Every now and then I find a horse that has a lope or canter that is hard to keep my leg under me. It’s not necessarily rough and I can still sit it fine. Have you ever had that horse when loping say in the right lead, your right leg moves clear out in front of you? I find I have to push forward with my left leg in this instance to keep my right leg under me. I’ve only felt this on a few horses in my life and it’s not when circling these horses but when going in a straight line. Today I rode one that caused me to ask these questions. She was a smooth horse, felt like she carried herself well. Loping circles she was fine but on straight line I found my lead leg moving forward. If I asked her to shorten her stride and bridle up a bit then it went away mostly What causes the lope or canter to feel this way?
Yes. My main riding gelding.
In my case, it is my right leg, and it happens on the right lead. For this particular horse, I know it is because he has an old habit of rotating his pelvis ever so slightly left (if you’re looking at him from the rear and look closely, his right hip bone will be slightly higher than his left and his left hind leg will be closer to the midline). He does this because he’s a touch arthritic in that right hock and if allowed will situate himself so he doesn’t have to push as much off it. He doesn’t hurt, persay, he’s just 16, backed at 12, and old postural habits die hard.
So if you think about it, in the right lead lope a horse that is guarding the right hind slightly isn’t going to go through quite as full a range of motion and thus will holding his right haunch and barrel a touch right. That pushes the rider’s right leg forward. On a circle or if asked to work a bit more in the bridle, you’re riding the horse more “up” and less “out”, and likely have a bit more control over how straight you ask them to be.
Thats a really good observation to ask about. Good for you, you noticed and you asked why. Thats a great attitude towards learning.
One possibility, Horse is not traveling straight thru its body. You can tell if you lope him along a fence with somebody behind you watching. Horses are wider behind then in front, If they are traveling square and straight, the shoulder will be further away from the fence then the hip, If both are the same distance from the fence, he’s traveling crooked. In this case got his front end tipped out and back end tipped in and instead if traveling on two tracks, he’s traveling on three. He’s slightly sideways. That can give you a poor quality canter.
You wont notice this much riding until you canter and most of them are more crooked one way then the other. It could just be working too much one way and not enough the other so just not as strong. Sometimes if you bump and pick them up a bit, they will rebalance and those you need to keep a little more on the bridle. Working more in long, straight lines and not so many circles usually helps. So does letting them lengthen out and not to go so slow all the time without dropping them. If you keep them backed off, instead of collecting straight from nose to tail, which is harder for them, they cheat /evade by bending laterally instead. Which makes them travel crooked.
This is kind hard to explain and gets into theory and dressage but worth studying. Not being straight is uncomfortable but also messes up everything from getting leads, lead changes, sliding stops…and if you don’t stop straight and square, your spin or rollback will suffer, Everything from a Roping horse to a Barrel Racer needs to start with straight. Distances disappear in Hunters and Jumpers cant power up and over from a crooked base. It matters.
Another possibility, Could be that there is some discomfort and horse is protecting something. Consider how the horse uses its legs at the canter/ lope. First the outside hind plants and lifts powering the whole body up and forward by itself. Then the inside hind and outside front take over as a diagonal pair in unison sharing moving the weight forward and the stride ends rolling onto the inside, leading foreleg which acts alone but is not lifting and powering like that outside hind. It takes a beating. Sometimes that results in using other legs differently to protect that outside hind and then they get sore too. Making it hard to pinpoint where the problem really is.
On the right lead, that left hind works alone to lift and and power each stride and thats where right lead issues originate. As left lead issues originate in the right hind. Then the other body parts compensate and don’t function normally.
Hope this makes sense, its hard to explain but if you start watching horses working at the lope/ canter as much as you can, particularly first couple of steps, it will help you refine your own understanding and riding skills,
If you are having some troubles, try long trotting ( you can post) on a loose rein in long, straight lines. Out of the ring is best, maybe some hills if you have them. Much of this is just they are stronger on one side because we let them be, Nice long trot works everything equally and can help you pinpoint where problems come from. Then maybe you can fix them with training or a chat with your vet.
Oh, wear a watch when you ride, be sure you work both sides equally or slightly more on the weak side. We all go left first on just about everything and do it longer. Sets up a mess of issues over time. .
Good information above, this does help. My horse feels this way both directions so I think it maybe how she is traveling either by habit, laziness, etc., rather than pain or stiffness. Although she could have an issue on both sides. Next time I ride in an arena I’ll have my husband either tape me from behind or I’ll have him ride her so I can watch from behind. I think going down the rail will help see what my horse is doing. Most of my riding is pasture riding, some field work when it’s not muddy. I barrel race on this horse and I never feel any problems when running, she never shoulders a barrel, and she drives really well with her hind end.
found on my camera on my phone that I can video tape in slow motion. I’ll have to do that when I tape her. I think that will give me some good views.
Speeding up and lengthening the stride straightens them up. Watch the Halter classes when they jog. The best handlers stay dead straight and step out smartly to get the bigger step which straightens the body. Thats also why the long trot on a long straight line helps horses that travel crooked.
Good point. I was thinking about this exact thing yesterday when I was riding. Like I stated initially, when I shorten her up/bridle her up, this doesn’t happen. But also when I push her forward, lengthen her stride or ask for me speed this doesn’t happen. So really I only feel this at her natural speed, when I’m not asking for much. Again, this happens both directions. So if it’s her natural speed and is both directions, I think it’s just how she moves. Maybe she is a bit lazy, or relaxed, whatever it is. Probably nothing to worry about, just uncomfortable when we are out for a good lope.
Random thoughts. Besides working on straightness.
Might be hanging on to her face a little too much to stay slower and shes dumping on her forehand and/or slumping your shoulders and looking down which tips them forward, sometimes they look like they are pedaling a bicycle behind, feels like it too.
When shes going faster, she has enough impulsion to create self carriage. When you pick her up to shorten, shes letting you create it. But in the middle, shes lost. Try bumping her up (western version of a half halt) with a quick release, let her figure out to carry herself. SIT DOWN and BACK, shoulder back and square, look up, hold the hand up above the horn, not down on either side-that’s pretty common, skews everything to one side or the other including riders body whuch influences horses body.
Just mess around with all this, hate being bored riding anyway, helps to have some reasonable goals you can progress to, even with a finished horse. Theres always something that could be better and most of it can help your pattern work- straight, balanced horse can run a more accurate track with smoother “ gear changes”, save more time then just going faster will. Jumpers or Barrel Racers. Heck, even race horses that go around turns save ground by staying on the inside to beat a faster horse outside. It’s all about the track yo take and stay on,
One other thing, what bit or bits are you using and when? Sometimes bits we think of as soft really are no such thing and can make staying straight and balanced with a loose, single handed rein more challenging then it needs to be for rider and horse.
When not working barrels or doing specific drills that call for a bit of contact, I ride this horse with pretty loose reins. She goes better with more feet/leg/seat ques than rein. But I’ll def think about my posture when we are doing her relaxed lope. Maybe just sitting back and doing a half halt would help. Great idea! I ride her in a short correction bit when doing ranch work, riding pastures, trail riding, etc. She likes the correction bit so that’s what we typically ride in. With our barrel racing I practice in a lifter type bit, and when competing it’s a loose type correction. Not sure exactly the name of this, pretzel bit is one name I’ve seen that’s similar. Again, I really don’t have to use rein on her, she just likes that correction type bit in her mouth. With no barrel racing going on right now I’ve been working on her position, lifting, working hips, shoulders, just all kinds of exercises that I’m hoping will strengthen up weaker parts and maybe correct some of this. If not, it will just help us with barrel racing once we can compete again. Thanks for the tips above!
Ive had better luck with “ solid” bits, no moving parts, no joints, no loose jaws, for picking one up to balance. Yes, they like the loose and jointed stuff better because those really don’t make them work at self carriage. Found my hand could stay feather light on the half halt and did not need to repeat as often as with the loose and jointed buts.
Just food for thought. Like that you don’t use the same bit all the time. More you use one, better they get at figuring out how to cheat its action. Especially the smart ones and, dare I say, mares. Keep them guessing to keep them honest.
This horse loves more solid bits. Anything broken, two piece or three piece, and she gets irritated. She absolutely loves the correction bit and I barely have to use any rein on her with that bit. However with barrel racing she is just a bit stiff in that bit left and right. Understandable since that’s not really the point of that bit. So I found that correction type bit with lots of movement in it and run her in that one. Keeping in mind that i really don’t have to rein her much. I like using different bits as well for their different jobs. They learn what’s going on with each bit which is helpful when you have a horse that’s used for different events.
So yesterday I loped square’s. On each corner I lifted her up and also inside shoulder, then on straight line I let her go. I did this at her own speed, just worrying about her body position on the corners. She held herself well on the straight aways, once she felt like she was pushing my leg forward, I started my next corner. Hoping I can do this and the straight lines will become longer between the corners. I also really paid attention to her body when she did kind of fall apart on me. I think, without seeing it on tape, that she falls a bit onto her lead shoulder and she holds her head off center away from the lead leg. So left lead feels like left shoulder is lower than right shoulder, and her head is a bit to the right. I think that also puts more weight on her front end. So maybe these are the things that I’m feeling that make my leg go so forward.
For sure…and it sounds like she has got her body tipped outside and traveling on 3 tracks instead of two with her haunch in and shoulder out. That’s what most of them do and you can easily see standing behind them. Square corners are excellent. Used them Western and on HJs to lighten and get them straight to the center of a fence off a corner. Horses that jump courses develop what they call a “ motorcycle” or “ water skiing” corner, they lean in around a corner and trail the haunch outside while leaning on the riders hand dragging them around dumped on the forehand. They don’t need more bit they need a straight horse before going into the corner. Once they lean like that around a course its like driving an old tractor.
So its a common evasion and square corners correct it while developing better balance ability. And without starting a fight, that’s where too,any ness up, you beed to correct it by teaching skills to do it correctly, not by just saying, no, no, no, no. You want to say “ do this, not that”” or they get sour because they really don’t understand what you are unhappy with. Just be careful not to over drill and to release and go forward a few laps in between your corners. She’ll get stronger but not immediately so you dont want to discourage by overdrilling. If you are getting anything at all, shes trying to please you.
Of course you don’t want a solid bit to run a barrel pattern, didn’t mean to suggest that. Think you pretty much know what you are doing, just need some polishing. Had a very good co worker friend who was a pretty good barrel racer, won alot of money. We rode together on borrowed horses a few times and picked each others brains. She seldom schooled at speed and used a custom bit designed for speed work on a pattern, paid a lot of money for it at a big rodeo trade show. I never saw it, she only used it to race, but she said it was jointed mouth and loose sides, either short or no shanks dont remember… Haven’t seen her for about 8 years or Id ask her for you.
That’s very interesting about the HJ’s. Something I always try to work on with barrel racing is making sure the horse is pushing/driving around the barrel, not pulling with front end and flipping hind end out. You talking about the HJ’s is the same basis just different event and something I’m not familiar with. But it makes sense. I like learning these types of things as it just solidifies that basics are so important no matter what. Thanks for all your additional information, it’s been helpful!
Thats a great observation about pulling themselves around the barrel instead of pushing from behind, never thought of it that way. More is the same then different between disciplines. Wonder if it is pretty much the same as keeping the HJ horse “uphill”, the Dressage horse coming “ through” and none of them crabbing along crooked, leaning or dumped on the forehand? Come to think of it, most BR horses are not built downhill, neither are are Reiners and WCH despite the QH stereotype.
Think we all want and do similar things but use a different vocabulary to express the same thing.
Whatever, the more you can understand about how the horse needs to use their body and how the rider can influence it, the better whatever you do with the horse will be.
Yes, absolutely! You need the horse to be going “uphill” to do a sliding stop in a reining pattern, and they should be going “uphill” as they enter the barrel so they bring those hind legs in under them to push around the barrel. It is all the same, just different, LOL. 
