My horse is a 5 year old off the track now never raced but was trained, and is thought to be abused. At the beginning of the summer we were able to teach him his right lead and he had it for a while but due to getting quarantined we stopped working on it. Once we came back and asked him for it instead he started picking up his left lead. We know there isn’t anything physically wrong as we’ve had our chiropractor and vet out to see him, but he still won’t pick it up. We went back to basics and tried re teaching him like we did when he first learned it from us but that hasn’t seemed to work. Any ideas???
Re Teaching a lead
- Thread starter MIT15
- Start date
If there’s no physical issue then basics is what you need to do, but before even trying to teach leads you may need to work on balance and straightness as if they aren’t equally strong through both sides of the body they will always be inclined to pick up on their stronger side. Expect it to take months not weeks to improve fitness and core strength. It might be worth getting a physio to come out and assess him and give you some exercises to work on.
Have you had him checked over since coming back into work? How long was he out of work? Have you had his saddle checked?
I'd start again with plenty of hacking in straight lines. If you trot make sure you swap between diagonals to keep him building up evenly. After a few months of hacking ask around and find an instructor or trainer who has experience with ex-racers to help you work with him and be honest that you're starting from scratch and have problems. For a while it may seem boring and as though you haven't got anything to show for th work but if the basics aren't there then nothing will be secure.
Out of interest why do you think he's been abused? Racehorses in training have a very different life to other horses and it can take a long time to adapt to a change. It can alter how they interact with people, but that doesn't mean abuse.
I'd start again with plenty of hacking in straight lines. If you trot make sure you swap between diagonals to keep him building up evenly. After a few months of hacking ask around and find an instructor or trainer who has experience with ex-racers to help you work with him and be honest that you're starting from scratch and have problems. For a while it may seem boring and as though you haven't got anything to show for th work but if the basics aren't there then nothing will be secure.
Out of interest why do you think he's been abused? Racehorses in training have a very different life to other horses and it can take a long time to adapt to a change. It can alter how they interact with people, but that doesn't mean abuse.
I learned to canter on a specific lead on a straight line out hacking on an RS hacking horse never used in the school.
As Carthorse says, it is a question of the trotting diagonals.
But it is counter intuitive. In the school circling on the right rein and about to ask for the right lead canter, one may well be cueing as one rises in trot as the outside fore goes forward. Which means one is activating the inside hind leg.
Whereas out hacking, one want to activate the "outside" opposite hind leg to the lead one wants.
If you cue this correctly and get the wrong canter lead in response, reject it at once. Come back to trot, control the trot, get the correct hind leg working and ask again. it is always harder to get the less preferred lead. But 3 times of asking is usually enough. It was only towards the end of her life that I let Maisie choose her most comfortable lead.
As Carthorse says, it is a question of the trotting diagonals.
But it is counter intuitive. In the school circling on the right rein and about to ask for the right lead canter, one may well be cueing as one rises in trot as the outside fore goes forward. Which means one is activating the inside hind leg.
Whereas out hacking, one want to activate the "outside" opposite hind leg to the lead one wants.
If you cue this correctly and get the wrong canter lead in response, reject it at once. Come back to trot, control the trot, get the correct hind leg working and ask again. it is always harder to get the less preferred lead. But 3 times of asking is usually enough. It was only towards the end of her life that I let Maisie choose her most comfortable lead.
The reason he have a thought that he may have been abused is that a fast movement to his neck and butt while riding would send him into a crazed few minutes of him just having to eventually switch out of. He is super sensitive at his sides which could truly be for a number of reasons. When he would get into those crazed times there was no way to physically stop him and people can argue it but multiple people rode him trying to see how to see if there was a way to put a handle on it and it didn’t work. Specific men around our barn that are big and have loud voices make him shy away which again can be for different reason. The reason he was only in training and never raced is because he broke his jaw and no matter how many times we’ve asked we’ve never gotten a straight answer. I know these are all scenarios that people could argue that it’s cause of a different reason. When you are on the ground watching it happen or having it explained it’s different from the riding part of it when you actually had to fear something bad could happen cause there was no way to stop it.
The reason he have a thought that he may have been abused is that a fast movement to his neck and butt while riding would send him into a crazed few minutes of him just having to eventually switch out of. He is super sensitive at his sides which could truly be for a number of reasons. When he would get into those crazed times there was no way to physically stop him and people can argue it but multiple people rode him trying to see how to see if there was a way to put a handle on it and it didn’t work. Specific men around our barn that are big and have loud voices make him shy away which again can be for different reason. The reason he was only in training and never raced is because he broke his jaw and no matter how many times we’ve asked we’ve never gotten a straight answer. I know these are all scenarios that people could argue that it’s cause of a different reason. When you are on the ground watching it happen or having it explained it’s different from the riding part of it when you actually had to fear something bad could happen cause there was no way to stop it.
saddle has been checked, out of work for 2 and a half weeks, and he gets checked every month for his jaw and busted leg
I still do the same things with my legs as you described when I ask him cause that’s just the way I find easiest and he seemed to like that. He gets nervous to do the wrong thing out of fear from past homes so when he does it right he “stitches” as we call it or strikes out his leg and switches to the other lead because he thinks it’s correct.
2.5 weeks off should not have had him forget an established cue/movement. What was his ‘busted leg’? Has your vet said there is definitely no physical reason he may be favouring 1 side? Has this been checked in the time since he returned to work since the time off?
When you get the other canter lead does he just pop from a steady trot into a steady canter or is there any resistance or running into it? It really sounds like you need a good instructor to come and be your eyes on the ground to help you fully establish the basics.
@Jessey I was going to say the same, 2.5 weeks off is nothing even for a green horse.
@MIT15 what you describe sounds very much to me like a horse that potentially has ulcers and is also rather sensitive generally. Being very sensitive along his sides is a classic example - I used to have one prone to ulcers and believe me I learned to keep my legs very still and never ever ever used them beyond a certain point - as is being very one sided and indeed going into a blind melt down if pushed on that rein. He was also jumpy about stuff behind him and it was always wise to make sure nothing was unannounced. I bought this horse from his breeder and he stayed with me all his life, there was no abuse it was just who he was.
With regards to his response to a fast movement towards his neck or quarters when ridden, had you considered these are the areas a jockey/work rider would use a whip to encourage a surge forward? You may very well have a unwanted but trained response here and realistically under normal riding there is no need for fast rider movements in these areas.
My current Welsh cob can be very jumpy around people he doesn't know and again I know his whole background and there is no abuse in it. He's sensitive and, to put it politely, reactive and simply does not respond well to fast movement, loud people, the wrong body language and people he doesn't know getting in his personal space. I've had people say he's been knocked around and it really isn't the case, more knowledgeable people see him for what he is, act accordingly and get the trusting sweetheart he really is
Re not getting answers from the training yard, I live in a racing area and I can tell you that anyone pestering a trainer for "answers" would get very short shrift, particularly if you imply abuse. These aren't pet horses, and in many cases once they're gone they're gone.
My advice is talk to your vet again in detail and discuss the possibility of ulcers. Check the damage to the jaw isn't causing a problem either in his mouth or his neck. Get some help from people who have a lot of experience in horses coming out of training, they are not the same as taking on a youngster. Work with what you have and stop looking for someone else to blame. It may be that you have the wrong horse for you and it would be better for everyone to move him on to a home experienced with racers and with full disclosure of what you have problems with.
@MIT15 what you describe sounds very much to me like a horse that potentially has ulcers and is also rather sensitive generally. Being very sensitive along his sides is a classic example - I used to have one prone to ulcers and believe me I learned to keep my legs very still and never ever ever used them beyond a certain point - as is being very one sided and indeed going into a blind melt down if pushed on that rein. He was also jumpy about stuff behind him and it was always wise to make sure nothing was unannounced. I bought this horse from his breeder and he stayed with me all his life, there was no abuse it was just who he was.
With regards to his response to a fast movement towards his neck or quarters when ridden, had you considered these are the areas a jockey/work rider would use a whip to encourage a surge forward? You may very well have a unwanted but trained response here and realistically under normal riding there is no need for fast rider movements in these areas.
My current Welsh cob can be very jumpy around people he doesn't know and again I know his whole background and there is no abuse in it. He's sensitive and, to put it politely, reactive and simply does not respond well to fast movement, loud people, the wrong body language and people he doesn't know getting in his personal space. I've had people say he's been knocked around and it really isn't the case, more knowledgeable people see him for what he is, act accordingly and get the trusting sweetheart he really is
Re not getting answers from the training yard, I live in a racing area and I can tell you that anyone pestering a trainer for "answers" would get very short shrift, particularly if you imply abuse. These aren't pet horses, and in many cases once they're gone they're gone.
My advice is talk to your vet again in detail and discuss the possibility of ulcers. Check the damage to the jaw isn't causing a problem either in his mouth or his neck. Get some help from people who have a lot of experience in horses coming out of training, they are not the same as taking on a youngster. Work with what you have and stop looking for someone else to blame. It may be that you have the wrong horse for you and it would be better for everyone to move him on to a home experienced with racers and with full disclosure of what you have problems with.
The problem with his leg is that before we bought him he kicked through a fence and busted it open to the size of a softball though has never limped or shown any pain in that area from it, it happened a little over 3 years ago. When asking for the other lead he will go straight into it no questions asked and never once tried otherwise. He’s been checked multiple times by our vet to make sure he’s not in any physical pain when doing this or in general.
Have you tried to lunge him? Can he pick up the correct lead on the lunge? What about hacking? And when he is out in the field do you watch him to see if he always canters on the same lead?
I’ve lunged with nothing on or with saddle and he’s picked it up without having to ask much of him. Out in the field he’ll pick up his left most of the time but every once and a while use his right.
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