“We have a 16.2hh TB ex-racehorse. He is now 11 and we've had him for a year and a half. His transitions are good, apart from cantering on the right rein when he favours striking out on the wrong leg - as a result of racing in a straight line I suspect!

We have been working on getting him to use the correct leg which we managed to get by first asking over a pole in the corner, and then by just exaggerating the outside leg and raising the inner hand. He didn't like it but he would get it after a couple of tries... We would then move onto something else.

Now he has started to fight against us and buck when we ask for that particular canter - he doesn't do it any other time. We haven't used a whip on him for this.  Should we just ignore this behaviour and make him work through it? Your suggestions would be appreciated. Many thanks. Caroline.”  

H&C’s expert Jenny Rudall replies: “Hi Caroline, thank you for your question. I have a horse at the moment that I am training for some owners who is exhibiting some very similar problems to your horse. He's also an ex-racehorse a year into his change of career, so I hope that my experiences may help you.

I must firstly say get the back, teeth and tack checked as there may be a problem somewhere causing discomfort.  The horse I am currently training had a slight back problem and the memory of this on the flat causes him to kick out, fight and buck when the workload gets to what he considers too hard, but lo and behold the moment he sees a fence or is hacking, the problem magically disappears.  This means that the problem for my horse is a mental one and one that we get through by my deep breathing and patience.

No stick needed

You are correct not to use the stick as getting angry will not help and I think the problem is your horse finding right canter difficult and expressing this.  As he is improving, you are increasing what you expect of him and it could be due to a lack of confidence and with a lot of horses there is a really fine line between working hard and meltdown. 

Try and vary his workload as much as possible and try building up the canter on the lunge or on a hack where he will feel less pressure and can get stronger without rider interference.  Praise, praise and  praise again the moment he puts his hooves in the right direction and as soon as he gets it right change the exercise. If he gets a reward for doing it correctly he will be more likely to offer it. Also try some different exercises to get the correct canter. A great exercise is leg yielding into the corner before the canter transition, either from the three quarter line or coming across the diagonal. You can watch our How to leg yield video to help you.  This helps him engage the inside hind and sets both horse and rider up right before the moment you ask.  Another idea is to put a small jump in the corner and popping over it in the trot and if he lands on the correct lead keep going and tell him he is wonderful.  Most importantly don’t panic and don’t make right canter a big deal. With time and practice he will come through this and remember, ignore the bad and praise the good.   

Hope this helps and please let us know how you get on.  Jenny”