Supple-Up Excercises Needed Please ...

H

HBII

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Right my mare is rather un-supple on her left rein - I am looking for some easy suggestions of school movements to help her supple up.

I can ride a square, have a bash at leg yield and can do turn on the forehands - but I could do with some other suggestions.

Are there any simple excercises I can do that will help her? Are there any books on the market that exlpain in simple terms supple-ing up movements?

Any advice appreciated.

Hb
 
Try doing carrot stretches (I know you asked for ridden, but these really help). My Tb couldn't move her head back further than her shoulder whne I first started doing them. Now I do them most days and she bends right back past her hip, stretches her whole body. Has made a really big difference with my WB, too.
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I find the carrot one quite useful too - side to side and also down - hold it at about girth level but on the ground. I actually often did it whilst riding (at a halt) in school with a carrot. If you find that you have tasty feet, then just get a carrot and you can manoeuvre the head all around.
 
My mare is the same and my trainer has given me some exercises to try which will help. This one is good:
On the right rein, ride a 10 metre circle at K (count 14 strides to try and get a the right, even size), then across the short diagonal to B (remember to change your weight and bend on the way). At B ride another 10 metre circle, this time to the left, again counting 14 strides. Across the short diagonal to H, and ride another 10 metre circle to the right. Repeat on both reins.
My mare is difficult to the left also and you will find the left circles difficult to begin with, but it does help.
Also, 10 metre circle in trot at A, flex and release to the inside every few strides, remembering to allow with the outside rein. When she softens and you can feel the inside hind leg coming underneath, let her go onto a 20 metre circle and stretch long and low. I find this improves my trot dramatically!
In walk, on the left rein walk along the long side. At the quarter marker, half pirouette left (or as close as you can manage!) and leg yield back to the track with right flexion. Proceed in walk along the long side, half piroutte right, change flexion and leg yield back to the track. Repeat.
Shoulder in in walk and trot. In fact any lateral work will help.

hope those suggestions help a bit! Good luck
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The best way to gymnasticise the horse is to use a lot of lateral work and a lot of circling work.

I tend to start with quite simple stuff in walk such as flexing the neck subtely to each side and then do some loops off the main track changing the bend appropriately.

Turn on the forehand is very good at teaching a horse the co-ordination of its own hindlegs so is handy for youngsters. Always make sure you use it more on the stiffer side of course
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Use of large school shapes helps immensely but you have to ensure you are riding them correctly. Serpentine loops, for example, sound rather dull and mundane but are excellent for teaching your horse to switch between flexions and will help with suppling up. Circles and voltes are both valuable (although perhaps leave the voltes for a while if she's really stiff). Drawing the path you intend to take for the circle might help to stop you drifting off the line. Also try to ride the circle correctly every step and make a conscious effort to check the shoulders for drifting out and the haunches for drifting in!

Shoulder in is perhaps the most valuable exercise id push for teaching your horse as it's used extensively throughout training for both suppling and straightening purposes. In addition, it encourages the hind legs to step through more and therefore activates the back end. Obviously, again, make sure you are focussing more on the stiff side (im told a ratio of 2:1 with focus on the stiff side is the aim).

From shoulder in id move to travers and once thats in hand, you can start half pass.

Remember that even when going large, riding your corners correctly, switching flexions and checking straightness all help. Lots of turns, changes of rein again are useful providing that you ensure you ride the corners correctly - changes of rein again provide a good way to practice flexion changes which are so valuable in suppling.
 
Leg yield - start off in walk...and leg yield from the 3/4 line to the track, and vice versa. Then progress to trot. Once your mare leg yields nicely this way, pop her onto a 20m circle anywhere you fancy...then spiral in to make it a 10m circle...and leg yield back out to a 20m circle. Again, progress to doing this in trot (sitting for the 10m circle
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Neck flexion - pop horse on a 20m circle and really concentrate on keeping her body on the correct bend. Then over flex her neck to the inside (move her head about 6 - 12 inches to the inside) whilst keeping her body bend correct. Then flex her neck to the outside while keeping her body bend correct....then finally do correct flexion. Do half to one circle of each type of flexion and repeat on the other rein.

Canter - working in using canter - pushing your mare forwards down the long sides to get her to open out and stretch.
Shoulder in is also good...but I'm getting the feeling you aren't too confident about that?
S
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YAY thanks for all thre replies HHO
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I do some carrot stretches but I was looking for more ridden acitivities we could try
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Tierra comprehensive as usual
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thank you I shall print this off and take it up the yard. I do concentrate on doing lots of quarter line work to keep her straight so the walls arent supporting us! But my serpentines have been lacking. Nevre done Shoulder In so Ill ask someone experienced to show me from the ground.

dondea thanks also will give it a shot
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Shilasdair - nothing is ever too simplistic for me
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thanks for your input Id hadnt thought of leg yielding on a circle d'oh. And your right about my should in - very polietly put, as I havent a clue
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Will be looking forward to try my new moves now
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Thanks again

Hbx
 
Shoulder in isnt hard at all!

Imagine you're riding around the arena and want to change the rein across the long diagonal - its that kind of bend you are after for a shoulder in.

Use the outside hand to bring the shoulders off the track, not the inside hand - exactly as if you were turning to go over the diagonal.

Literally as the shoulders have come off the track you want to be using the inside leg to push the movement sideways instead. This inside leg is used to drive the lateral movement and to encourage the inside hind leg to step in the direction of the outside foreleg.

Keep your upper body facing inwards and keep looking at that opposite diagonal!

Position your outside leg back slightly as many horses are tempted to ram their bums against the wall and what you're wanting is for the quarters to stay on the track. You can sit slightly onto your outside seat bone to help reaffirm that you're heading down the track rather than across the diagonal.

Remember that just a couple of steps are all you need at first and if the horse gives you those, you should then release the pressure with the inside leg to reward. All the control of the front end HAS to come from the outside rein. It often helps riders to think of bringing this hand towards the horse's neck but remember, the movement of the front end is just like going across that diagonal!

The travers comes from a correct shoulder in but is basically bringing the haunches in off the track rather than the shoulders and from there half pass is easy peasy but for some reason people seem to build it up to something its not
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Shoulder in is amazingly good at suppling and the key with it is to not rush anything. Horses can find it hard to begin with and that doesnt mean you're failing - the key is practice but it will pay off in dividends as your horsey becomes more supple.
 
I've always found it easier to ride if I set it up on a 10m circle at the start of the long side...and then just close my outside rein and push with my inside leg...as the horse is just about to start the next 10m circle...
S
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With your serpentines try varying your gait across the centre also to add some transition work. Initially, if you havent had much practice at switching flexions, I'd start out in walk. Focus on having a nice inside flexion when you're walking around the arena and then turn across for your serpentine (you can basically do as many loops as you want. Ride as a figure of 8 initially if you want to reduce the turns)

Once you've ridden the turn, straighten up. You can then ride a downwards transition to halt which gives you time to sort your aids out to switch your flexion to your new inside ready for when you hit the track and turn onto the new rein.

Once adept at doing it, move to trot and ride walk over the centre line, again allowing you a teeny bit more grace time to switch your flexion over (although remember to keep your transitions neat and tidy too!
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). You can eventually move on to doing them in canter using trot across the centre and remember that this in itself is often used as pre-requisite work for simple flying changes so its laying down good ground work for the future
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Ive never found that for a couple of reasons. I tend to use shoulder in at a much earlier stage in training than i use 10 metre voltes. So generally, i dont have a horse ready for 10 metre voltes before they're ready (imo) for shoulder in.

Ive also found that if the horse isnt correctly supple and ready for the voltes, the rider has a tendency of then using too much inside hand to drag them around and create the flexion, which is exactly whats not wanted for the shoulder in (indeed so many shoulder ins go wrong because riders try to create the bend from their inside hand rather than the outside)

Just my experience though, different methods use different pre-reqs and i know of plenty that use 10 metre circles to establish the bend
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Tierra thank you so much for your help I think I owe your a drink for taking the time to type all that out!
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Hb
 
Its no problem, you know that. If you need any help you can always PM me and i'll try sort you a list of aids you need for specific movements etc (I didnt bother listing travers since i figured you'd be occupied with shoulder in for a while).

The most important thing is to try it. It saddens me that people often get put off from using movements because they become over complicated when actually, if you try and break them down and look at what they are; they're not complex at all.

Incidently, you asked in your first post about books. Theres a classical rider called Anja Beran who has done a couple of excellent training books. One is called In Deference and one is called Classical Schooling with the Horse in Mind. She has very very clear listings of what aids to use and why with really nice illustrations showing them applied and how they're co-ordinated. It's well worth a look as she believes that the outline comes from the correct gynasticising of the horse so they're basically FULL of lateral exercises and how to ride them well.
 
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indeed so many shoulder ins go wrong because riders try to create the bend from their inside hand rather than the outside

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This sounds familiar! Tierra, can I ask how would you deal with a horse who in left shoulder-in falls out through the right shoulder therefore making it very difficult to keep the angle without using excessive inside rein? I find it very hard to ride as I end up sitting left and drawing my right hand across the neck, and find it almost impossible to get my right seatbone to connect with the saddle!
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Thats perhaps one of the most common problems out there and the result is often that you end up with more of a neck in as opposed to a shoulder in (usually then with a hollow grumpy horse
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With these horses i actually tend to go for slightly less neck flexion. This sounds quite bizarre but it prevents them running through their outside shoulder quite as much. At the same time, i tend to position more strongly and try and get the shoulders off the track more before asking for the lateral movement.

Less bend through the neck should let you control it more with the outside rein and should also encourage the inside hind leg to come through better. So... if anything, ask for LESS neck bend but try and get the shoulders off the track more.

Another thing is to check that you have a reasonable contact. Longer reins tend to allow this neck crossing with the outside hand that you mention, so shorten your reins if anything and focus on bringing the outside rein onto the neck and allow the inside rein to yield. It can even be handy here to hook your small finger of the outside hand under a neck strap to then pin it into position and stop it attempting to cross over the neck.

The most that your inside rein should be doing in shoulder in is asking for a slight inside flexion and then instantly yielding and sitting quiet.

The most important thing is to keep a careful watch over those shoulders and if they drift back onto the track, straighten up and try again on the next long side rather than trying to over correct yourself.

Incidently, Id possible also be using travers in this instance to help with the suppling up and generally riding more school movements on this rein.

How is your horse generally on this rein? Its quite common that a one sided rider doesnt work the horse into the outside rein enough on their (the riders) weaker side and comes to be too dependent on the inside rein. This manifests itself in a number of ways (one being the horse that becomes uncontrolled on the open side of a 20 metre circle for example).
 
Thanks..
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left is her weaker rein, and if I let her she will happily sit on the inside rein and pretend she can't turn any other way! we've been working very hard on this and I can now turn her much better using my body position but she still likes to hang onto the left rein more than I would like. She actually falls right on both reins and I find this trait quite difficult to deal with - on the right rein I have to be careful she doesn't throw me to the outside, and to the right I feel like I twist my right shoulder inwards and find it hard to get the weight onto my right leg and seatbone. Particularly as in trying too hard to do the latter I sometimes end up doing the former (if that makes sense!) We are getting there, but it tends to go to pot slightly in shoulder in - much as I try everything disappears left (apart from the horse, which disappears right)!
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