid lifting the inside rein as soon as possible. You may need it initiallly, but try not to make it habitual.
The key to a good right turn (or a left one for that matter) is to prepare the horse by straightening with the side of the ring prior to the turn, itself. While your left turn feels correct, the horse will not be honestly in your right rein. In the counterclockwise direction, however, you will not be able to feel the crookedness unless you have been riding for a very long time, and really been paying attention. When you are traveling with this horse in a clockwise direction, the right hind will be trailing and the right shoulder will be falling. (That is actually happening in the counterclockwise direction, too.) Use your whip to drive the right hind better under on the long side, and make sure that your left elbow stays back where it belongs. After the straightening, and to turn the corner, lift your right rein and step more deeply into your left stirrup…heel down. Do not lose your left elbow! It will be trying to fly away to the outside!:yes:
Gotta agree w/SLC here. Use outside rein and inside leg to ask the horse to balance correctly (more comfortably) around the corner and not “motorcycle” through it. It’s a matter of the horse standing up on the outside shoulder, opening their inside leg into the turn and not allowing their balance to fall over to the inside as they throw the rider to the outside. Don’t pull on the inside rein as this drags the balance more to the inside.
Also, some very basic turning exercises may help your horse and you with overall turning balance. (Or maybe I’m just suggesting this because I’m having a blast with these little baby things. They are so simple and rewarding.)
Starting at the walk, just ask the horse to turn with a direct opening rein. Just before and during your rein aid, drop your inside seat bone down toward the stirrup bar and look in the direction of your turn. Make sure to time both your seat and rein aid perfectly to when the horse lifts the inside foreleg so that it’s in the air and he can easily open his leg in the direction you ask. The outside rein remains passive but doesn’t allow the horse to just turn his head; he has to move his shoulders.
Make the turn, walk about 3 strides with centered balance and turn the other way, making a zig-zag line. You don’t use leg, this is just a rein and balance exercise on a very light rein aid, making it lighter and lighter until the horse is ready to turn as soon as you look and drop your seat bone.
Pretty soon if you time your aid to the foreleg swinging forward, you have very smooth power steering off your seat. I find that my horse really softens and relaxes his back through this.
Eventually this becomes a serpentine, but the zig-zag helps teach him to open his inside leg and move his shoulders instead of scrambling to turn by just pushing off the outside foreleg, falling over the inside shoulder and bringing the outside leg across to catch himself.
I always think leg yield outward on every corner. I don’t want to have to use a strong inside leg or have to lift the inside rein. I want my horse softly IN the outside rein. I want to be able to give the inside rein TOTALLY for a stride or two when he’s correct to check whether or not I’m pulling or he’s lying on it. I want him to stand up with just a whisper of the inside aids. I want to be able to count on him being in the outside rein at all times & trust that he will be.
A great exercise to teach him to use the outside rein & soften the inside aids & make him quicker off of the aids is to leg yield him back & forth & do turns on the forehand. This exercise breaks it all down for the horse to learn it slowly, piece by piece. Example: track left. Leg yield away from the track about 10 feet or so, off the right leg driving him into the left (new outside) rein. He’ll be bending slightly right & you should feel him softer on the new inside (right) rein.
Then do a slow, soft turn on the forehand to the right as this just continues the yielding to your right leg yet tells him to not run through the outside rein & stay soft on the inside rein & leg. Then after the turn, continue keeping him soft on the right rein & leg & leg yield him back to the track where you straighten him, then flex left & start the exercise in the new direction. You can go back & forth with this several times & it will really show where he’s stiff & lays against you. You’ll feel him when he finally starts to give his inside aids to you & does a nice soft forehand turn with his inside hind stepping in front of & over his outside. Be sure you reward him with a nice soft inside hand when he’s correct.
This is just slowing down & teaching the horse the same aids needed to keep him off of his inside shoulder on a circle (or any work). The goal is to have him where you can ride him soft & round with a loop in your inside rein for a complete 20 meter circle at the trot & canter & especially be able to throw away the inside rein in transitions with him just reaching further over his back to follow you. Then you can refine it & soften just within the contact. Something else I find that helps is to think that when the horse is truly falling inside that he is falling OFF the track. I will then open both reins towards the outside (don’t cross the inside hand over the neck or pull on the inside rein) & maybe step into my outside stirrup for a stride or two to say to him “hey, I’m over here”! It helps him to feel the “open” area of your aids & checks that you’re not leaning inside & closing the outside rein against his neck, thereby blocking him from moving toward the outside rein. Remember we want him to COME TO the outside rein by standing/lifting up, not for you to take it towards him. If you can do the leg yield/turn on forehand exercise without any resistance at all I promise he’ll be 100% better on the circles.
Opps! Didn’t mean to write a book but have something else to add. About timing of the inside aids. Think of the Marilyn Monroe swinging butt, both your’s & the horse’s. At the walk when you feel your inside hip fall, give the inside aid. This is when his inside hind is off the ground.
At the trot, give it when your are rising. Again this is when the inside hind is off the ground & you can help it swing towards your outside hand. I know you really want it to follow straight towards the inside fore but when your horse is falling inside, overdo the reaction from him & always ride the inside hind towards your outside hand until he’s soft as butter.
I find that giving the inside aid when the inside hind is on the ground just makes the young/green horse jet off of it & get stronger in your hands.
Hope this helps & have loads of fun!!!
Wow, thanks so much for all of the advice. I’ll see what seems to work for her.
I agree that she may need to be ridden straighter, more inside leg to outside rein, AND if you do this too vigorously you might lose the position right. If you use too much outside rein and accidentally counterbend her, you will send her falling right back on the inside shoulder. Be sure she is following her nose in the bend right and you can see the corner of her inside eye to the right.
If your hands are fairly clever, you can put your whip on her inside shoulder and push her off the shoulder. I rarely tap, as that tends to send the horse bouncing, but make a wall with the whip and push the shoulder back in place.
Closing your inside thigh and knee can help, as well as the leg yields and squares mentioned above.
Being stiff on the right shoulder is something I find very common to recently off the track TBs. I ride a lot of them and this has to be one of the things I find with most of them in their early stages of retraining from the track. Someone else above mentioned what I do to help them get off the shoulder: support with the inside leg & thigh while picking up the rein (straight up). The rein is shortened and my hand is probably 5 inches or so higher than the left. I will also open my hand outward (towards the inside of the circle) if need be, but never pull backwards across the wither. As soon as I feel the weight shift to the outside, they get the rein back. But as soon as they fall again, they get picked back up as if to say…no…I want you HERE. You just have to do it a few hundred times until they build the correct muscle and are able to do it on their own. 
Also, make sure when you’re riding if you feel the inside shoulder drop you can look up and to the outside with your own eyes. This will help you lift your shoulder and stay centered on the horse, which will hugely encourage the horse to maintain it’s own balance as well.
I agree, inside rein is not the answer.
But also make sure that you’re not collapsing your inside ribcage while trying to use your inside leg. Weight the outside stirrup slightly, look up and to the outside and then use the inside leg to outside rein. Weighting the outside stirrup will help engage the outside hind a little more into the outside rein if the horse is “straight” between your aids.
Edited to add: on the other hand, if you’re having collapsing ribcage problems, you may want to concentrate on weighting both stirrups equally while you fix that- weighting the outside while collapsing on the inside will make things worse, not better. Also, keep an eye on your inside leg- you don’t want to be tightening it and drawing it up.
Spectrum.
[I]But also make sure that you’re not collapsing your inside ribcage while trying to use your inside leg. Weight the outside stirrup slightly, look up and to the outside and then use the inside leg to outside rein. Weighting the outside stirrup will help engage the outside hind a little more into the outside rein if the horse is “straight” between your aids.
Edited to add: on the other hand, if you’re having collapsing ribcage problems, you may want to concentrate on weighting both stirrups equally while you fix that- weighting the outside while collapsing on the inside will make things worse, not better. Also, keep an eye on your inside leg- you don’t want to be tightening it and drawing it up.[/I]
Ditto…I have a pony who was used for CDE’s and balance & proper bending have been a huge challenge. If I concentrate on keep her straight approaching the corner, establish the proper bend with the inside leg to outside hand AND weight my outside stirrup just a bit it goes very smoothly. I do not have a collapsing issue but if I did this mare would correct it
try doing turns on the forehand to get the horse responding on your leg. Also when turning keep the horse straight and turn the shoulders with the out side aids (leg, seat ie seat bones, and rein). If you are leaning in to the inside the horse leans in as well so if this is the case make sure you stepinto the outside stirrup a little mor to keep yourself square in the saddle.
My mare occassinally does the same thing in a 10 meter canter circle. Trainer has me use inside rein - bring straight up and release - don’t hold. Works great! 
Ditto on the recommendations to engage the inside hind leg. Start by making your turn before the rail and leg yield over a stride or two to engage. Envision that you are trying to move the butt into the corner and try NOT to look down at the inside shoulder - you will be shifting weight onto it and taking weight off your outside hip.
