Exercises to engage the hind end

[foxy]

Anyone got any exercises to encourage hind end engagement.
I have been using raised poles, I know hill work would be great but that involves boxing up to somewhere as where I am there are no hills.
Any advise would be very welcome

 

[Barlow]

You don’t say whether you have limitations eg you are rehabbing but I find lateral work and small circles helpful. Obviously if horse isn’t up to it then pole work and rein back are useful

 

[foxy]

You don’t say whether you have limitations eg you are rehabbing but I find lateral work and small circles helpful. Obviously if horse isn’t up to it then pole work and rein back are useful

No limitations, he is quite lazy so finds it easier not to use his back end!

 

[Kat]

What about a bungee band if you need a bit of extra help?

 

[Barlow]

No limitations, he is quite lazy so finds it easier not to use his back end!

Mine is like that! The key to him is getting him very forward and into the bit so he has something to step through into. Lots of transitions in quick succession and then some lateral work to encourage the hind leg to step under seems to get mine engaged!
One exercise I really like is walk down the long side, shoulder in to renvers to leg yield to half pass to small circle, asking for trot between half pass into circle.

 

[foxy]

Mine is like that! The key to him is getting him very forward and into the bit so he has something to step through into. Lots of transitions in quick succession and then some lateral work to encourage the hind leg to step under seems to get mine engaged!
One exercise I really like is walk down the long side, shoulder in to renvers to leg yield to half pass to small circle, asking for trot between half pass into circle.

Thanks will try that one

 

[foxy]

What about a bungee band if you need a bit of extra help?

Will have a look at getting one

 

[FestiveG]

Try the five and five exercise, particularly if he's lazy, it can get a bit much for forward going horses. Start five sides walk, five strides trot, rinse and repeat for a circuit of the school, out do it when out hacking as well. You can also do it trot and canter.

 

[teapot]

Leg yield into canter transitions, everywhere around the school, and not always in the direction of the fence line.

 

[foxy]

Thanks great ideas to try

 

[Fly_By_Wire]

Thanks great ideas to try

Just a word of caution, I have no idea what level you are at (you could well be grand prix for all I know!), but a mistake I made recently was to use lateral work to try and engage the hind end in a horse that wasn't ready. I was struggling with the horse being lazy behind and not working into a contact (not even that she wasn't on the bit, she just struggled to hold any kind of consistency in her contact) so was using all the usual lateral exercises that I know to improve her. I had a few lessons with a really good dressage instructor who pointed out that she wasn't really moving forward off my leg, and she was very stiff laterally and not very strong, and actually the lateral work was making it worse (she wasn't straight in her lateral work, so all it was doing was exacerbating her imbalances). We spent weeks just working on keeping a forward rhythm, being able to increase/decrease the tempo with minimal rein aids and very basic inside/outside flexions and it worked wonders. Ignore all of that if you are already beyond it, but for me taking a step back from the lateral work and working on rhythm, straightness and lateral flexibility was the key to unlocking her hind end!

 

[teapot]

Just a word of caution, I have no idea what level you are at (you could well be grand prix for all I know!), but a mistake I made recently was to use lateral work to try and engage the hind end in a horse that wasn't ready. I was struggling with the horse being lazy behind and not working into a contact (not even that she wasn't on the bit, she just struggled to hold any kind of consistency in her contact) so was using all the usual lateral exercises that I know to improve her. I had a few lessons with a really good dressage instructor who pointed out that she wasn't really moving forward off my leg, and she was very stiff laterally and not very strong, and actually the lateral work was making it worse (she wasn't straight in her lateral work, so all it was doing was exacerbating her imbalances). We spent weeks just working on keeping a forward rhythm, being able to increase/decrease the tempo with minimal rein aids and very basic inside/outside flexions and it worked wonders. Ignore all of that if you are already beyond it, but for me taking a step back from the lateral work and working on rhythm, straightness and lateral flexibility was the key to unlocking her hind end!

Any horse should be able to offer a basic leg yield - it's a vital tool for schooling, hacking, gate opening etc. If it can't without falling over, there are much bigger issues imho. It's simply getting a horse to step away from your leg and in doing so they use their hind legs. The moment they step across you forward with forwards riding, which may include a transition.

I think people can get too fixated on the ideal of lateral work meaning ridiculous amounts of 'sideways' from one end of an arena to the other.

 

[foxy]

Just a word of caution, I have no idea what level you are at (you could well be grand prix for all I know!), but a mistake I made recently was to use lateral work to try and engage the hind end in a horse that wasn't ready. I was struggling with the horse being lazy behind and not working into a contact (not even that she wasn't on the bit, she just struggled to hold any kind of consistency in her contact) so was using all the usual lateral exercises that I know to improve her. I had a few lessons with a really good dressage instructor who pointed out that she wasn't really moving forward off my leg, and she was very stiff laterally and not very strong, and actually the lateral work was making it worse (she wasn't straight in her lateral work, so all it was doing was exacerbating her imbalances). We spent weeks just working on keeping a forward rhythm, being able to increase/decrease the tempo with minimal rein aids and very basic inside/outside flexions and it worked wonders. Ignore all of that if you are already beyond it, but for me taking a step back from the lateral work and working on rhythm, straightness and lateral flexibility was the key to unlocking her hind end!

Thanks I have been working on basic lateral work in my lessons, but completely agree with you

 

[AUB]

Make sure the horse is sharp off the leg and is forward thinking, half halts, transitions, lateral work.

 

[oldie48]

Make sure the horse is sharp off the leg and is forward thinking, half halts, transitions, lateral work.

Totally agree. I use transitions to get Rose in front of my leg, then use transitions to get her to sit more, Halt/trot/ halt is a useful one, particularly if I quicken the hind leg by tapping her behind, walk/canter also gets her stepping under provided the quality of the walk is good enough. If she's behind the leg I find she can lose impulsion even in easy lateral work but once she's more forward I find that is also helpful. ATM she is out at night and the weather is warm and humid which tends to make her a bit lazy so I am having to be quite demanding with her but the bottom line is she won't use her back end and carry herself until she's off the leg.

 

[Cortez]

If you really want to engage not only the hind leg, but also the abdominals, back and basically everything, then doing shoulder-in correctly will achieve all that. It is the foundation exercise for pretty much everything that involves straightness and collection.

 

[Fly_By_Wire]

If you really want to engage not only the hind leg, but also the abdominals, back and basically everything, then doing shoulder-in correctly will achieve all that. It is the foundation exercise for pretty much everything that involves straightness and collection.

I think I explained myself badly earlier, you've hit exactly what I was trying to write! I'm a huge fan of lateral work, but I have found that poorly executed shoulder in/leg yield creates a confused tense horse, or one with a tendency to fall through the shoulder. I'm more than happy to be corrected on this!

 

[tristar]

well just start somewhere with lateral, and try to improve, you don`t do it perfectly first time, or all the time