I have an ottb, who is now 10. He’s a wonderful and very agreeable horse, but I am having a training problem. When I lunge him, he tends to lean in, especially at the canter. How can I correct this?
My horse does this too. Honestly, I’ve had my horse for 5 years and nothing I’ve done has “fixed” this, so not sure if I have the best advice.
Some things I do:
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If lunging with side reins or the Pessoa rig (I always do both on a generous, “loose” setting anyway), I will adjust the inside the be a little shorter than the outside. Not too much, though.
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If lunging with nothing, when my horse bulges in and make the circle smaller, I gather the line and lunge on the small circle for a couple laps and let her back out. That helps keep lunging not terribly boring both of us, also.
I always have a long lunge whip and will also calmly remind my horse to not bulge into me. If she’s close enough to actually touch with the whip, I’ll gently “poke” where my heel would be when riding.
As always, I do everything very calmly and never rigid. A really nice thing whoever broke my horse did was teach her to walk on the line. Maybe slow it down with your horse and practice that, if possible? Or long line?
I have a gelding who does this. He is fairly weak and doesn’t do enough work to get stronger, but what helps is doing smaller and larger circles, lots of transitions (including in the gaits) and never letting him plod around on the same circle forever.
I also never lunge without side reins.
I have one that does this. He will dive in and make the tiniest circle possible.
Weirdly, an outside side rein (even by itself) seems to keep this to a minimum! I also will flick the whip end or poke him lightly at the girth if he’s really doing teensy circles - this can illicit a dramatic scoot/squeal/buck though 
. Usually I stick to loose side reins, both adjusted evenly.
Everything that shows up at the canter, is there at the trot, just likely at a lower level. Everything that shows up at the trot, is there at the walk, just likely at a lower level.
Lunging horses isn’t just about the gaits in the forward motion, changing between them. It’s about how to use their body.
Horses who lean in need to be taught that pressure (physical) or “pressure” (mental) on the shoulders, means move the shoulders over, and you start that in-hand with your finger on them, just as you would teach what leg on their side means.
Teach it at close range first so he understands the concept. As his understanding increases, let out the lead rope so there’s room for him to move in if he wanted, so he has a chance to make a mistake and be corrected. If he doesn’t, then simply reinforce his understanding by asking him to move his shoulder away from you while walking. This is how you start teaching a turn on the haunches too.
Increase the line length to the end of your lead rope, moving to a lunge line and keep repeating at the walk, and then the trot, and by that point, it will translate to the canter even if you have to remind him by pointing the whip at his shoulder.
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