Help with hands that have a mind of their own

[emfen1305]

I am starting to become more and more convinced that my hands have done a freaky friday swap with a budding Tour de France cyclist! I cannot keep them from steering around corners!

New horse falls out of the shoulder on both reins but worse on the left. When coming to a corner or riding a circle (I hasten to add we have stopped circles until I can sort myself out) my inside hand becomes very dominant which only exasperates the falling out problem. I have no idea what my outside hand does, it's like it isn't even connected to my brain! It somehow ends up coming across his neck and further forward than the inside hand which just totally confuses him.

It's a total panic reaction. Our fence posts are the wrong way round in the arena and I've had a few nasty knocks and a fall from my old horse getting a bit too close so now I panic and pull the newbie round the corners to avoid the same fate. I have tried leaving him alone to see if he can work it out for himself but he ran straight into the fence which has now made the panic reaction worse!

I am working with an instructor who is helping but when things start to go wrong like losing rhythm or him going a bit wobbly then panic sets in and the hands are all over the place. I am working on getting my leg aids stronger so he is more responsive from those as currently we just have go and go faster but if I can't sort the hands out then there will be no point! Any tips? I am getting so frustrated with myself

 

[Red-1]

Yes, I sorted this out with a rider on the lunge with clicker training!

First of all on the lunge I had the rider (no reins) pretend to hold reins and simply have to lift one hand up, move it out, move it in and lower it again, then repeat with reins. With many riders this is surprisingly a very tricky task! With 2 riders this task took 2 full sessions! They had worked the incorrect use of hands into their muscle memories, and although they could do it with no reins, when they had reins again they reverted.

One rider could not break the habit, so I used a clicker. I clicked when he achieved something I was looking for. It was weird, he grew addicted to the sound of the clicker, and searched out how to make the reward sound. Hand position and usage sorted in one 20 minute session. You had to see it to believe the result.

 

[SOS]

I used to do similar as well as tip my hands down, I truly was riding a motorcycle! What helped was a combination of me actively giving the inside rein forward if I clung onto it and by getting the horse truly on my outside rein.

Spiralling in and out on a circle can help you control the horses placement and with some practice will enable you to stop the horse drifting into the fence. Don’t be afraid to bring the horse back to a walk or halt if you find yourself drifting. Give yourself a second to breathe, shake out your shoulders, reposition your hands and then trot on.

I’m sure there is much more experienced people on this forum to advise but along my journey to fix my hands I also learnt various things such as to ride from the elbow and to not open up my rein for direction. I’m sure your instructor is advising on this though.

 

[Tasha!]

I used to cross my outside hand over the withers on the left rein too, when making corners. Didn't even realise I was doing it until I had a lesson with a classical dressage instructor. To break the habit, every time we went around a corner, I made a conscious effort to open the outside rein. Exaggerated at first, and in walk so plenty of time to think. Then gradually less exaggerated and in trot/canter. It did work pretty quickly. After a session or two, no opening needed.

 

[Bernster]

Oh goodness, yes, this sounds familiar. Also have a habit of crossing my reins and corkscrewing myself in an effort to get horse to circle and not fall out/in through the left shoulder. Still do it but getting less often, and getting quicker at correcting it when it does happen.

I’m not very good at explaining how we’ve improved it but it’s mainly through lots of lessons with a very good instructor. I feel like it’s taken a while, I’ve been with her for prob 6 months or so. Overall a combination of getting him more forward so I can sit straighter, using my body/core to turn rather than the reins, legs and outside rein to control the shoulders, inside rein open to guide him, slowing and re balancing to avoid the fence knocking (we did that too), working on the inside track, leg yield and shoulder in, squares using turn on the forehand, and having her school him once a week.

Hmm, that sounds like quite a list! But, if you break it down over time, it didn’t feel so complicated haha. Anyway, it worked! Hope that helps a bit.

PS previously, have used a balance strap to control my hands.

 

[emfen1305]

Thanks all, some very helpful suggestions, feel like i need to strap an electric shock band on my hands to keep them still! I think on reflection, we were doing too much too soon in trot, I was so focused on trotting and cantering to help get the weight off when actually we need to do more in walk to strengthen the hind end - as highlighted by the physio yesterday. She said he is not yet strong enough to engage his core and lift his back which means the shoulders will be very dominant until we can teach him to use his hind legs properly. So his weakness coupled with my fussy hands encouraging him to fall through the shoulder means I am practically asking him to ram me into the fence! Keeping in walk will help matters and it is much less scary hitting the fence in walk than it is in trot! I think I just need to be more conscious of them and just do everything at a slower pace so the panic posture doesn't take over!

 

[Tiddlypom]

The lightbulb moment that I had which sorted out my busy hands came in a lesson with a new instructor. She told me to relax my elbows, whereas I had previously been trying too hard to keep my hands still by bracing my arms.

What a revelation! It transformed my riding into reasonably decent after years of presuming that I was useless.