Half-pass help needed!!

[RuthnMeg]

My mare is generally very good, BUT she her attitude towards 'schooling' is ''i'll see if I can get away with this''!! She isn't very 'off the leg' at the best of times, yet when all is going smoothly she CAN work really very well.
To get her off my leg, i've been doing lots of leg yeilding, transitions and changes of direction. Today (has been touched on before too) we attempted half pass. Ok, so she is slow to go away from my leg, hollows a bit in resistance but does in a way 'go sideways' - in walk! Try in trot - and what do we get - A BANANA horse where she ''curls'' around my leg that is asking her to go away from it.... so I need a bit of advice.
She should be looking in the direction she is going - right??
Ideas on how to get her straight and sideways would be a bonus - we can achieve this in walk (5 points), but not very well in trot. I gave us 'nil points' for the movement! A generous judge might make it '1 point'!
She needs to be kept busy doing different things, so we don't pursue this for very long as she gets all moody - and would rather be jumping! But I'd like to achieve what I set out to do - I know she can do it, and once established would be very good, but the Banana horse is hard to straighten.

Sorry, i've waffled a bit haven't I?

Choc sponge cake to all with ideas.

 

[bigfathen]

Maybe you could start with a few strides of shoulder in? I find that helps to establish the bend in the correct direction. I think it's more difficult to get the bend from scratch.
Also, might you be blocking her with your inside hand?

 

[oldvic]

There are several things you can play with which will help with half pass:

1) be able to ride in a straight line with a soft bend either way. Be able to keep the bend without holding it with the inside rein. This means you have to be able to hold it with the connection between your inside leg and outside rein.
2) ride forward and sideways with the horse completely straight. Not a proper leg yield as there is no positioning away from the direction of travel but it gives the horse the idea of the half pass without the added difficulty of bend.
3)travers. First up the track, then, when you can do that, across the diagonal.

When you can do these then you will have half pass.