Hey Zoe,
I've got some homework for you this weekend! haha. Hopefully you have had a chance to review the article I posted, Body Control for the Ribcage. These 3 exercises are important for Joey to start developing more core strength so that he becomes more round and balanced with all tasks. As he builds strength with these, we can work on creating more roundness at the walk, jog and lope!
In our original exchange of emails, you had mentioned that Joey is not as balanced on his right lead. We can see that at 6:17 on your first video, he gives you a quick, clean transition from walk to lope on the left lead; very nice work! At 7:19, we see you move him into the lope on the right lead. This transition is a little harder for Joey. He jogs, then he trots, and maintains the lope for a few strides before falling in. He trots a half circle before he is able to pick up the right lead again. The left side is, obviously, much easier for him!
In that same set of emails, we had also talked about backing up straight. In videos it looks as though he starts to back up soft between your legs and hands, and the first few steps look great! Then, he swings his hip to the left. Again, he is telling us that he prefers to use the left side of his body. You can see this each time that he backs up in both videos.
This is not at all unusual and is common for most horses, just as it is with people. We are either left handed, or right handed. Joey is a Leftie! Sometimes these things are innate for the horse, or other times there is an injury or conformational flaw that makes them more comfortable to one side than the other. In most cases, it is pretty easy to fix, and there are lots of cool exercises that we can do to help make our horses more ambidextrous!
When a horse starts the initial step of the lope on the right lead, his back right leg is the first to become engaged in the stride. That is why when we ask for the lope on the right lead, we use our left leg to push the hip over to bear weight on the right. If we can loosen, strengthen and build more flexibility on the right hip and back leg, the transition becomes much easier for the horse! He can push off his back right leg with less effort. He does not need to scramble from a jog to a trot for momentum compensating for his weakness, so he starts the lope off much more balanced! Also, he can maintain the lope without breaking down, because the back right leg continues to be the strong driving force through out the gait. Makes sense, huh?
When we ask the horse to back up, his hind end takes responsibility for the motion. Joey starts off backing nice and straight, but after a few steps, his right hip gets lazy. He lets his stronger left hip take more responsibility for the motion of the back up, which effects his steering and makes him go crooked, turning his body to the left! Just the same as his right hip needs to be stronger to achieve a better right lead lope and transition, his right hip needs to be stronger to help him back up straighter as well!
(*Disclaimer - Always remember that when you back up, it's important to give direction with your leg just the same as it is going forward.)
Here are some exercises you can do to help strengthen that right hip:
Backing Up in Circles - #1 fix for lead departures, lead changes, backing up straight and evening balance & cadence. It also works on roundness, and strengthening the back muscles for roundness.
Start by walking Joey in a 5 meter circle to the right. Find a point on the circle where you can stop, and ask him to back up while staying on that same perfect circle. You will use your outside (left) leg to help push his hip along the circumference of the circle. Maintain the reserve motion with your rein and body weight.
Do 1/4 of a circle at a time until this feels easy and soft, at which point you can do 1/2 circle, 3/4 circle, full circle - then as many circles as you want! My one-sided horses do this every ride on their weaker side, before they ever have a chance to lope.
Pivot on the Forehand to Right - Great for building strength in the hip! This is just like the spin, except for the front end stays stationary and the hind end rotates. Start by holding steady rein pressure; you may need to guide both of your hands to the left a few cm's to ensure that Joey's shoulder stays steady. Bring your left leg back to push his hip toward the right.
Again, a few steps at a time until you can easily do a 180, 360, then full rotations, pushing the hip to the right. Remember that unlike the spin, the POTF (Pivot On The Forehand) is just an exercise for western horses, so it does not have to be perfect with a pivot foot planted.
Haunches In to the Right - On the right rein, start by walking a rectangle shape in your arena, staying atleast a meter off the rail. Keeping light rein contact, place your right leg at the girth and left leg slightly back, pushing Joey's hip toward the inside of the arena. The important part is to focus only on the hip moving. Maintain forward motion, no lateral motion, staying parallel to the fence at all times. The horse should make the letter "J" shape with his body. Start with Haunches In for 2 or 3 steps, then release. Work your way up to more steps, but never more than 10 or 12. When this is easy, do it at a jog, then a lope.
A lot of times, we can mend and improve our horses' performance by learning how to best control their bodies, not necessarily by drilling the same maneuvers over and over and over again! My horses learn to spin, to change leads, to go round, to back up - mostly by giving me the power to manipulate their bodies in exercises like these! Add these into your daily routine and you will see lots of improvement.
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