Horse turning head to the outside in the arena?

I've had my anglo arab for 3 months and he's generally a very responsive, happy guy. He was broken for polo at 3 or 4 and has hunted/hunter trialled since (is now 7) from what I know. He's flexible and was very fit when I got him but was also skinny so I haven't worked him very hard and he's lost quite a bit of muscle.





Long story but he's now finally putting on weight very well out at grass but in the last 3 wks I've found he turns his head to the outside in the arena when I try to keep him on the track. Inside leg doesn't seem to help and I hate the way he's skewing his neck and starting to motorbike around corners in canter.





He's very fast and has a high head carriage but I keep my leg on and my hands v soft, this is working well at getting his head down. Pulling on the reins to slow him down makes things worse so I do lots of half halts, talk to him and slow him with my seat.





I just had an epiphany yesterday that part of the bending problem is that I've been dropping contact with my outside rein when I ask for an inside bend with my legs and seat (and slight inside rein pressure) so I did lots of small and big circles in walk, trot and canter to keep his head and body bending to the inside. This worked wonders but I know the problem won't be just miraculously fixed in the arena.





He doesn't seem to understand that leg pressure from one side means move away from the pressure when he's excited, he seems to kind of brace against it and go faster in trot and canter though he's great in walk and his head is lovely and low.





I'm hoping the circle work will fast improve this but is there anything else I can do? His saddle and teeth are fine.|||To properly condition a horse to bend, you need to use your legs on both sides.





Use the inside leg as a support for him to wrap around by providing firm pressure at the girth. Use the outside leg to provide a cue to move his shoulder away from the wall and bend around the inside leg. You can also cue with the outside leg behind the girth to get the bend, but I use that as the cue to canter.]





Just as you can't drop the outside rein, you can't drop the outside leg. It'll take some time before it's automatic for you, let alone him, but this will help tremendously. It'll also keep him from leaning into his turns and counterbending.





Do this along with your circles, and I think you'll find he "gets" it a lot sooner. Also, if he's used to support from both hands and both legs, he'll find it reassuring and probably not get so strung out. I know my horse feels scared when I'm not supporting him, and gets way fast and strung out. Part of this is disobedience, but a large part of it is just not knowing what to do!





Good Luck!|||Provided you're sure he's physically fine, then progress as you are with the circles - remember to keep his straight though. I know that sounds crazy but even on a circle his head should be in the middle of his shoulders and his shoulders should be in line with his quarters. The bend comes from his barrel and it only needs to be slight. As well as the circles, work him on straight lines. It will help to get someone experienced to watch you from the ground to tell you when he is straight. As for the pressure, you can also work on this from the ground. Ask him to move away from pressure; backwards, sideways and so on. Praise him when he's good and he'll soon learn. If he gets excited, just remain calm and firm. To get him moving sideways, apply pressure where your legs would be so he gets the message that pressure there means move away. It will take time, but it will be worth it :)|||Unfortunately, your horse is probably not as happy as you think he is. His high head carriage and speed is likely to be about anxiety and poor training and you will need to do some work on this. This is not the same as the problem with his head, however, and there is a separate set of things you need to do for that.





Your horse will relax more on a loose rein, with light leg pressure and very quiet spaces in between requests. When the aids are clear, the horse will ultimately be both responsive and quiet. Do work on the lead line with him as well, getting him to lead quietly and responsively, but most importantly to just stand still. Do the same thing under saddle - after you do something exciting like canter, stop and sit for five minutes. Train him to expect quietness not more excitement. His polo and h/j background are not conducive to a relaxed horse except when the rider and trainer have both worked hard to train quietness into the horse's program.





Half halts are fine for when you have to do minor corrections for a horse who mostly has good speed control. That's not the case here. Instead, each time the horse is faster than you want, you need to act more intensely: catch him the moment he starts to speed up, drop him to the next lower gait (or stop him at the walk) for a second or less and then resume the desired gait. Repeat until you really aren't having to correct for this. Then you may be able to use the half halts for occasional corrections - but for right now they are probably just adding to his anxiety.





For his head position, there are two things you can do.





One is to leverage the indirect rein each time he looks out - lay the rein across the outside of his neck about a quarter to halfway up.





Another is to shorten the inside direct rein but use inside leg to keep him on course in the circle or turn. Don't forget to slacken the outside rein.





Either of these things need to be done only for long enough to correct him and then must be released so he can learn the right thing to do from the drop in pressure and develop self carriage with his head the right way.





Keep in mind that each gait of the horse is like a separate horse to be trained. Being good at walk does not mean the horse knows anything at trot or canter. And as you go up the gaits, the horse is closer to the automatic flight response, and if the horse could reason he would think "I'm going faster, so I must be afraid of something or there must be something to be afraid of". So control is more tenuous, learning is slower, anxiety can turn into panic and it all needs a lot of focus from you.





As the horse gets quieter, you can install lighter leg response if you are skilled with spurs. You need to have a very careful touch and good timing or this will be a disaster, but if you have it, you can really lighten up a horse without instilling fear or panic. To do so, start the horse in a small circle at the walk using customary leg pressure. Then lighten your leg pressure but don't release. When he starts to straighten away, touch him (don't poke, press or jab him) with the spur. He should immediately move away from your leg. Try to think of your spur as an electric wire around the turn. When he strays, he gets touched. But only when he strays. Then, as you lighten your leg, he learns to self-carry the turn on a light leg and the spur goes away. This can work remarkably quickly but you have to sense the moment he is too straight and the moment he complies or you will just make him crazy or desensitized. Don't do it if you're not ready. Practice on lesson horse with your instructor.





There's one last thing you need to check. Is he actually on the correct lead in the canter? Horses almost invariably feel like they are "motorbiking", as you so eloquently put it, when they are on the wrong lead. Use video or a knowledgeable friend to check this out.





Well, I hope this helps. It sounds like he will be a sweet and responsive horse once you get past these few things.





Best wishes to you and your horse!





EDIT: I hope this will help re: your comment about not understanding what I meant about the outside indirect rein. A horse who neck reins - that is moves his neck away from the pressure of the indirect rein laid across his neck, should turn his head toward the arc of the curve if you lay the outside rein partway up his neck. You will not want contact on the outside rein when you do this, or it will be confusing. You can retain contact on the inside direct rein however, and you can reinforce the neck rein with a tug on the direct rein as an additional level of correction. Many Western riders also ride on a loose rein with the inner rein shorter so that when they draw back or half halt, the inside rein contacts the mouth first and the head thus can be corrected to turn inward with a neck rein first and with the half halt direct rein if that doesn't work.





I'm not sure what you mean about him being on the correct lead on both reins, however.