Asking the horse to bend on a 20metre circle

[maggiestar]

Hi everyone,
I hope I'm in the right section for this!
Could anyone tell me the correct aids for asking the horse to bend around your inside leg on a 20 metre circle? I was told to keep your inside leg on the girth, outside slightly behind the girth and open up your inside rein.
However this sounds a lot like the canter aid and I'm wondering how you would ride a circle in the sitting trot without breaking into canter. Hope someone can help!
Thanks a lot

 

[**Vanner**]

The position of the legs sounds like canter aid but it isn't a definite 'ask'.

 

[maggiestar]

Thanks Vanner,
Do you mean when you're asking for bend it's a more subtle aid, just moving the outside leg back without squeezing or anything?

 

[madeleine1]

pritty sure thats what she meant. it is the same as canter aid but u just do it quiter and less of an active movement.

 

[horseyperson]

When on a circle, that outside leg is there to push the horse back in if he flops out of the circle. You open your inside rein to turn the horse.
However, sometimes a horse will flop into the circle, in which case you use your inside leg to push them back out.
When asking for canter, you go into sitting trot and then with a single aid squeeze with your outside leg behind the girth and inside leg in the normal position. You move your leg back like this to make sure the horse goes on the correct lead.
When on a circle in sitting trot, although the aids are sort of similar to canter, so long as your have a good rein contact (you can feel the horses mouth) so that you can slow them and give small nudges forward, not one big one (which would suggest canter) the horse shouldn't canter.
hope this helps :s

 

[suzied]

The difference between the 2 aids is that in the trot circle the outside leg rests behind the girth to stop the quarters swinging out, increasing the pressure if necessary to keep the quarters following in the same track as the shoulders, whereas, when asking for canter, the outside leg nudges to ask for canter strike off combined with a weight aid from the outside seat bone pushing slightly down and forwards. Once in canter, the outside leg resting behind the girth does the same job as in trot, ie keeping the quarters in. To feel the difference try transitions between trot & canter on the 20m circle. Hope this helps.

 

[maggiestar]

Thanks guys. Horseyperson, you've explained it really well and it's much appreciated because it's a confusing subject for a beginner. I can see I've got a lot of work to do, lol! x

 

[maggiestar]

The difference between the 2 aids is that in the trot circle the outside leg rests behind the girth to stop the quarters swinging out, increasing the pressure if necessary to keep the quarters following in the same track as the shoulders, whereas, when asking for canter, the outside leg nudges to ask for canter strike off combined with a weight aid from the outside seat bone pushing slightly down and forwards. Once in canter, the outside leg resting behind the girth does the same job as in trot, ie keeping the quarters in. To feel the difference try transitions between trot & canter on the 20m circle. Hope this helps.

Thanks Suzie,
I'm starting to realise why my canter transitions aren't always very predictable now - sometimes I get canter and sometimes a fast jog. I think I'm not giving a strong enough aid with my outside leg and that's why I thought the horse would canter when asking for bend. It's obviously two different things. I've definitely got a lot to work on!!

 

[suzied]

If ever I've had that problem - my horse trotting faster instead of cantering - I've corrected it by making sure I'm sitting upright with shoulders back but relaxed when asking for the canter transition, and controlling the speed of the trot with my outside hand - gently closing my fingers on the outside rein without pulling backwards to steady the trot, then softening the fingers again as soon as the pace has settled into a steady rhythm. A good exercise to reinforce this is to canter for 6 strides, go back to trot for 6 strides, then back to canter for 6 strides and so on. Another useful exercise to get the feel of what your body should be doing during the canter transition can be done on foot. Put your hands on your hips and imitate the canter by skipping a circle, leading with your inside leg. Feel the position of your hips and how they move, the inside hip will be further forward as you step down into the inside leg. You do exactly the same in the saddle when asking for canter. Just think you are going to skip with your horse and hum a tune in time with the canter - half a pound of tuppeny rice is a good one!

 

[JanetGeorge]

There's too much about legs here - and not nearly enough about seat, back and weight aids. If you use your inside leg on girth and outside leg behind girth to ask for canter, you'll get into trouble when you start teaching half-pass. The primary aid for canter is the seat/back.

As for bending on a circle, if your horse is truly straight then all you need to do for circle is to open the inside rein, support with the outside rein and LOOK where you're going - that puts your seat/weight right for the turn. Horses fall out on a circle because:
1. the rider uses too much inside rein and/or
2. the horse is not going forward.

I make my staff try riding 20 metre circles on VERY green horses (backed 4-6 weeks) with just an opening inside rein and their eyes - you'd be amazed at how well the horses do it as long as they are going forward!