A horse I'm working with isn't wanting to switch his back end going or turning the second barrel. Any tips or solutions? I've been slowing him down and loping the correct lead around it. Not a professional trainer so any help is appreciated!
Could be strength, be naturally unbalanced, could be hocks, could need chiro. . . . How is his lead change doing figure 8's? Does he cross fire at liberty?
Posts: 13315 Location: East Tennessee but who knows?!
hannahbug - 2017-04-17 4:24 PM
Could be strength, be naturally unbalanced, could be hocks, could need chiro. . . . How is his lead change doing figure 8's? Does he cross fire at liberty?
Exactly. Depending on how a horse is built can determine how long it takes for them to build the strength & develop the balance.
I am just bringing my horse back from time off and not having those hind end muscles makes her do this so badly. She'll switch easily in figure 8s but just for circles we STRUGGLE with leads and specially the right for her, which tends to be her weaker side and the first barrel is what I watch in the arena. She tries to shoulder in. Once she's strong again she carries herself like a totally different horse & I know joint maintenance helps her. I'm going to look at having her hocks injected since she's aging but we've never had to so far; just strength training!
morganmarie74 - 2017-04-17 3:37 PM A horse I'm working with isn't wanting to switch his back end going or turning the second barrel. Any tips or solutions? I've been slowing him down and loping the correct lead around it. Not a professional trainer so any help is appreciated!
As been stated, it depends. The horse could lack the physcial fitness or muscle endurance to correctly stay in the lead, or the horse could have a pain problem (stifles are notorious for cross firing, but could also be other things like hocks).
Can you post a video?
Does she crossfire at any other time? (outside of the arena)
If she's cross firing outside of the pattern she needs to be looked at by a chiro. How old is she? She may just be inexperienced or not have the strength to maintain the correct lead around the barrel.
Cross Firing
