One sided??

OKay this is going to be long so bear with me.

My older mare, ginger, whos 18 hands and turning 18 years old, retired racer, was a brood mare, wasen't very well taken care of. I puller her from the kill pen oct 08,500+ lbs underweight. Its been a long road back but the past , I guess i'd say 8 months we've been working on basic things, jumping and such list goes on and on. We've just started basic dressage and she's collecting so well =].

She's got two old small set bows in both of her fronts . They actually blister ? I've never seen anything like it, they get scabby. That question is probably for the health section.

So anyway, she has an issue going counter clockwise. She cannot pick that lead up , so she canters on the wrong lead that direction. Also going that direction at the trot she kindof bends outwards, its really hard to get her to bend inward or even go remotley straight without her neck some what to the outside . When I ask her to turn wether at the trot or canter she immediatley puts her head in the air and drifts outward and kind-of hops off that inside front and gets very choppy and irratable. She's not lame though . Does any one think its due to the old bow on that side? Or is it a really bad one sided-ness issue? I don't know if there is any excersizes to help get that left side of her body stronger?

Now going clockwise she's phenominal... she bends and jumps like a star that way. But counter clockwise when I put her to a jump or line of jumps she rushes and tanks off.. that's another reason im asking if its a one sided issue wich would be considered un-balanced right? Weve been working on this a long time now. With the cold weather it's put us back a lot . We circle and circle and circle , if she really tanks off I circle her before and after the jump but nothing seems to work.

No bragging but im a pretty good rider, I have good balance and I stay out of her way and out of her mouth over jumps as well . I do lots and lots and LOTS of praise and patting when she does go over nicley. Like I said, clockwise she jumps amazingly and rounded and calm... we do a lot of collection and bending both directions but I try not to push the issue too much the counter clockwise way b/c I don't want to over-stress her.

SO does any one have any ideas , tips, suggestions anything? Lol. I always wrap her/boot her for support.

Maybe the footing dosen't help? I have grass not sand unfortunatley. I am going to get the vet out to look at her legs probably next month. Moneys really tight right now unfortunatley. But im a worry wort. And I don't want to feel like im hurting or pushing the issue. She's NEVER been lame once since i've had her.

Please remember she's not a show horse.. never will be.. she's an amazing horse and I love her to death, we just work in my backyard.

I'll take pictures of her legs today maybe that will help. These are old videos I got to get new ones..



If they don't work let me know =]. Please keep in mind she was a tiny bit thinner back then. Those were october I think? I have to get new ones. These are just to show and give an idea =]

This is us jumping that same month


I know I had no helment on PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ON ME.... its a bit embarassing but back then I didnt know how to tell if she was on the correct lead lol. So I had no idea untill some one told me when they saw that video.

This one you can kind of see how when I ask her to turn for the middle jump how she floats outwards and wont turn. Again PLEASE DO NOT CRITIQUE ME. The last line of jumps isn't a line the latice was to the left that's why there was a little swerve in there. Lol


Thanks so much guys.
Please no critique on me. I'm actually going to see if I can get my finacee to take some new pix/videos today when I ride =]. I'll keep this updated.

Ok it looks like the myspace ones are not loading here so I am , as we 'speak' uploading them to youtube hang in there please =]

Wouldnet let me edit so heres the other non working vids and pix




Short one lol
some of these pix are very old.....and no critique on me please thank you.

























Ok all done =]

Wait...havent you asked for critique twice already? Its not going to change..... anyway, she still has that hink on her rump, I forget the name.... she doesnt look underweight, and yes, most racehorses are one sided because they only go one way on the track. Her back legs seem like the knees turn inward a bit. Somthing also bugs me about her backend, not sure though.
On the bright side, good job for rehabilitating her and getting that much weight back on. Also I like your non-barbed wire fence. :) have a nice day!

Shes not asking for critique, if you read her post, she has a couple questions

I watched a couple of the videos & from what you say as well I think she's just not balanced. I would start at the walk practicing bend with her at the walk & progress to asking more of her at trot & eventually canter. Don't forget to use your leg more than your hand to get her to bend. See what you can get her to do [in terms of bend] by using your seat & legs with out the reins.

If you are worried about her legs, it sounds like she has some old injuries ? I would talk to the vet & see what they think. If you don't have the money you can always just call them & explain the issues & get their opinion.

I did in no way ask for critique... as gypsy said I asked questions on balance I don't know how you interpreted that as critique.

And id never in a gazzilion years use barbed wire.. the wire your seeing is the ground wire for the elecric.

Thanks for the tips gypsy

Your problem starts with the fact she's crooked skeletally and has poor muscle health. It then continues with your lack of schooling, education and knowledge.

She needs to be seen by some healthcare professionals and brought back through several months of therapy, including chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, stretching etc...

Once her body issues have been dealt with, only then can serious reschooling be employed. Because of her age and past history, she'll have several limitations, though I do believe she can be made strong and supple enough to canter decently on both leads.

Hey
My pony silver had the exact same problem when I got him and I've rode lots of other horses with this problem aswell!
The main cause is that the horse is stiff on one side(the side she has problems on)
She probably hasnt been used much on that side my instructor and I spent months (7 months) training my pony out of it!
Its just simply they don't get ridden enough on that side! What I would do and I know you said that you do plentyt pf circuls and everything on that reign but I think you should make a course of jumps up making sure that there is lots of twist and turns in the course making her think about were she's going what she's doing before rushing in to it! Also another thing I would do is do some"chill out work with her" like no jumping just flat work and circels you should probablly do this before doing the courses with her! Do an hour a day with her of just walk on the reign she's most uncomfertable with! Get her just walking round on that reign for a couple of days just walking until she gets it right ask her for her head and play with the bit a little try get her to go down on the bit soon when she's getting it in walk just to some exercises with her playing with her head ask her to turn her head to the left just a little touch and then to the right then ask her to turn her head straight don't go major with it just a little touch to the left/right then down on the bit straight do this on both reigns then move on to do it in trott, canter just do it very slowley 1 step at a time it will take a good couple of months but it really works then when she's good on the flat I would try the suggestion I made about jumping you would probably need to go a few months with out jumping but trust me its worth the wait! My horse was as stiff as a brick 7 months ago and now he's doing outlines and looks fantastic he's a new horse:)
Goodluck and ask the vets advice also

I would bet that if you put her in a pasture and chase her around she will never miss a lead. If that is the case then it's the way you are riding her that is preventing her from changing leads. Lead changes are no mystery for the horse. Get her moving away from your leg and learn about diagonals. When you transition from a trot to a canter you keep the diaganol and the other two feet rearrange themselves to perform a new job. If you are riding the correct diaganol when she goes into the canter then unless she has an underlying issue she will pick up the lead.

Using the excuse that she was a race horse is irrelevent. No horse likes to be poorly balanced and every horse can change leads when there isn't a human interfering.

Kevin gave an excellent reply. Same thing my trainer has told me.