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Romeo won't pivot to the left

1K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  Muppetgirl 
#1 ·
I have a question. I got my gelding back from the trainer this winter (Yes a long time ago now) and he was doing wonderfully on pivoting and picking up his leads and all that good stuff.
Well he still picks up his leads, and pivots to the right. But I can not for the life of me get him to pivot to the left. He very smoothly backs up and pivots to the right, but when we back up and I set him up to go left he loses it and choppily walks almost to the right instead of a fluid movement.
And my problem is that I can't really get him to pivot either way on the ground. It is only under saddle.
 
#2 ·
I would like to see a video clip. I am trying to visualize what you are saying and I am having a problem.

First of all, was your horse taught to back into a pivot? A horse should back into a roll-back, but a pivot, like a spin or turn-around that a reining horse does, is a forward maneuver. You are trying to get the horse to step across his inside front foot with his outside front foot. If he ties to back into this maneuver, he hits himself and either 'locks up' or start hopping in order to stop hurting himself.

Then, any lateral movement, either pivot or roll-back requires good shoulder control. A horse must be willing to move its shoulders for its handler on the ground as well as its rider. Shoulder control is front and center of all advanced maneuvers.

One of the things that works
greatly against good shoulder control and movement is doing a lot of hip movement exercises like disengagements. It is very easy for a horse to move its hips since 2/3 of its weight is already on its front end. Every time you practice moving the hip, you make it more difficult to move its shoulders. Once I know that I can move a horse's hips, I absolutely NEVER ask or let a horse move its hips and never ask for a disengagement unless I am trying to save my life on a badly spoiled horse.
 
#4 ·
Sorry I used the wrong word lol I am asking him to do a roll back. I will get a video next time I ride him to show you.
Yes he is trained to back into it. I am really new too all of these movements so I am also still learning.
 
#7 ·
If he was taught to back into it, then he will pivot like a cutter, he will have his weight on the outside hind leg. Also this makes it difficult if your timing is not precise with your outside rein and leg for him to step across with outside front when he has his rib moved and steps back with the inside front.
If you have done a lot of "back arounds" note where his weight is...the outside hind. You need the forward motion to get him balance himself correctly for a proper spin. I may do these to teach how to get the rib out of the way and get the inside front back so the outside can step across but I balance him back out with a lot of forward work. They learn to find the sweet spot.

But like mentioned above without a video its hard to really say for sure what you need to do.
 
#8 ·
Sometimes....and I say sometimes, if a horse is not picking up that front end in a roll back, you can have them standing facing the wall and roll back to the side, it stops the barrel turning and forward motion....I've don't it before, and it worked well and sharpened the horse up.....just an idea:)
 
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