changing diagonal - does anyone else find it difficult...

[LouLou3]

I'm sure I'm not the only person who finds this really difficult - well I hope I'm not!! I can change the diagonal easily enough when told to but its knowing when to that confuses the hell out of me! My trainer is trying to get me to feel when to and so tells me when but I'd like to know so I've tried to see when my bum is in the saddle etc BUT - I'm just not getting it...

I'm so frustrated surely this should be easy?

 

[R2R]

You should sit when the inside shoulder goes forward. To me it just feels odd if I am riding on the wrong diagonal.

The easiest way to change your diagonal is just before you turn - so if you are changing rein, stay on the same diagonal until just before you go the other way, then check to make sure you are ok.

If I am wrong I have been riding round on the wrong diagonal lfor 20 years!

I never really understood why you are taught to look at the outside shoulder when you should be concentrating on an inside bend etc...what do I know!!!

 

[BigRed]

I have always found it hard. It does actually help your horse to bend if you are on the correct diagonal. The way I check which diagonal I am on, is to glance down at my horses shoulder. I am on the right diagonal when my bum hits the saddle at the same time her right shoulder comes back, and vica versa for the left.

When you are next hacking and trotting down the road, glance down at the horses shoulder and see which diagonal you are on, then change it, by sitting for one beat.

I naturally seem to rise on the right, when hacking.

I am sure other people have better ways to explain it.

 

[gummybear]

I dont think there really is a better way of explaining it. I was taught by using the outside foreleg - when it comes back you sit - it is almost as though as the outside leg goes forward it almost "throws" you forward therefore up to rise to the trot just try and feel the motion of the horses leg and it should almost push you out of the saddle. I know someone who has bee riding for 30+years, and has lost count of the amount of people who have tried to teach her, and she still cant get it! She shows, so she always trys to trot in front of us and we tell her whether she is right or wrong!!

 

[Tickles]

Lots and lots of practice will help. Play games with yourself - try rising and guessing w/out looking of you are right/wrong then check and change if necessary.

One thing that sometimes helps me is to start rising on the 3rd or 5th beat of trot when making a transition walk-trot as this mostly ends up with me on the correct diagonal. (I'm sure someone on here who knows more about horsey anatomy would be able to explain why the feet tend to go in that order!)

Most horses and riders are handed/footed so you tend to feel either more comfortable on one diagonal or, as is the case for share horsey and I, it is much easier to tell if it feels right/wrong on one rein than the other.

Definitley good to be concious of this out hacking and try to remember to swap diagonals regularly rather than getting in the habit of always being on the 'best' one. (Although I'm quite guilty of this so can't really talk!)