Help, shoulder-in issues?

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live2ride

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I’m struggling to teach my gelding shoulder-in, and seeing as it’s quite a pivotal tool to have to improve most aspects of way of going and moving up the levels, I’m hoping you guys could give me some pointers.

I’d managed to teach my mare it very easily but it just doesn’t seem to be clicking, been plugging away every now and then for the last year and getting nowhere.

The biggest issue seems to be, we do a 10m circle in the corner to prepare and go to ride up the long side as I’ve been taught to do in preparation and I either can’t keep him moving up the long side or we go crooked and hollow or I lose his shoulders and he tries to attach himself to the fence line.

I don’t know if the fact he is resistant to crossing his hind legs when ridden is part of our issue, I.e. leg yield is not quite strict and correct yield yet.

Please any help, tips and tricks to get shoulder-in and improve our leg yield, as well as an explanation on how to actually ride the shoulder-in.
I have an instructor but feel we may just need a different perspective or way of describing the movement
 
Do you do groundwork? I found it helped to show my mare what I wanted on the ground, then ridden in walk, then trot. Does he understand weight aids? Once he does, I think that that helps with quality of movement. I found that Sylvia Loch explains really well how to use your weight and seat to help the horse.
There are many much more experienced people than me who will suggest other exercises to try. Good luck.
I’d also consider trying a different instructor.
 
How much leg yield are you trying to achieve? Can you perfect the leg yield from 3/4 just for a couple of steps and then go straight again? This is what my trainer would break it down to first.
Get them truely into your outside rein. Only ask with inside leg when you are straight and keep them into your outside rein with only slight flexion to the inside.

Mine really struggles with lateral work so I've been really careful to build it up slowly and correctly.
 
McFluff said:
Do you do groundwork? I found it helped to show my mare what I wanted on the ground, then ridden in walk, then trot. Does he understand weight aids? Once he does, I think that that helps with quality of movement. I found that Sylvia Loch explains really well how to use your weight and seat to help the horse.
There are many much more experienced people than me who will suggest other exercises to try. Good luck.
I’d also consider trying a different instructor.
Click to expand...


We try to do groundwork and I have been working on the ground to teach him that he can cross his hinds easily, by yielding his quarters from me. But doing much more advanced groundwork is quite hard, because he either doesnt react to the aid Im giving or over reacts and has a total meltdown and then rest of session is spent trying to calm down and lessen the over reaction.

Will have a look at sylvia loch, thank you
 
madamebonnie said:
How much leg yield are you trying to achieve? Can you perfect the leg yield from 3/4 just for a couple of steps and then go straight again? This is what my trainer would break it down to first.
Get them truely into your outside rein. Only ask with inside leg when you are straight and keep them into your outside rein with only slight flexion to the inside.

Mine really struggles with lateral work so I've been really careful to build it up slowly and correctly.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will try breaking down the leg yield even more and get that solid. At the moment it varies between a very definite drift towards the fence line versus an actual leg yield.
 
Are you 100% sure you're sitting straight? When it isn't happening a huge amount of us twist and tip and drop one hip or shoulder which makes all the difference. I can always tell when I've dropped a hip and collapsed my weight because my horse either grinds to a halt or hollows and doesn't step into the outside rein
 
i never use a 10 m circle for shoulder-in, i come round the short side preping, when i have got the slight bend coming out of the corner into the straight i ask for s i , it works for me because i have both the curve and the forwardness and just hold on to both
 
I generally teach counter shoulder in first, so shoulder in but facing the wall. You can start off with a leg yield counter shoulder in so no bend at first and then add bend when they've got the hang of it. To start it I either cut across the corner or ride a tear drop back to the track so I'm approaching the longside on a bit of an angle. I use the wall to back them off going forwards and it gives them something easy and logical to follow. Once they've got the hang of counter shoulder in they understand the aids for shoulder in so shouldn't struggle too much extrapolating one to the other. The counter shoulder in is also useful for teaching travers, you just flip the bend.
 
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