Schooling advice needed

[cpendle]

Hi. I've just bought myself a 4yr old dressage horse (best Xmas present ever!!)

He's quite green and when on the right rein in canter he falls through the outside shoulder really badly. I'm struggling to deal with this - I instinctively pick up the inside rein - which I know is the wrong thing to do and just end up with his head turned to the inside. But if feels like we're going to crash into the fence ever time we're at a corner.

Normally with an older horse I'd try counter flexion - but he's not really schooled enough to understand that and becomes unbalanced / gets confused as to where we're going.

I don't think it's particularly my riding as he struggles with the same thing on the lunge.

How can I get him working around my inside leg? And to be more supple on the right rein? Can you suggest any exercises?

Thanks in advance

 

[TiaPony]

Leg yield to turn on the forehand then back to leg yield. Make sure that you are always using the same inside leg though - don't change half way through. Ie. on the left rein push with the right leg of the track to the 3/4 line then use your right leg to turn on the forehand and change direction then use the right leg to get you back to the track. Works quite well i've found!

 

[Mel85]

I had the same problem with my mare when she first started schooling - my leg was forever being crushed against the fence on the right rein!

My dressage instructor told me to keep her as straight as I could and think of pushing the outside shoulder round the corner with the outside leg. Another thing that really helps is to work off the track all the time, because then they aren't relying on the fence to keep them in, they have to learn to be supported with the outside leg and contact. Leg yielding is another good one to get the horse responding to moving away from the leg. As the balance in the canter improves then so should the falling out, just keep working at it!

Good luck

 

[hotellie]

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My dressage instructor told me to keep her as straight as I could and think of pushing the outside shoulder round the corner with the outside leg.

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that is what mine said as well and i find that it works well.

 

[Iestyn]

I have the same problem with my youngster at the minute. He has big paces and I'm still getting used to them! I have brought him so far and seem to be hitting a bit of a brick wall at the minute. Because of this I am having him ridden by a far more experienced rider for a while just to set him up a little bit more for me, otherwise we could be going round in circles (literally), confusing each other for quite a while longer. Not sure what your experience is but maybe it's an idea? I haven't sent my horse away and it is my "man" doing the riding - so a little bit easier to arrange and accept!

 

[Partoow]

your young horse is just like you or i he has a strong and a weak side. His weaker side is the right and what happens is the right hind does not step sufficiently through to support him up and forward. This is really what being 'straight ' refers to , it is the even application of the hind leg.
To acheive this you need , as the rider to think of the left to right balance in your horse, imagine a spirit level in your hands and keeping the height of your hands the same regardless of what turn or circle or straight line you are on. [or a tray of drinks that you are going to keep level at all times.] This represents not only your shoulders but those of your horse. He goes out of his shoulder when his inside shoulder is down and therefore there is not sufficient room for the inside hind to step under and therefore carry him around the corner.
he needs to understand that the outside rein provides him with a 'limit' and that he cannot step further that this rein. so then on a square on the inside track really see the path infront of you between the two reins with his head and neck in the middle between them. Make sure you are evenly balanced in both feet that your thigh is open long and down with your pelvis upright and your ears stretching up with your elbows heavey and the hand light in a flexing elbow. The important shoulderblades folding down your back. This will hold you in a balance that will help you keep him in balance and also able to recognise small changes to his balance and therefore allow you to time the appropriate leg aid , thus enabling you to communicate with his hindleg with your inside leg. A quick light tap should result in a quick reaction from his hindleg. If you require more length and reach to the step along the floor then the aid is more like a 'hug' with the calf muscle being careful not to grip up and pinch with the knee. The lower leg shoud be stable, all too often it is not and therefore leads to the horse not being able to hear the suptle leg commands and also being blocked by imappropriate body position.
Remember your shoulders should turn his shoulders and the leg suports the ribs away out to the outside rein. Rather like fingers pressing the keys of a piano it should be that specific.
You must NOT hold him out with the inside rein when you turn. You turn your shoulders and therefore his shoulders, he will try and fall in, this is the moment the leg needs to work at the girth to support him up and through the turn and thus activating his inside leg to react to maintain the level balance through the turn.
You need to establish that you are riding his level shoulders through a turn, not his mouth. That one leg at the girth means give in the ribs, not go faster and that two legs is go and that the hand is a guide not a walking stick . It provides him with the limits for his frame and therefore the work required of his hind leg. Stick to the movement you are riding. Set a goal and get to it as the movements in the school represent a set of balance demands that trian the appropriate responses in you and your horse for the level of training. So for your young horse 20m squares and circle with a minimum of 15m. Anything less than this and it will force him to protect himself because he will not have the sufficient strength to cope with the demands of anything smaller anything bigger will not give him enough of a challenge to his balance.