Center lines help

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doodle

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Argh I am useless at enter lines. The issue is with me rather than the horse as had the exact same comments with Minto, Soli and now Robin. Also 3 different people have done dressage tests on Robin get no comments about center lines.

The comment quite often is straight but not on the enter line! I think the issue might be the turn on to the center line and over shooting it. I really need to start eventing and have a mown line to follow ?.

Any tips? It’s so frustrating as usually I think it is good until I get sheet. The rest of my tests are arcurate.
 

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I like to use a channel of poles to practice down. Also really looking early for your turn, it always comes up quicker than you think!

Did an exercise today with my instructor on riding squares, really helped with accuracy of turns. I think help from the ground on "ring craft" is really important!
 
I think your right, I need to turn sooner. Will measure out 20m wide (our school is 25m wide) and put poles either side of center line. Thanks.
 
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We used to be really ropey on our centre lines, then my instructor helped with the following..... as you are riding along the long side, look at the spot on the centre line between F & K, which is D, and ride to it. You don't need to be on the centre line before then, but that is your point to be straight at. Then when you are turning off the centre line at the other end, start to look round your turn at G (between H & M). Obviously as we go up the levels, we will aim to be on before D and off after G, but that works for us at the moment. Quite often our best marks now are our two centre lines. x

ETA and practice, practice, practice is the key to it. Do it in walk first until you get the feeling of the 'curve', then move up to trot. Count the strides. It all helps. x
 
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As you come out of the corner look to C and dont take your eyes off it, trust yourself to ride the actual turn without looking down at the centre line, keep your head up and ride with purpose towards C , practise until you are riding almost without thinking about the turn, try not to use poles on the ground as they will encourage you to look down rather than up and ride forward. I tend to give a complete lesson with this as the focus and most of my pupils will get their best marks for the entry once they have grasped how to ride the turn, the test may not go to plan after that but they can consistently score 8's for movement 1:)
 
I start the turn at the quarter marker, ride a smooth curve and on a novice horse aim to be straight at the D marker, with eyes fixed beyond C. Then keep straight until G where on a novice I would be starting the turn to ensure the turn is smooth and we don't lose balance.

Make sure you use outside aids for a turn as otherwise, with such a tight turn, they often fall out of their shoulder and make the corner wide, even if you planned the perfect line.

With a horse who commonly goes out through the shoulder, I actually aim a bit short of the centre line so it compensates, at least until the horse is better schooled to hold the line by not falling out.
 
What Red said.
I think often it goes wrong when people try to make the turn too square on a horse that isn't sufficiently developed in its training.
Better to plan to round off the turn at each end and ride a straight CL *on* the CL than try too hard and reduce the quality of everything.

As my horses become supple and balanced enough to ride deeper corners, only then do I try and replicate those corners onto the centre line turns. I often find the turn is easier one way than the other, so try and start a test from that direction (obviously you get no choice at the end ?)
 
It's something I was thinking about quite a lot last year because at the higher levels, being able to squeeze a few more metres out of the centre line is important, because you can have several movements starting from there. Riding a square turn gives you more time and space to prepare (canter zigzag being the main one for me).
At the lower levels it would be nice to ride a squarer turn but it doesn't carry the same benefit for the next movements so no point rushing before the horse is ready.
 
That's really helpful MP. I've been riding a curve into my centre line for years, but I always struggle with my horse losing balance on the turn off the centre line to start the test. You've made me realise that I've been trying to ride it as a square corner instead of a curve! I've always been worried that the judge would say I had turned too early, but your explanation makes perfect sense.
 
I think it's important to be pragmatic when you are in a test situation. At home it's worth pushing the corners to get deeper, and then as that becomes established, trying to ride a similar depth in your turns on the CL but there's no point doing more than the horse is capable of when you're in front of the judge ;)

planning ahead to ride that curving line also reduces the likelihood of a wobble to the opposite direction happening prior to the turn itself, you see that so often from the judge's position.
 
I ride a half ten metre circle to the CL rather than risking two deep corners as the judge can't really see anyway and you risk overshooting- but the key is straightening up through the outside aids once that half circle is complete as thats when the drifting often occurs. Also looking UP at the CL marker the whole way down and imagining being in train tracks (or inside poles)
 
I would also add: find out which rein you make the best turn on. Obviously one would eventually like to be perfectly even on turns but horses always have a slightly " better" rein, turn down on this one. The final centre line turn is not yours to choose but at least give yourself the best chance to start with. Judges have told me how influential the entry is, make the most of it.
 
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Interesting thread, and sorry to hijack OP, but I struggle with centre lines as well. Some of the time we are straight, but often get 'on 3 tracks' - assuming this is a straightness issue?
 
Did some work on centre lines earlier this week, my trainer's advice was turn to look at C and ride straight for it ensuring you are using both legs and both reins to keep straight. Worked for me and it was a long arena.
 
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Sylph said:
I like to use a channel of poles to practice down. Also really looking early for your turn, it always comes up quicker than you think!

Did an exercise today with my instructor on riding squares, really helped with accuracy of turns. I think help from the ground on "ring craft" is really important!
Click to expand...

Also riding corners in the arena correctly. They should not be ridden like a semi circle.
 
I 'start' my centre line at H or M - 10m half-circle down the centre line. Doing it as one movement, rather than two turns, helps me keep it balanced - Lady can rush centre lines and fall in a bit, which is probably her picking up on me thinking 'here we go'!

I also like to do a lot of 10m half-circle to X and change rein to 10m half-circle back to track to change the rein (so S shape BXE or EXB, although can be done at any point down the long side). I'll never forget being really caught out by that in a clinic and massively overshooting! The embarrassment has stuck with me :oops: Haha!
Tiny spirals in the corners too, to get a sense of how tight a 10m circle feels, and best place for your legs/hands. I often find myself chanting 'both hands to bring her round; both hands to bring her round' which is silly but really helps me stabilise the whole turn and avoid any drifting or shoulder falling out issues. Cantering the centre lines helps me too, as that really forces me to start preparing for that turn early and get her balanced/sitting back.
 
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