Lateral work/flatwork exercises

R

royal

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 January 2008
Messages
917
Visit site
Hi all,

So, horsie is coming along well and we now have a spiffy huge menage to work in...leg yield has now progressed to trot and is coming along nicely and we are still working on walk shoulder-in, but obviously I don't want to spend the whole schooling session on these two things. Suppleness is increasing and we have lovely right bend...still working on left bend as this is her 'stiffer' side.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other exercises (either lateral or just flatwork) we can do? We obviously do circles, serptentines etc as part of the session...

Thankee's
 
For horses with a stiff side (hah, that would be just about all of them, then!) I find travers to that side works very well. Make sure it's definitely on 3 tracks, and allow the right side of the neck to stretch around, rather than get everything up tight with a restraining inside (left) hand. It's also good as that along with the shoulder-in you're starting leads very naturally into half-pass (which is best started from a shoulder-in).
 
I actually just mentioned it in another thread, but theres a couple involving lef yield and circling. Leg yield 5/10 metres depending on schooling, then do a 10-15m circle to the direction which your outside rein is in. So leg yield right, circle right. Its useful because they have to engage the opposite hind leg by switching from LY to circle. After the cirlce, leg yield the opposite way and cirlce, then LY again etc etc.

The staircase is a fairly obvious one but it helps if they lose straightness. LY 5 steps, go straight for 5, LY 5 steps and so on.

Also, turns on the hindquarters (is that the technical term? blonde moment) I don't do them on the forehand because I think it puts them on the forehand, but thats personal choice. Plenty of people do them fine. I'm rubbish at explaining how to do them, so you might be better off googling that, but only do half a circle at a time. I always found it easier to imagine the horse's hind legs were walking around a small plate, and kind of have a feeling of 'shoulder in, now step across' but its hard to explain :D Just what works for me.
 
Another variation on the leg yield / circle exercise above is to put yourself on a 20m circle, then slowly spiral in (essentially a big turn on the haunches), and when you are on a small circle, then leg yield out, making sure to keep the horse straight with just a little inside flexion the whole time. Works in walk, trot or indeed canter if you'll subtle with the lateral influence.
 
Ooooh yes I forgot about the one grey badger said, with the spiral. We do that one too! Works really well :) Just make sure you don't overflex them to the inside when you go small, and also make sure you keep the rhythm the same
 
An exercise i find useful for getting the changes of bend/suppleness etc isn't anything fancy but works (for me anyway). Go onto a 20m circle at E/B on right rein, then as you cross centre line circle left 10m's (so if in a 20x40 you will reach A/C), then when you are back round to CL go back onto your 20m circle right, then when you cross CL again you will at opposite end of school to do another 10m circle left. Hope that makes sense (if only i could draw what i mean). Repeat on other rein.
 
Thanks so much for the replies everyone...there's plenty for me to work on there, altho I'll have to re-read some of them again as I'm not brilliant at the understanding part!! Horseywelsh - I'm not sure I totally get yours....me being dim I think!
Justme22 - so I leg yield to the right across the school, then turn a circle to the right? But won't her head be facing the wrong bend?? Or is that the point and I'm supposed to change her flexion when I start the circle?!

Travers and half pass would be a good goal to work towards, but could someone explain it and the aids pretty please??:o

Can you tell Im having a thick day!! lol
 
Horseywelsh is just saying..well think of mickey mouse's ears :D ok, they're two smaller circles on one big circle right? So you're riding a mickey mouse head, but think of the ears being further down (like on a human) so theyre opposite each other, at opposite sides of the circle.

Yep, you have to change the bend and diagonal :) It helps them engage the inside hind and learn to flex to different sides
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top