Welcome to Gaia! ::

he's just one sided. is he young? lots of green horses are one sided. all horses have a side they like better. western ones (or none dressage) especially. u can try keeping him at the canter on the lunge line and try him to change on his own. and then if he doesnt change after a circle, bring him down to trot. try working him more on this side at the canter. it will help build strength on that side.

I Usally take my horse outin a large field where it doesn't matter about the lead & I Work Getting him/her to canter from a stop

How about long lining him? There, you have the help of an outside rein and the horse is more balanced in general. However, it's not a good choice if you know your horse to buck or spook, since the lines can get caught.

Do you have a round pen? Have you ever tried free lunging to see if you get the same result?

Theres a round pen, its not as bad but he still sometimes picks up the wrong lead. I would try it, but he does spook sometimes and he bucks (Better on the ground than in the saddle) and I don't want to be kicked or have him get hurt.

The closest equine chiro is 2 hours away :/ but...

I have an update. He's doing a bit better.

I went out to see Riley, the barn owner and I both checked him for back pain. The only thing he did was turn his head to look at what I was doing. That's something he always does - then he started trying to eat the cross ties rolleyes silly silly horse. Throughout all this his little ears were pricked.

I put on my rope halter instead of his nylon one. I put him on a longer line, and let him walk around awhile. When I did decide to trot him, I let him get all his little fits out, and I waited till he seemed totally relaxed before I asked for the canter. I didn't encourage with the lunge whip - I only used my voice. I started him off to the left and he did really well. Out of 5 times he only picked up the wrong lead once. He was even better going right.

Riley's really sensitive about lunge whips, I think thats what was making him on the tense side. The whip was there, but it wasn't doing too much encouraging.

I then saddled him up and lunged him again, I put him back on the longer line. He had a little more trouble picking it up, he was more tense but then again he is cinchy... so... could be explained? I got 4 good transitions out of him going left. He did even better going right. As usual.

I got on to ride, he was very good, well behaved at the walk and trot - not trying to take off. Well, I asked for the canter to the left, to see if he'd pick up the correct lead. rolleyes Baaaad idea, we're not ready for that yet with the problems we're having... BUT he did pick up the correct lead. Then after that, he'd pick up the canter to take off, he continued to pick up the correct lead.

I checked him after the ride for soreness, he let out a sigh and lowered his head. His lip was quivering, he was relaxed and looked like he was going to fall asleep on me, lol. His ears were forward and his eyes half closed. After I turned him out, he found a nice good spot to roll.

I'm not sure if its a physical issue, his saddle seems to fit properly - I plan to go out again this week and work withh him more and more on his left side. It's sort of become our difficult side during riding so I think its our difficult side on the ground. I'll keep him on a longer line.

I'm still going to have the vet out and check him and get his shots.

He's got a good thick saddle pad - I've heard nothing but good things about it. I use the Wrangler SMx Air Ride with a cotton under pad. That's one of the best western saddle pads offered in the tack shop here.

Well, I don't know how I can add padding with a western saddle like some do with the english. My current pad is good and thick (But not too thick) I've been thinking of adding a rear cinch for when I lunge him, just to keep the saddle from bouncing up and down a whole lot (I notice it bounces at the trot but not so much the canter).

He picks up the canter perfectly in the 60ft roundpen, no problems. So I've been starting him in there before taking him to the outdoor arena to ride.

Riley's currently off work at the moment as well. He has a bad chip in his left front hoof that's getting immediate attention from the farrier as soon as this long weekend is over... stupid holidays...

I know exactly what you're going through, my horse is the same way!
What I did was completely left the whip out of the picture and worked that way, making him listen to voice ONLY. After he got that down I worked with the whip while he was stopped completely. If he's squeemish about the whip, rub it all over him to let him know it's a friend not an enemy.

Work him his bad way first. That way when he does better to the right, it'll end on a good note. Use ALOT of positive reinforcement. Keep us posted ^^

Do You Have A Trainer at your barn?