How to 'Feel' when hind leg has left the ground

Flibble

Flibble

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I am quite embarassed to ask this the number of years I have been riding but here goes :-

My instructor says to get the best leg yield I need to apply my inside leg when the inside hind has left the ground.

So in walk what should I feel which indicates his hind leg has been picked up and same question for trot.

When I thinbk I have it right I apparently use my leg just as he has put his foot on the ground which ultimatly is pointless.

Also apparently hanging upside down and watching his legs is not going to work either.

If I dont get enough feedback on this I will make the title something along the lines of Livery YO/Farrier/Vet/Car Driver/Fat Horse/Thin Horse RANT
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Ha ha leg yield rant !!
by the sounds of it you are going in a fraction to late - I don't think anyone can tell you how to time this you just need to learn how it feels and it will click in time
 
If I'm thinking right, the inside hind leg will be leaving the ground moments before the outside foreleg touches the ground - so could you watch the outside shoulder move forward and apply the inside leg as it does?

If this is totally wrong, I apologise.
Am waving hands and legs about trying to picture the sequence of legs.
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I'll admit I'm a Silversand student, I love the simple way they explain things. I like that little vid, because it is clear, and gives me a real lightbulb moment. Once you get in time with the horse's feet it's amazing how most of your ridden work gets easier. I like it when "nh" style people can help out more conventional riders, and at the clinics I've been to there have been people from different disciplines. No emphasis on slopping around bareback in a rope halter.
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(Has anyone watched the vid? Does it work for you as well?).
 
It's not a basic exercise to use the string, the horses will be used to feeling ropes around their legs and following the feel of ropes around their legs first. Not as difficult as many people think though.
I'd get a mate to watch you ride, and as you think you have the right feel of the barrel moving call off the leg leaving the ground. That really helped me anyway. I'm now practising knowing where each individual leg is, and being able to move my horse one leg at a time.
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Hi Fibble, I am really interested in your post and replys as I too have never quite got this timing thing, .... but don't like to admit it to my instructor.

I have been trying to close my eyes for a few steps and concentrating on how the horse is moving its backlegs hoping this will make it all easier! It does seem to help (but obviously only when on straight line when horse calm, etc, etc)
 
You can feel easily in walk as the horses' barrel swings away from you on the side that the horses hind leg is leaving the ground
 
ok, to feel the lift of the hind leg - there is a moment of suspension (moment of suspension is longer the more weight is taken on the hind legs
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) it is very very slight, to feel it try doing sitting trot, and you will feel a very slight tilt of the pelvis as the weight changes sides.
You may feel it better if you do sitting trot in a slow trot, and close your eyes, and then can "adjust" to feel the hind leg coming up
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hope you understood that
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lol!
 
practise practise practise - spend an hour walking round with your eyes closed and "listen" a bit more to how your horse moves - so you start to feel when certain things are going on - so ask yourself which leg is moving when etc....
then ask the question about leg yielding again.
 
Not joking.
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It's a simple and effective exercise for any horse that has been trained using that particular approach. I know it's different, but different can also be useful sometimes can't it?
 
Yes the same in trot but feels more subtle, get the feel of it in walk first, take your feet out of your stirrups and allow yourself to feel your horse's pelvis swinging
 
There is a really easy way to feel this... When you are walking next time (on your horse!), really relax your bottom and you should feel that your seatbones will be being pushed up and down independently by your horse. Each seatbone is positioned either side of the horse's spine and if relaxed will be pushed up and down as the horses legs move (your seatbones, or each side of your bottom, should be moving one side then the other as though you are walking). So, basically as your horse puts his hind leg on the ground he will be pushing that seatbone up, as it comes off the ground the seatbone will go down again. So, if your right seatbone comes up that means his right hind leg is on the ground and therefore pushing you up!

Does that make sense?!! You can also use the swing of the belly as said above, and you are correct that you should be using your leg as the belly starts to swing away from you as this is when you can influence that hind leg to step under.

Hope that helps... and don't be embarrassed - you are not alone!!
 
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