Incorrect Bend - Schooling Exercises/Advice

[Honeybee1]

Advice / schooling exercises please!

I have an ongoing schooling issue with my mare, she keeps having incorrect bend when on the right rein, this varies from hardly noticable to completely wrong bend. Straight lines great, circles awful! I have regular lessons and know that getting her to bend around my leg, lateral work etc will help this problem but it is actually trying to get her to move/bend away from my leg that is the problem! She is very forward going and has a lovely rythmn and happy to take a contact but when you ask her to do any lateral work or move around the leg say for example on a serpentine she will lean into the leg rather than move away or bend around it. She is not strong and does not lean on the reins but when she wont bend around the leg she does become v resistant on that rein. Any advice or useful exercises that I can try between lessons would be v much appreicated! Thanks

 

[clipclop]

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps it is you?

Have a play with focusing on your own body and perhaps exaggerate a couple of things like lean over to the inside or really turn your body and almost be looking at your horses tail and see what happens? Lean a little further back, lift your chin a little higher? Try and drop your leg down longer? Turn your head more? Do you get what I mean? Have a play with focusing on your body rather than the horse.

Lunge lessons are great for this kind of thing but sometimes just twiddling about whilst you are on board is as effective.

Just an idea.

 

[CBAnglo]

I would check that she isnt unlevel behind and that she is stepping through with both hind legs evenly. Most horses are one sided but if it is extreme then I would look for a physical reason as to why she cant bend and if she is resisting contact in that rein I would look at the hind leg.

If it is a schooling issue, I find that asking for alternate bends helps to loosen them up e.g. on a 20 m circles and also doing a shallow serpentine on the track making sure you change the flexion then the bend etc. Also leg yielding in circles etc. You need to do gymnastic exercises to make them more supple and that requires lots of bending and flexion on both reins, and not just going around on one rein. I find shoulder in also useful.

 

[AutumnRose]

Make sure that your contact is correct ie you are pushing from inside leg to outside hand. If your outside contact is not firm enough horse has no support and nothing to go towards. Even if it results in even more incorrect bend to begin with you MUST have a consistent outside contact. Once you have establish this i would use loads of spiralling in and out on circles, remember to soften and reward horse for even the tiniest bit of bend to begin with. Also make sure your weight is on your inside seatbone, i struggled with this for ages!!If there is nothing else wrong and she is just ignoring your inside leg i would back it up with a tap from schooling whip.

 

[OrangeEmpire]

Sounds to me like she is stiff. Do you do carrot stretches with her?

do you open the inside hand to ask her to flex in while pushing her out with your leg? I find riding a square where you ride the corners very clearly with an open inside hand and lots of leg very useful as a warm-up. also lots of exercises like the others have suggested are very useful.

 

[Ziggy_]

My mare is the same and I think its caused by me being a) left handed and b) having an old shoulder injury on my right side which makes me incredibly one sided. I have to really concentrate on my position on the right rein as my whole body tends to twist to the left which obviously doesn't help my horse.

Some days however she will just not stop leaning on my right leg and I find riding turn-about-the-forehand really helps. Don't worry about riding it 'correctly' - if you have to bring your right leg right back and overbend her massively to the right while maintaining your contact on the left rein. I might get shouted at for saying that, but it works for me. I push her bum round for a few tight circles to the right then as she starts to listen to my right leg I straighten her up and leg yield back to the track. If she struggles with this try it in-hand to make sure she is physically capable of stepping under and get her checked out by a vet if she can't. This usually shuts her up for a few minutes, then we return to it later once she starts leaning again. Gradually she is getting better as long as I remember to sit up properly.