I know you say he’s sound and the tack fits well but I would revisit that. A horse doesn’t try that hard to evade without something going on physically. Despite what many people say horses don’t actively try to be disobedient just for the hell of it
Unless he’s simply not trained… meaning if he’s followed an arena rail because there was one vs no rail, then he’s just not very knowledgeable about what’s being asked.
I don’t know… I’ve had his saddle checked by two different saddle fitters and they said it fit him well enough for not being a custom fit.
One instructor noted that one hip moves slightly higher than the other (I think it was the right hip that is higher) and that this could be making his shoulder bulge a lot on the left, where we tend to have more problems at the arena openings.
Good idea!
The test is can you ride straight down center line without wobbling and halt straight with at least your front feet square? And can you ride a correctly shaped 20 m circle each direction in the center of the ring? Walk and trot?
If you can do both these things then the problem is not his physical state or your balance.
I would get a body worker in to see his hip. Sometimes they can fix. They can also diagnose the structural issue. It could be pelvis or something else. Have them watch him trot out in hand. Is he going short behind?
While I agree many forms of high energy disobedience are pain based, most often the low energy evasion and wobbles are rider error. Most horses if left loose in an arena will drift to the gate to look out or the visitors bench or coach’s chair if anyone is sitting there. The rider needs to ride effectively to stop drift and whim.
You mention instructor. What do they say? And can you ask them to ride your horse for ten minutes and report back what worked?
Yes a 10 metre volte and circle are are the same and over here it is just called a circle not a volte. A 6 metre and 8 metre are more advanced and it is the 6 metre volte Franz Mairinger was referring to for not buying over a 16.2hh horse.
I thought of this thread today. I was watching a replay of a clinic with a very pregnant Laura Graves. The dressage arena was marked out inside a much bigger arena. There were boards along the middle of the long sides but they ended at about the last letter. Then there was a board at C or A. The corners were open!
I was watching the same thing yesterday and also thought of this thread ha ha! It was really interesting to see the ring like that at such a big event.
i ran into a corner issue at my lesson last week. My mare evaded a corner. So after a lot of balking she finally got near enough for me to see that the cats were using it as a litter box. It was nasty. She got about four feet away and lifted up a foreleg (“like a Pointer!” said my coach…laughing) then lifted up the other leg… i mean her knee was above horizontal! Anyhoo …after much ado and significant hilarity on the human part for her very eloquent communication skillz, we were able to ride that part of the ring and do one square turn there, i mean right ontop of it, which was enough for me…all i wanted was compliance. Not my way to press the point-didn’t want to make her walk into cat-poop continually, i totally understand/respect that she was grossed-out. So, we worked the rest of the lesson kinda away from that corner to spare her. It was pretty funny. And i thought of this thread. In my case, there was a ‘good’ reason for her corner-angsty
The instructor (a clinician) who noticed his hip imbalance suggested riding straight lines, forward, to help his hips. She also suggested 8 loop serpentine to work on turning/bending.
My new instructor for weekly lessons is having me work on using the outside aids for turns and giving him a quick pet with my inside rein when he goes through the turn correctly.
He can do correct circles and straight lines away from these arena openings.
Then it becomes about consistency. You want the same thythm and tempo going away as coming this way, plus the whole way around the circle, not fast for half and slow for the other half.