'blocked hand' on one rein

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georgiegirl2

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Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for 'one handedness'?

I seem to get very tense in my left hand (which is my dominant hand) and although I ride with soft hands my left hand always seems more blocked than my right - you can tell as there is always a little more of the bit showing on that side. The trouble is my horses are now becoming fixed on my left rein and as a result we both end up tense down that side.

My instructor has suggested holding my left rein upside down?

Has anyone else had a problem with this / experience of helping others with this problem?
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Try crossing your reins so your left hand holds the right rein and vice versa.

Also, it probably isnt your hand thats instigating it, it's probably coming from the shoulder and hip so work on straightness is a good idea (I know because my left side hand is always trying to dominate more than my right!)
 
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LOL my instructor made me do both those things the other day!!

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Who's your instructor?
Sounds like they know what theyre doing!!
 
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Mandy Lawrence, she is a BD instructor and judge, she's also classically trained and does a lot with TTT.

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That'll be why then
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Very similar methods to my trainer who's senior instructor there.

Keep on with it and constantly remind yourslef when you're riding to soften the left hand. I have real issues with using enough outside rein when on the left rein- my weaker right hand wants to let the left hand pull the horse round.
 
thats what happens to me! and its far to strong for an outside contact on the right rein. Trouble is, i try and soften and end up snatching (not consciously) because i think i feel i need to have something there. and on the left rein my steering and bend goes to pot when i soften it. I tried rolling my left shoulder in circles today whenever i felt my left rein taking over and that seemed to help although i will certainly try crossing my reins - could be interesting! haha
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i think your right with the problem may be coming from somewhere else.

my left leg stays long and soft whereas my right leg seems to ride shorter and i get very tense in that ankle and i know it sounds daft but i often feel like i've got more weight in that leg even though the other leg remains softer and longer - if that makes any sense??

i keep checking my seat position and it feels level with weight even on each of my seatbones so im not sure where the problem lies really!
 
I agree entirely with what Boss and seahorse have said - my instructor is Boss's sister who also goes to TTT and has me doing all those things to stop me fixing my right hand and shoulder. Sometimes all it takes is releasing the right rein contact, other times I need to work on my whole body straightness. I'm trying to persuade myself to go to a physio to sort myself out but so far have failed (I hate things like that!)
 
'What you feel in the rein is a symptom of what is not happening in the hind leg!'
Most people find that one side of their body does not react the same as the other, for obvious reasons of whether you are left or right handed. This has a huge effect on how the hips and the pelvis allow you to sit in the saddle , with the dominant side often blocking you out to that side. For RH people this is the right hip, they frequently then find it difficult to understand where their true 'center' is and as a result you will often see a dropped left shoulder in an effort to get weight more evenly down through the leg and seat. The left hand often blocks down as the right hip will not move forard , with the net effect being that you may think you are asking for flection to the left but in fact you are stuck to the right. Add to this many of our horses have a stronger left driving leg and you will see the problems of , neck bend, loss of outside shoulder, lack of turning. For those that are left handed i tend to find they are easier to get straight as they tend to be always having to use their rhs as they live in a rh world.
So although your instructor may be getting you to do these things that you descibe above i think you need to examine the root of the problem and that is a greater awareness of body use. One of the big areas is the shoulder blades and the thought of them both lying flat down the back, not forced together but folding softly flat like you are using them to hold the spine in. This will keep your shoulder wide and from that your elbow can hang heavily out of the joint keeping the thumbs ontop the hand presents itself to the rein rather like you were holding two eggs on spoons for the egg and spoon race !! You mission, should you wish to accept it, will be to keep the eggs on the spoons at all times and in all paces!!.
Sounds mad, but its an idea that has helped a few people that have had a similar problem to you.
Remember that most problems in the hand stem from a resistance in your body , mostly through poor and uneven core usage and therfore a loss of freedom in the hips.
 
I was so heavy with my left hand on the left rein, crossing it over and really pulling Axey round with almost no contact on the right rein at all.
I was getting permanent arm and shoulder ache and he was constantly leaning on the left rein all the time. He had also started head tilting.
I was convinced it was a problem with him and started down the changing bits route and I even put draw reins on the poor boy.
Mandy spotted what I was doing straight away and said that I had managed to 'train' Axey to go in that way and he was only doing as he was told!
I really have to work hard on keeping my left hand out and as soon as I stop thinking about it my hand starts creeping over. This is why we did the exercises with the reins crossed over and holding them upside down (not at the same time!) to make me more aware of what my hands were doing.

Hope this makes sense!
 
You need to be aware of what your BODY is doing. This focus on the hands is a red herring they are the symptom not the cause and dong this is not solving your problem.
It is a problem for your horse because you are preventing him from engaging evenly his hind legs, hence the tilting and gripping on the rein. There is no point solving the hand if you are not developing a better answer with the support from you seat and leg.
 
I was very heavy in my left hand and nothing in my right hand. I used to get so frustrated as try as I might I couldn't get my hands to be even. It turns out that it was due to my pelvis being twisted from when I got dragged by my pony several years ago. As soon as I get heavy in my left hand, I book myself in with the Osteopath.
 
Crossing the reins makes you aware of what your body is doing- it highlights the arms and the shoulder's and really makes you connect both sides of your body.

Seahorse- my problem stems from my pelvis twisting to the right so I have to push my left seat bone back, my left shoulder back and the rest generally then follows- it initially feels like you're turning too much to the left. Someone told me to turn my bellybutton to the left but I find this just twists my upper body.
 
Adding to partoow's excellent post, I try to think of my arm as a marionette's arm or, better yet for me at least, one of those desk toys with the steel balls on wires, with a fixed swivel at the top and a heavy ball at the elbow. Instead of thinking of "pulling" I just think of making the ball heavier or lighter. I find this also helps me keep track of my neutral position as, if all is well, the ball should hang straight down the balance line of my upper body. When I am crooked I often find I feel one elbow creep in front of the line and one being held behind.

It's also important to think what your legs are doing - it's quite common to make up for a weak leg by trying to do its job with the opposite hand. I found this got much worse for me when I did in my right ankle and I have to fight the urge to open my left rein to make up for the lack of feel in my right leg. After all, a HUGE amount of our brain is dedicated to using our hands and this is often the default position we revert to in a pinch.

Use your horse's straightness as a monitor. Rider and horse position do not exist in isolation and it is not possible to affect one without changing the other. It can be very helpful to ride other horses, particularly ones regularly ridden by other (preferably more skilled) riders, as this can clearly illuminate certain problems/patterns in your riding. This is where only riding one horse trained only by you can be a problem - if you ride half a dozen horses and they all start doing the same thing wrong, it ain't the horses!
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It is also possible for a horse to "teach" a rider. Horses have preferences too and if the rider is not religious about straightness some horses can become very wedded to their asymmetry, even to the point of "pushing" the rider out of the way. I've sat on horses that literally made me hurt, they were so strongly crooked.

Check your position in other areas of your daily life, too. Do you sit evenly on your chair? In the car? (Driving can really make you crooked.) Do you always step up the curb with the same foot? Carry things with the same hand? Being aware of your own weaknesses and preferences can help you understand how they might affect your riding.

As everyone has said, look at the whole not just the parts. Riding with a driving rein, one handed etc. can be VERY helpful but only if you let it show you the basic changes you need to make. And resign yourself to the fact change takes time and discipline - you will go through a phase where you know you're doing the wrong thing, yet it happens anyway sometimes and this can be very frustrating. Take comfort in the fact that you only feel that way once you know what you're doing wrong and what it feels like when you're right!
 
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Mandy Lawrence, she is a BD instructor and judge, she's also classically trained and does a lot with TTT.

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Mandy is not a BD judge. She is a trainee but has not yet passed her exam.
 
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