Circles - help?!

truffles

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 February 2005
Messages
5,174
Location
UK
Visit site
Circles pose a rather big problem when it comes to Chloe and me
blush.gif
She tends to rush round circles, and fall out through her shoulder - She has got a lot better but she still needs to find her balance - I am practising plenty of transitions, and I'm sticking to circles and figures of eights etc.... When she falls out and sticks her head out etc..I try and keep my outside leg on and really look around my circle with my shoulders too. I try not to turn her head to the inside past just being able to see part of her inside eye, as this is when she falls out - is this right, or am I completely wrong?
blush.gif
I want to make my aids as clear and unconfusing as possible, and really not sure whether I am doing this!
I am currently looking for an instructor because I moved yards recently to Epsom when I had to leave my lovely instructor behind along with a lovely yard!

Am I doing the right thing? She is a 6yo cob type, didn't know what flatwork was till she came to me (Sept - Oct) so it is a slow process! Any guidance, advice, exercises much appreciated.
Thanks!
 
my welsh X is a devil for falling out or in through his shoulder. As you go around the circle the horses head and neck should be on it. I imagine pip drawing a line from benethe his nose, one from his middle and one from his bum and they should all draw the same circle. I use the whip to gently tap on his sholder when he falls in or out. If he is doing both I have a whip in each hand. This worked with him along with using my legs but clearly it will not work on all horses

Haz
 
My friend has been riding her cob around tires to help him to learn to bend and flex and i couldnt believe the difference in him when i rode him last night. He is quite a heavy built cob and he bends so well and feels much lighter in my hands now.
 
OK, so she is falling out through the shoulder, probably because of too much flexion to the inside?

I would start at walk. Get yourself some cones and set them up at B and E. The walk a SQUARE from B around to F, then K, then E. Aiming for a straight line in between turns and turning using outside aids (outside leg and outside rein against your horses neck in an attempt to think of pushing the shoulder off the track). Then do this exercise in trot. You can use a bigger or smaller area for the exercise depending on how easy you are finding it. You will need to half halt in advance of each corner to get your horse balanced.

You need to make sure you keep a good contact on the outside rein and don't ask for flexion on the inside.

In general when you are riding make sure your reins are of an even length and think of riding leg to hand. Imagine you are in a corridor and your horse is straight and cannot step (or flex) outside the width of the corridor. The horse's back legs should follow directly the front legs even on circles/curves.

If you get your instructor to help you a good exercise might be walk pirouettes to get the shoulders to move over.

Another thing could be flexing to the outside for short spells to try to correct the problem with too much flexion to the inside.
 
[ QUOTE ]
my welsh X is a devil for falling out or in through his shoulder. As you go around the circle the horses head and neck should be on it. I imagine pip drawing a line from benethe his nose, one from his middle and one from his bum and they should all draw the same circle. I use the whip to gently tap on his sholder when he falls in or out. If he is doing both I have a whip in each hand. This worked with him along with using my legs but clearly it will not work on all horses

Haz

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh yes, unfortunately Chloe really doesn't like whips - have been desensitisng her from the ground with lunge whips and lead ropes, and it's slowly working, but I doubt she will ever be okay with a whip when riding. Thanks for the suggestion though, I will try and remember the pipe line thing.
 
Thanks - I will try and do the cone excercise, sounds rather complicated but reading through and understanding it, it sounds like a good idea
tongue.gif
smile.gif

Those are all really useful, I will try some of them on Saturday.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My friend has been riding her cob around tires to help him to learn to bend and flex and i couldnt believe the difference in him when i rode him last night. He is quite a heavy built cob and he bends so well and feels much lighter in my hands now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cones will have to do
wink.gif
Thanks, will try that too - issort of the same as Mickeys idea I think?
 
Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound complicated. You don't even have to use the cones if you don't want to. Just think of riding a square rather than a circle. You can't ride a square if you don't use outside aids. You won't get round the corners unless you use your outside leg and keep a good hold of outside rein - then push outside rein against shoulder to 'nudge' front end over if that makes sense.
If you get stuck come back to me and I'll see if I can explain it better!
 
Make sure that you aren`t letting go of your outside rein, make sure that it is against his neck on the outside and use outside flexion on a circle for half a circle then don`t use as much flexion on the inside as you usually would. My horse used to do this and another thing that helped was riding a diamond shape instead of a circle, pushing him round with the outside hand and leg.
Or on a square, ride shoulder in before the turn then push him round using the outside rein. The square exercise follows the diamond exercise, so the pushing is already established. I hope this makes sense to you. Good Luck.
 
Top