Stella : Good sides and Bad sides

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In a bid to let Stella work her legs out, and to ease her nerves about being in the school I decided to do some groundwork in there. She copes with being in the school and she copes with pressure. Put the two together and she worries.
So I thought to start with I would just take her in there on a lunge line, let her stretch her legs and get a feel for it without having to worry about a rider. 
We started on the left rein, all good and soon she was trotting around at a constant pace. 
A little faster than we would like but still, she wasn't stopping and then darting forwards so I was pleased with this.
The aim was to let her work it out, not ask any questions and demand no answers.
This approach was working well so I decided to change the rein and see if the same would work the other way. 

Well, this is where things got interesting.
As is often the case with horses she has a better rein. And this is her left rein. And what she is showing is very typical of a horse that has been taught everything from one side.
She is incredibly reluctant to turn and work on the right rein, not wanting to look at you out of her right eye at all.
She also has a scar on her cheek on this side, that extends down under her jaw.

So I have several different thoughts on this.

1) At some point in her life, she had an accident and something has caused her to be incredibly wary of anything being on her right-hand side. 

2) It is as simple as she is a worry bot and working form the offside is a new thing for her, so she stresses over it. 

3) Taking into account her distaste for moving through small spaces maybe her eyesight isn't 100% and post probably through that right eye.

It could be a mixture of all of these things, and it could be none of them.

I will be getting her a full health check in the near future to just make sure that there are no actual issues with her sight.

Aside from that, I am just going to continue groundwork with her, desensitising this 'bad' side, and teaching her that its no issue if someone wants to approach her, or lead her from this side. Currently, she tries to block you from walking around her front to get to the offside so there will be lots of work on this.

Throughout the winter, with a mixture of exercises, I am hoping to help her become a steady and happy horse that isn't scared of her own shadow.

Always positioning herself to look at me through her left eye.

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