'Motorbiking' help

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cheeryplatypus

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Has anyone got any exercises or tips to stop the 'wall of death' or motorbike experience?
Trying to learn a dressage test, the grass is a little short and slippy and my pony keeps on leaning in.

I've tried tapping the inside shoulder up and pushing him out with the inside leg, but it doesn't seem to work. Would asking for a little outside bend help? Totally stuck :(
 
I wouldn't say exactly asking for outside bend, however sounds like you need more support from the outside rein. Try some leg yeilding first to really get the horse into the outside rein and keep him supported there. This will also help flexibility, making the turns easier. Make sure you have plenty of inside leg on, on the turn to aid the bend, and stop him from falling onto the inside shoulder
 
I find spiralling in on a circle then leg yielding out a good exercise for helping with this. Used to have the same issue with our old boy. :)
 
cheeryplatypus said:
Has anyone got any exercises or tips to stop the 'wall of death' or motorbike experience?
Trying to learn a dressage test, the grass is a little short and slippy and my pony keeps on leaning in.

I've tried tapping the inside shoulder up and pushing him out with the inside leg, but it doesn't seem to work. Would asking for a little outside bend help? Totally stuck :(
Click to expand...

Pushing out with the inside leg can actually move your weight to the inside (as you are concentrating on using the inside leg) and make the motorbiking worse. Try and correct your body position so you are sitting equally over the back and the horse will move under you more equally.
 
Thanks, I'll definately spend more time spiralling in and out. It's frustrating as he can be a bit stuffy in walk but I lose the shoulder when I move up a gear and then the tipping begins.

Any idea whether I should I put more weight on the inside or outside seat bone when this is happening?
 
cheeryplatypus said:
Thanks, I'll definately spend more time spiralling in and out. It's frustrating as he can be a bit stuffy in walk but I lose the shoulder when I move up a gear and then the tipping begins.

Any idea whether I should I put more weight on the inside or outside seat bone when this is happening?
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Outside - imagine you are actually on a motorbike, if you lean in then the bike tips in more and more, so does a horse. Move out and the horse will try and balance your weight and move out.
 
Clava said:
Outside - imagine you are actually on a motorbike, if you lean in then the bike tips in more and more, so does a horse. Move out and the horse will try and balance your weight and move out.
Click to expand...

Thank you. You're right that when I think about putting my leg on too much I lean in!
 
This is going to sound odd, but try simply thinking, weight on outside leg, weight on outside leg and see if you're horse does it. Think about what you want, rather than what you don't want and when you get it think "Yes!" and smile.
 
Make sure that you are going at a suitable speed around your corner . Maybe slow a tad and collect a little . I have bikes and I know that if you pile into a corner too fast then the further over you lean, but if I go into the corner slower then Im more upright but I have the power to hand for exiting the corner.
 
Thanks everyone. Worked a bit longer in trot controlling the shoulder in the spiral. Then keeping the speed down, concentrated on my outside leg weight. Much better result and best of all, a happier pony :)
 
Clava said:
Outside - imagine you are actually on a motorbike, if you lean in then the bike tips in more and more, so does a horse. Move out and the horse will try and balance your weight and move out.
Click to expand...

I get why you're saying this, but it's not N easy comparison to make. When you lean a motorbike over, you actually use countersteer, so while your weight is shifted to the direction of turn, the handlebars are actually turned the other way.

So, if you want to turn left at any kind of speed on a motorbike, you actually turn the handlebars to the right.

This is only relevant because anyone who rides a motorbike will tell you that it is impossible to lift a bike back into an upright position by just moving your body...in fact doing that mid bend could well end you up in the dirt. Instead, to sit a bike up, a rider needs to correct the handlebars, so turn them back to the left on a left hand bend and the power of the bike, the centrifugal force keeps it shiny side up.

Transfer this to a horse and it means we can bear in mind that if we try too much to weight the outside, we can actually make the problem worse.

I would suggest a three point approach to tackling this.

1, give a forward aid, engage the engine
2, correct your posture to sit tall
3, give a small aid with the outside leg and a slight check with the outside rein. Using the inside leg can give the horse more to lean against. Using the outside leg and outside rein can literally work to confuse your horse out of the lean.

I'm not saying it is perfect and certainly it should be a 3-4 second movement in total, but it is a good way to break the cycle of leaning and fighting.

Hope that makes sense to non bikers. :eek:
 
_GG_ said:
I get why you're saying this, but it's not N easy comparison to make. When you lean a motorbike over, you actually use countersteer, so while your weight is shifted to the direction of turn, the handlebars are actually turned the other way.

So, if you want to turn left at any kind of speed on a motorbike, you actually turn the handlebars to the right.

This is only relevant because anyone who rides a motorbike will tell you that it is impossible to lift a bike back into an upright position by just moving your body...in fact doing that mid bend could well end you up in the dirt. Instead, to sit a bike up, a rider needs to correct the handlebars, so turn them back to the left on a left hand bend and the power of the bike, the centrifugal force keeps it shiny side up.

Transfer this to a horse and it means we can bear in mind that if we try too much to weight the outside, we can actually make the problem worse.

I would suggest a three point approach to tackling this.

1, give a forward aid, engage the engine
2, correct your posture to sit tall
3, give a small aid with the outside leg and a slight check with the outside rein. Using the inside leg can give the horse more to lean against. Using the outside leg and outside rein can literally work to confuse your horse out of the lean.

I'm not saying it is perfect and certainly it should be a 3-4 second movement in total, but it is a good way to break the cycle of leaning and fighting.

Hope that makes sense to non bikers. :eek:
Click to expand...

The leaning motorbike was just an analogy to make it clear in the mind and wasn't supposed to be including centrifugal forces. The fact is you need to balance your body correctly and move the weight so you are not putting too much to the inside. This is an image my RWYM riding instructor used and I know it works for me and a friend with a similar issue. I would never try and confuse a horse out of an issue though, ride and balance yourself correctly and the horse will do the same.
 
Clava said:
The leaning motorbike was just an analogy to make it clear in the mind and wasn't supposed to be including centrifugal forces. The fact is you need to balance your body correctly and move the weight so you are not putting too much to the inside. This is an image my RWYM riding instructor used and I know it works for me and a friend with a similar issue. I would never try and confuse a horse out of an issue though, ride and balance yourself correctly and the horse will do the same.
Click to expand...

No no...I get that, maybe I didn't word it very well.

It was the using the lean analogy that can be often misconstrued with "motorbiking" horses. I've watched so many instructors, very good ones use the same kind of analogy of leaning and very often, people will then, consciously or subconsciously try to "lean" the horse back upright again.

I just wrote the post above to break it down a bit for those that might get confused about leaning and its effects. Horses don't have centrifugal force in the same way a motorbike does, but if for example a horse is "motorbiking" on the right rein...if a rider were to lean to the left with the body, trying to sit the horse up, the result is most often that even more weight is transferred through the right hip which makes the "motorbiking" worse.

As many have said on here, keeping the core strong, being upright in the body and weighting the left in this example will bring the horse back underneath you.

Hope that makes sense :)
 
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