help keeps dropping his right shoulder!

sonnysfirststar · 03-29-2009, 07:09 PM

Ok I have been working with lorado for about a year with a new trainer and we both have made amazing improvement however I have one major problem with him. He consistantly is dropping his right shoulder and leading with the left. I'm working in really pushing him into my left rein and keeping his shoulders straight but somedays its just frustrating and this leads to our number one issue...picking up that right lead...obviously if he's dropping that right shoulder he is going to blow his lead....with him I actually find it easier to pick up the canter on the straight away I just feel like he lets me gain a little more control of that shoulder that way...we were doing really good for a while and he was rarely blowing a lead but I started a new job and can only ride 2 times a week and I think the lack of consistancey has taken its toll...are there any excersises I can do to help him engage that shoulder and truely be even in my reins? I know its my leg that truely controls that shoulder so is there anything I can do to make him listen to to my leg more (besides spurs...im trying not to rely on them as much) any suggestions would be awsome!! Thanks!

CJ82Sky · 03-29-2009, 08:10 PM

Check saddle fit and get a chiro.....

Spyder · 03-29-2009, 08:18 PM

Quote:

He consistantly is dropping his right shoulder and leading with the left.

I am having trouble following what is happening here. Are you saying the horse is counter bent or in this case looking looking left ?

A dropped shoulder usually means the shoulder has fallen in.

sonnysfirststar · 03-29-2009, 10:00 PM

Spider...im sorry for the confusion...when we are going to the right he counter bends and when going to the left he has a habit of over bending...its easier to correct him over bending...when we go to the right he tends to reach more with the left front then the right and his hard to push into my left rein so when I ask for him to pick up that lead he is already leading with the front left foot so he blows the lead...did I make this any clearer...sorry not so good at explaining myself any more questions feel free to ask and ill try to clear up any confusion

CJ82Sky · 03-29-2009, 10:11 PM

Yes I say he definitely needs a chiro adjustment - have him checked, and review your saddle fit, and go from there. He sounds like he's quite crooked and most likely out of whack. Good luck!

Spyder · 03-29-2009, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonnysfirststar

spider...im sorry for the confusion...when we are going to the right he counter bends and when going to the left he has a habit of over bending...its easier to correct him over bending...when we go to the right he tends to reach more with the left front then the right and his hard to push into my left rein so when I ask for him to pick up that lead he is already leading with the front left foot so he blows the lead...did I make this any clearer...sorry not so good at explaining myself any more questions feel free to ask and ill try to clear up any confusion

What your horse is doing is going crooked and it is the rear that you need to correct.

I answered a question much like yours on this thread.

My horses right side is much stronger then his left what are some things I can do...

Post 3 and post 7

I have copied them here for you but you will see by what was asked on that thread ...same problem.

Quote:

Basically what is happening is your horse is having trouble stretching the muscles on his left side. His right side is too constricted. He is in fact weaker on his right and throwing out his right shoulder ( and therefore trying to counterbend) in a effort to not use the right side properly. My horse is the same.

What is actually happening is horse horse is avoiding going straight and the problem actually starts with the hind legs. His right hind leg is in fact traveling outside the frame of his body to avoid using it to carry himself properly. A horse capable of carrying himself and rider equally ( or almost equally) has hind legs that travel directly underneath himself equally. Avoiding that even loading results in the horse appearing to be softer or easier to ride on the opposite side.

You horse's right hind leg is traveling forward and in a direction away from his body and as a result the left hind is forced to carry more weight and since his left is stronger he is happy doing that. What you need to do is to get the horse to bear more weight on the right to strengthen it and to do this shoulder ins and leg yields are the best exercises. These you will do to the right so the the right hind leg is forced (via positioning) to bear more weight.

Quote:

A lot of people don't understand exactly what is going on when a horse prefers one side to the other. What your horse is doing is going against your right leg. When he is going to the right he is falling in on the right shoulder and if you touched the left rein he would bend that way in a shot .. and why...because he would rather go left on the side he is soft on and happy with.

You can see this yourself. Stand up straight. Then bend your body so the your right shoulder is pushed out and your waist is also pushed out to the right. You will look like you are bent to the left. Now if you swung your right leg forward without trying to actually place it anywhere you will see it lands forward and slightly right. If you kept the same bend position and swung your left leg forward again without trying to place it anywhere it will be more true and land almost directly in front of you and maybe even slightly to the right.

Now imagine your horses hind leg that has to support himself and you and every time that right leg lands outside the frame of his body he is making it easier to bend left and push the right side of his body against your leg. His right hind is doing minimal work because it is not UNDER the horse and if you yourself walked and swung your right leg more right than straight you will be veering to the right as your stronger left will force you right (the one now able to support you and supply pushing power). You could almost liken him to a crippled plane with no power in the right wing....the left wing will turn the plane right. So what you need to do is straighten him up and get him to respect and be more responsive to your right leg. Pushing the horse over with that right leg forces the horse to constrict the right side and stretch the left. Leg yields will do this. If you leg yield on the left side you are enhancing the stretched out right side and constrained left side which is not what you want to do.

But there is also some other good advice on that thread you should look at.

sonnysfirststar · 03-29-2009, 10:48 PM

You know that's funny you said that he has an old injury on his right hind that does cause any real issues he just needs time to stretch if he's been in for a while...i bet that is why im having more problems now then before...spyder thank you for your help that makes sense....i took him to fair hill last year for an eventing rally for pc and a lady walks up to me and explained how she was a chiro and she saw lorado from across the way and wanted to know if she could give him a quick alignment free of charge I was like heck yeah....but I think I should look into having a chiro give him a good once over and see what we can do just got to wait till my piggy bank gets a little more full ha ha ha thanks any other excersises or ideas?

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