Why does my horse canter on the wrong leg

He may bulge one shoulder or the other rather than step underneath with the hind legs. This will result in sideways movement either into the middle of the ring, or out toward the rail when you ask for the canter. He'll likely stay in the trot because of the misalignment of his body. He may resist moving forward when you apply your aids. You might get tail swishing, a hop from the hind end, or a slowing down in the trot as he braces with his front legs.

This may be caused by a true discomfort tack? Otherwise, it might just be confusion. Regardless of why your horse is struggling, the key here is for you to maintain or resume balance even while you are working on getting the canter lead. The first fix is to try coming back to a controlled, rhythmical trot before you try again. However, in some cases, slowing down to re-balance may not be enough. You might need to exaggerate your aids to help the horse realize how to take a lead in the first place.

The following five suggestions should give you a starting point. We'll start from basic preparation to more advanced. This is the most elementary way to get an inside lead, mainly because you're going to set the horse up to essentially fall into position for the lead. Use this for the young horse just beginning to canter, or for a horse that is very crooked to the inside maybe he swings his hip to the inside during the up transition.

Use your outside rein to ask for outside flexion you should see the corner of the horse's eye toward the rail. Use the outside leg as you normally would, swinging back in a windshield wiper motion just in the moment of the down stride.

Have a soft inside rein so you don't inadvertently pull the horse's head to the inside at this moment. You can always bring the horse's flexion back to the inside after you get the lead. This is a little more balanced and therefore a little more difficult.

This time, ask for the horse to look to the inside of the ring inside flexion. Use your inside leg to stabilize the horse while still in the trot. Then ask for the canter with your outside leg. Your inside leg helps the horse maintain better balance just before the strike off.

It's usually easier for a horse to take the correct lead if he can step into a turn or circle in the same direction. So if you want the right lead, ask for the lead while turning right. Please try again. It happens to everyone once in a while. You ask your horse to canter and off he goes — on the wrong lead! His outside foreleg reaches out farther than his inside foreleg, and his canter feels unbalanced.

Start Off Right Your horse needs to be trotting at a brisk pace before you ask him to canter. So gather up your reins and take a firmer hold on his mouth. The reins should be short enough to control your pony, but not so short that they jab him in the mouth as he trots.

Continue rising to the trot, but really sit down deeply when you hit the saddle. Once your horse is trotting with plenty of energy you can ask him to canter. Here are the correct signals to tell your horse to canter:. Correct Lead? If your horse is on the correct lead his inside foreleg will reach out ahead of his outside foreleg. If you have any questions or any other training tips that you would like to share, leave us a comment in the box below.

We are an information blog breaking down the How To's of dressage. All of our articles are put together by British Dressage judges to help you train your horse correctly, get higher scores and win your next dressage competition. The horse will b forced to strike off on the inside hind because of your weight.

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