Advice needed on standing squarely

[diamonddogs]

Sham has a habit of standing with one hind foot in front of the other, which apart from looking messy, she feels very unstable under saddle - think trying to stand up on inline skates! It's even wierder when she decides to rest a leg - it feels like she's going to sit down!

Any tips on getting her square, rather than triangular, please?

 

[eml]

Is this under saddle or on the ground?? If you stand her up in hand and tap the leg you want to move back will she then stand square? If he persists in hand in having the same leg forward it is possible she needs to see a chiro or osteopath

If she will stand square in hand then not being square under saddle is normally because the rider is not square through the halt..one leg left behind often means you have uneven pressure on your seatbones through the halt!!

 

[diamonddogs]

Both! She can and does stand square, but it's when she relaxes that one hind comes forward - it varies which one. Actually, she brings the hind underneath rather than leaving it trailing.

Thanks for the tip - I've just reached the point where she'll accept being stroked and prodded with a dressage whip without having a heart attack (quite an achievement as she's suffered abuse in the past so was scared of her own shadow when I first got her) so she's almost ready to be tapped. She's a very bright girl and understands very quickly what I want from her, so hopefully she'll have another transferable skill once she's got the idea on the ground.

I'll bear in mind about maybe needing some treatment/therapy though.

 

[eml]

Don't worry too much about that, it is only if the horse consistently off both reins without a rider stops in the same position that you need to query a physical issue. I have one lovely RS horse who stops consistently with the off fore in front but he has a boxy foot on the other leg so obviously slightly favours the normal foot for weight bearing.