Curing the Exit Stage Left

It is most annoying when your horse learns to get out of work, for whatever reason, by dropping his right shoulder and spinning towards the left. You are normally thrown over that dropped shoulder and land on the ground. Some say this is impssible to stick with, I say my normal quote found in a Streisand song from Yentil "I've seen the impossible happen before..."

I have 3 that do/did this drop the right shoulder and exit stage left...YES you can stick with this move AND more importantly counteract to correct and teach them NOT TO DO IT.

I figure we teach them this move by leaning forward and if we have a stronger right leg than left.... we use our right leg to catch our forward weight shift more than our left... so....when we teach lateral movements you teach them to move the forehand away from the single leg pressure.

YES you can stick with this move AND more importantly counteract to correct and teach them NOT TO DO IT.

Once a horse learns to do this highly effective means of expressing; thier unwillingness to do something, they will use it for all sorts of reasons. Everything from the physical to the emotional.

Physical reasons include, but are not limited to: sore feet, legs, hips, back, teeth, mouth, and shoulders. The causes of the soreness are as varried as poor tack fit, unnoticed pasture injuries, poor rider balance or poor rider position.
The emotional reasons could be anything from fear of creating soreness, herd sourness, ring sourness, to lack of consistent leadership from the rider.

OK. how to ride, counteract and reteach the drop right shoulder and exit stage left... can develop a buck with the left hind, either before or after the right Shouler drops, just to get your weight over that missing shoulder...

1. A horn on the saddle helps tremendously, but must be used in conjunction with everything else I recommend... so it is NOT NECESSARY

2. When you feel the head drop or swivel and drop, LEAN BACK and askfor a full out HALF HALT... I mean LOUD AND strong... strong enough that if they weren't putting all thier weight on the forehand they would seriously consider rearing or backing!!! We MUST rock them back on those hind legs ASAP.

3. if you don't have a buck yet... then after or during the half halt, Kick his side with your RIGHT leg to pick up that right fore leg and shift your weight to the left, towards the middle of the ribcage. He can't push off that right leg if it is up in the air. You should now be able to use your seat and reins, you are aiming for a leg yield bent around YOUR right leg.

4. If you have a buck... It normally comes as a defense against the half halt.... half halt again and go to make the leg yield as if it
would be bent around the right leg but then switch it, midstride, to be bent around the left.

Bending him over his RIGHT shoulder and positioning him with his right hind leg under him and on the ground is WHAT HE WANTS so he does it willingly thinking "AHHHH.... I've got her now...I'll just get this left hind leg planted for the spin and ... WHAT HAPPENED??? why is my left leg going under me and my right shoulder dropping????" <grumble rumble grumble>

See, you catch them with the leg yield around the left leg in a moment of surprise or self congratulation... when they have turned thier body over to muscle memory reaction..... The moment they do that, your aids work. They are natural/instinctive reactions and require no real thought from the horse other than "not fighting you." the minute they are distracted... they aren't fighting you.

When you ride through "the exit stage left/right" enough times they give it up.

When you ride through "the exit stage left/right" enough times they give it up. As time passes they forget about it and won't challenge correctly trained seats/aids/riders... but the next person who falls forward over that left shoulder... will find it drops away.

There is a 95% certainty that the horse probably won't spin. He now likes being balanced and things like lateral work, extension and collection are fun now so.... avoiding work that is not fun doesn't enter his mind as the work is "fun". The horse will act up in different ways to instruct the rider/instructor as to the fact that "this person on his back is NOT letting him be balanced over his hindquarters."

The bad thing is, for training purposes, this is ALMOST a good thing. The rider/instructor KNOWS the horse/rider balance was lost to the forehand and was not corrected quick enough. That loss of rider attentiveness caused the situation. Horses that learn the exit stage left maneuver tend to DEMAND that their riders KNOW or at least LEARN HOW TO RIDE. this doesn't make them "Difficult"... just smart.