Looking for some tips/exercises to supple the “bad” side in warm up. I prefer to start out on a loose rein but to the left her body gets so wonky without intervention. She wants to fall in with her body and be bent to the outside. Going to the right we can get decent straightness/gentle bend in warm up without much issue.
Not knowing at which level you and the horse are working, I would start with the following advice:
- Start with a nice long walk on a loose rein. Incorporate some small (8-12 meter) circles, size depending on your horse’s capabilities. The goal here is just to wake up the lateral bending of the spine. Does not need to be on the bit for this, a big, swingy walk, relaxation, and even lateral bend is more important (but should be on a contact).
- Start your working warm up with the good side so the horse can get warmed up first before struggling.
- On the good/easy side, start with leg yield (nose to the wall is an excellent easy version of this), shoulder-in (SI), haunches-in (HI), and renvers (if that’s part of your routine, if not, make it! Any horse can do renvers at the walk at least). The goal is to get the easy side nice and loose and supple. Start in the walk if this is too much to manage in the trot.
- Then go to the hard/stiff side, and do the same - leg yield, SI, HI, renvers if you can.
Depending on what the horse needs, you can ride leg yield in two different ways - super straight (classic, good at engaging the inside hind and getting the horse to step under and come up and into the bridle), or super bendy of your inside leg (not traditional, but a great exercise to get the horse moving laterally and bending. A schooled horse should be able to do both. Generally, you would use the bendy version on a lesser-schooled horse, and a more educated horse should just be doing the straight version.
Again, all these exercises can be done at the walk if the trot gets too hectic. Importantly, make sure the horse stays in front of your leg for these exercises. The horse does not have to be on the bit for these to be of benefit (again, not knowing at which level you’re schooling), but should be on a contact.
Once you’ve really loosened up each side with these exercises, you can start alternating directions - a circle to the right, a circle to the left, a leg yield to the right, etc. You should see success as flowing between exercises and bend from one direction to another.
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Thank you so much! This is super helpful. For a bit of background, she is a 7 y/o ottb, 2 years off the track. We are aspiring eventers just trying to put together a respectable intro test.
As she has settled down I am finding her to be a bit pokey. Am I better off adding a small spur or a dressage whip to back up my leg?
I love the shoulder in/shoulder fore on the straight part of a serpentine exercise to really get them changing the bend and thinking about using both sides of their body. You can throw in some 10m circles where you touch the letters on the wall to emphasize the bend. It’s a great exercise at all gaits but start at walk. Sit on your inside seatbone more and open the inside rein.
It’s always important to add more forward on the bad side. Is she ignoring the sideways part of the leg aid or the forward part of the leg aid? Try spur if you need to emphasize the “get off my leg and go sideways” and a whip if you need to go more forward.
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Spiraling out on a circle in a slight leg yield should help. Think of the side your horse falls in on as the long side of your horse. The other side is contracted and tight. If she is falling in on the left shoulder, she is probably falling out with her left hind, so another thing you can do is ride through a corner, and then think about holding her haunches to the inside a bit as you ride out of the corner. It’s OK if she doesn’t know how to do a proper haunches in, just ride the idea of it for the level she is at. You can also step a little into the outside stirrup, especially when the RF is on the ground, to get her to transfer weight from the left shoulder to the right shoulder. Ride shallow loops and other frequent changes of bend like nice loopy serpentines so you are not just drilling on getting her to give up the bend on the more difficult side.
I would also get her doing turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches to work on her ability to transfer weight between her limbs. You can start TOH with bend away from the direction of the turn, which is easier for the horse, but will still help to supple the shoulders.
I would just warm her up on light contact so you aren’t putting in a lot of “bad” miles where she is going around getting more stiff and crooked.
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Leg yield is one of my most favourite warm up exercises. Also since you mention her shoulder is out to the outside, try using square turns at the short ends to help straighten her shoulder and get her moving off your outside aids.
Whatever works to keep you from having to nag is fine as she needs to be HOT off your leg! Ask once for her to move then CORRECTION! Do not repeat yourself with your leg - assume she heard you the first time, then insist that she be responsible for acting. It’s your responsibility to be clear, and its her responsibility to listen and act. Personally, for this I would prefer a whip as it can be a nice, sharp correction for a horse that ignores your leg, but I ride with spurs as it is so I can give subtle aids from the get-go. If you have a quiet leg, riding with a small spur can allow you to give clear aids with only minimal movement from your leg.
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Have you considered investigating what the source is of her crookedness?
I ask because in basic flatwork, where there is no challenging ask (such as lateral work or jumping), there should not be a drastic difference in a horse’s way of going with changes of direction.
It is when you ask for the real challenging things, such as lateral work or jumping, where natural affinity for a specific direction might come into play and one side may not be as easily flexible as the other purely due to anatomical differences or limitations.
But for basic work, if you are dealing with a genuinely “bad direction” you are dealing with a soundness issue.
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OTTB? Of course they don’t want to go to the right - they’ve never had to. The OP will see improvement with the exercises others have suggested, plus making sure all working sessions are performed 60% in the “bad” direction, and 40% in the good direction until a degree of unilateral balance and suppleness are achieved. It doesn’t take long. (This spoken as someone who’s early training career was restarting OTTBs.)
To OP - always start in the easy direction and also finish in the easy direction so that your workout ends on a positive note.
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That’s not quite true… OTTBs have plenty of experience going the “wrong” direction.
On most tracks in the US they will warm up going the “wrong way” down the track. They then breeze going the correct way.
At farms in training, they often are exercised on gallop tracks - both ways. They are also hot-walked (20m circle, usually) both clockwise and counter clockwise depending on the machine. Most I see are counter-clockwise, but not all of them. If they’re in a particularly luxurious barn, they can be on an aquatread or aqua-walker, and those go both ways and are utilised both ways. They are hacked on bridle paths around the farm, are handwalked on days off, and they are worked in both directions in shed-rows (some shed rows only allow travel in one direction, though).
I am speaking in generalities because not every farm or every track is the same – but I have never gotten an TB off the track that has only been exercised to the left. If they had difficulty or were crooked in one direction it was always a sign of lameness and the crookedness went away as soon as the lameness was treated & addressed.
No OTTB ever retires from a racing career completely sound. 
If a horse is having that much of a marked difference in gait / straightness in simple work, it’s time to look objectively at how sound the horse is for what you’re asking…
More often than not, if you are dealing with a freshly retired OTTB who is much worse in one direction, it is the result of a discomfort either in the SI or stifles. Sometimes it goes away with time away from the track and different shoeing/maintenance. Sometimes it’s a sign of lasting trauma that needs to be treated/rehabbed/maintained.
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Thanks for coming back from your hiatus to tell everyone their horse is lame 
. I know I should just let it go but it gets irritating.
Everyone else thank you sooo much for the advice!
I thought beowulf’s comment was perfectly reasonable. I’m not understanding where the animosity is coming from.
Warmup is about priorities. No horse comes out fulfilling every element of the training scale from the moment you get on. The trick is figuring out what order to address the deficiencies. For this reason I usually prioritize an appropriate tempo and a reaching connection. This is also where the response to the leg is addressed.
Once the horse is going freely forward and pressing out into the contact, you can start using your leg to shape that forward reach into a reach along the curve of the circle. By this point the horse should be warm and the lateral bend easier. Also, a lot of misalignment along the length of the horse’s spine will automatically be eliminated simply by engaging it in reaching out to the bit. If she’s falling in against your leg, address her response to your leg, don’t cheat and use your hand to do the job of your inside leg. This is where a spur is helpful. Make sure that your leg is directing her in where to place her body in her next step, not trying to change where she is right now.
Frequent, gentle changes of direction, done from your new inside leg riding her forward along the new line help so both of you from getting stuck holding against each other. Look for opportunities to return yourself to neutral, rather than trying to hold her in the bend. This really helps the horse move more freely.
Finally, marked one-sidedness really can indicate soundness concerns. One I’m riding right now is slightly NQR behind due to hock arthritis. She is heavily one- sided. I’m working her lightly to help keep her as strong and supple as she can be (she’s 26), but I’m very sympathetic to her stiffness and realistic in my expectations of her on a given day. I’m also finding a short hack down the road before schooling helps get her moving more than nagging her for a more athletic walk in the arena. Obviously your horse is young and looks sound, but minor physical gripes are a common reason for markedly worse “bad” side, and worth investigating if good riding isn’t making steady improvements.
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@beowulf - I don’t disagree with you for the most part. One-sided OTTBs used to be the rule, now they tend to be the exception.
I don’t agree that no racehorse retires from the track 100% sound. Many of them do.
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I get it. But certain posters want to turn every post into a lameness discussion. It does OTTBs no favors nitpicking their “soundness” at every opportunity.
Does my mare have some complaints from her previous career, I know she does. I am also a firm believer that good functional exercise (like correct dressage) can make her feel better/get stronger. I am not going to start poking and proding, injecting and medicating a 7 year old mare just because she is stiffer in one direction.
I do very much appreciate the dressage advice.
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Make no mistake, I think the TB is one of the soundest breeds out there. I think they can become sound after let down – and have wonderful, long, SOUND careers. I’m lucky to have had several myself.
But, I have yet to see one come right off the track 100% sound. They usually need some time for their bodies to heal from the microinjuries and muscle soreness that comes from racing. Sometimes they need “poking and prodding” – most of them have already had something or other injected because it was bothering them in the first place.
That stalling regime plus the hard workouts and their young bodies, makes a very sore horse that is usually bilaterally lame both front and back, and always backsore.
Sorry it’s not what the OP wanted to hear… but I’ve come to learn that a horse that has a marked difference in way of going in basic flatwork has an unaddressed soreness somewhere, or an old complaint that limits their flexibility or use of body.
If you have already addressed this complaint, a good start is making sure their feet are completely rehabbed from the “race horse trim”, and their turnout maximized with as little stalling as possible. Riding them out on the trails, getting their basic fitness up W/T/C, keeping the work light and simple with long warm ups and cool downs will all go towards making a horse that is happy in both body and mind for work.
I use a two step LY to get my pokey horse moving forward without spur or whip. Leg yield two steps sideways and use the outside leg to go forward. The key is to skip the step of stopping the LY before going straight. Just put the outside leg on and ride forwards. Repeat several times and the horse will be more actively forward off the leg. The quality of the LY is not important as long as the horse is moving sideways off the inside leg.
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I do not know if this would work with your horse. I have had some success with “unlocking” the stiff side of the horse by this method.
Going around a turn, when my inside seat bone goes UP I press inward with my upper thigh. All of a sudden one horse, who would refuse to relax his back with other aids for turning, started turning readily in both directions though one side at first was still stiffer than the other side. I also did not need to use a rein turning aid after the first two times, he got the message and I ended up being able to do rather sharp turns by just using my upper inside thigh when my inside seat bone went up, no reins, no lower leg, and my only weight aid was accidental when I pressed in with my upper thigh.
A long time ago I tried doing turns by using my inside lower leg, and the horses were not impressed at all. They acted like the lower leg aid was an irritation that did not make sense and made them sort of uncomfortable and I had to use rein aids to turn. I talked with my riding teacher about this because she was pleased with my results. I had read forever about using the inside leg as a turning signal, now I think that these authors meant using the inside leg starting up at the top of the thigh as the inside leg turning signal.
I do not have to use the upper thigh turning aid anymore on this horse because he seems to “understand” how to turn comfortably now. From what I’ve read the only thing I can think of that this particular aid is doing is straightening the horse’s spine when it wants to bow out toward the inside of the turn, in response to the push of his inside hind leg (which is why I use it when my inside seat bone goes up).
I now hold this aid in reserve for when I ride a super stiff backed horse when turning. I can also alternate this aid with my upper thigh as my seat bone goes up, to help the horse keep relatively straight down a line without having to use my reins to keep the horse straight.
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