leg aids

[Scribbles]

Today I watched whilst my novice OH had a riding lesson.

The instructor told him that to turn left (for example) you would use your left leg to apply pressure, and left rein to turn. This is the complete opposite of wht I've always done and have been teaching him myself. I'm not saying the instructor was wrong, as she is probably a much more capable rider than I am - but something is going wrong as OH was very confused by the end of his lesson!

 

[The Original Kao]

i was taught for a left turn it's left hand, right leg, and vice versa for turning right. hand controls the front end, leg controls the back.

 

[Scribbles]

That's what I've always been taught and done. Left leg stays on as a pivot for the horse to turn round and stops coming through the shoulder, granted, but I think it's wrong to teach him to turn a horse using L&L. She did say that it was L&R to keep a horse straight.

 

[Partoow]

it is inside leg to out side rein . with the outsde leg in the behind the girth position to 'hold ' the outsde leg onto the turn.
The inside leg lightly taps as the inside hind leg steps under and th out side rein is applied as the outside shoulder comes back.
The hands are used as if you were holding the handle bars of a bike but with the thumbs ontop and should turn in the same way.This way you take what you give and always have the horse in both reins
I.e so that you balance the guiding inward hand[ not lowering but turning in and opening and leading the front in ; then taking the outside shoulder around the inside leg]By following the bend with the outside hand toward the bit.
At the same time the inside leg is then activated to engage under the horse and therefore carry the bend and the turn around from the hindleg to the receiving outside rein.
The body, interms of the hips and shoulders should also turn so the inside body opens up to the inside and the outside hip and shoulder follows. this will the load the inside seat bone without dropping the inside shoulder.You have to keep your nose and belly button in line with the spine, or pointing between the horses ears this way you do turn your body and not just your head.
This is why turning is a leg and seat aid it is not leg and hand in isolation AND you ride both sides of the horse as it hhas two sides and in particular on a turn the outsde body has further to go so has to be helped to stay under rather than stepping out so the inside hind bears the weight.All this enables the horse to carry the turn on the hind leg and not be dragged down onto the inside shoulderand bending the neck.
Hope that now makes a bitof sense of the leg and rein aids for a turn.