Ideas on how to teach leg yeilding?

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ridersince2002

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Nearly 17 year old pony (never really scholed much) 'moves over' fine on the ground with a little nudge and saying 'over' behind where the girth would go, or on her quaters if i just want her to move her bum over.
She will move over in walk eventually but usually speeds up in the process- if i wanted her to leg yeild to the right i would use my left leg roughly where i would use my hand and not touch her with my right leg and say 'over' how i would on the ground.

In trot she just speeds up when i ask her to move over.

First, am i doing it wrong? This method has worked for me when bringing on youngsters before but every pony is different.
Secondly, is there anything else i should be doing? Perhaps youve got a different idea?

I just cant think of what im doing wrong, as shes a very clever pony :confused:
Any help gratefully recieved :) Thank you :)
 
If she is speeding up in trot then use your seat and slow your rising down, once she is going at a nice steady pace give the aids.

I find it easier to do it from the 3/4 line as they naturally want to move over to the edge.
 
With an older horse which should know better at this stage in its schooling, I would introduce it facing the fence/ wall- walk down the long side with outside bend then apply outside leg and turn head to face the fence, not front on to it but so you're following the line diagonally down. This blocks too much forward movement and the only place left to go is sideways.
She will probably try raising the head at first and may get blocked- try to keep the eye below the top rail (if fence is high enough) and keep forwards all the time
 
I was in exactly the same position with mine about a month ago! He could leg yield in walk like a pro, but when it came to trotting he'd just run against my hand. I had to make it super simple and clear.
Ride a half halt, put my leg on behind the girth, take my outside leg completely off his side and as soon as he'd talen one step give him a pat and continue forward normally. Took a while but he's figured it out now.
Another way to do it is to start leg yielding in walk, then push him into trot once he's going. Didn't work with Alfs, but has helped with others :)
 
I've used a technique similar to sazzle44's.

Using the fence as a barrier can help. But if you ride a 10m half circle (as though you would return to the track at B or E), then ask for leg yield down the 3/4 line at an angle to the wall, you should get a 'truer' leg yield. Firstly because the horse has been set up by the half circle to really step under with the hind legs, secondly because leg yield should be a forward movement as well as a sideways one so you need to leave space to account for this.

If the horse rushes through your half halt when you first ask for leg yield, come back to walk and ride a turn on the forehand so that you are facing back up the longside of the arena. This will reinfoce that you want the horse to slow and cross, not rush forwards.

Hope that makes sense - tricky exercise to describe when not pointing at markers!
 
I have successfully taught several horses to leg yield using the following method:

Ride a 15m 'square', asking for a turn on the forehand on each corner. This should get the horse listening to the inside leg and moving away from it.

When the turn on the forehand is established in terms of the aids being understood and obeyed by the horse, after one of the turns on the forehand and (this is important) without stopping, ask the horse to leg yield to the track by pushing them away from your inside leg and half halting with the outside hand to contain the front end. Most horses will gravitate to the arena wall/fence, so use this to your advantage when asking for leg yield.

Initially the horse probably isn't strong enough to offer straightness, so let them lead a little more with their shoulders than you would with a more schooled up, supple horse. The fact that you are initially only asking for a few steps to get to the track should establish the idea but without asking more of the horse physically than he is capable of.

When the horse understands the aids better, start asking them to leg yield across the diagonal, to spiral in and out of a circle etc. The fact that your horse is just speeding up in the trot suggests to me that she doesn't fully understand the aids and is perhaps still a bit unbalanced. Try introducing the leg yield in trot from almost a jog/trot at first, as she builds up strength, flexibility and balance she will being to find it easier.

Patience is the key here - your horse is 17, so she probably isn't going to find leg yield and lateral work as easy as a younger, more supple horse and she will take longer to build up her strength and muscle. This doesn't make it any less worthwhile, but your patience will pay off! :)
 
Thank you everyone :)

Was going to have a big schooling session today (she seems to love it when were not fighting :p ) but i cant even get to the feild, let alone ride in it! :mad: So im making a plan of what i want to acheive by the end of each session :D

Thanks again :D
 
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