Tips for diagonal please

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cellie

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Ive been riding for nearly 40 years and have been having lessons on my mare as she was a complete fruit loop.Everything is going really well but I struggle to feel correct lead in trot on left rein .Canters fine I feel it immediately.My instructor is at a loss as well as she says Im good rider, its my one week spot ,if I want to do dressage next year its going to hold me back.
Can anyone give me any tips.
I can see the diagonal but if I look down my mare is very sensitive and stops going in good outline .Its took me months to get her balanced and this is holding us up.
 
lol one of your pics looks like you are checking front legs out
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i was haha. well spotted, it was during lesson and i was asked to ride forward more in trot and i then have the tendancy to look down, believe it or not i wasnt checking anything haha!!
 
No tips I'm afraid but I find that some horses make it feel more obvious than others. My mare feels totally weird if I'm on the wrong diagonal in trot - can you try riding some other horses to see whether it helps you to pick it up?
 
you obviously know that you should be sitting as the outside leg hits the floor. What I used to do is, in my mind, say one, two, one two as the front legs move. This helped me to know what leg was doing what!!
 
try making the decision in the first 1 or 2 strides, so you start your rising trot until you've got it - so push up into trot and sit for the first beat having a quick figure out which diagonal you're on -move your eyes - not your head...and then either rise, or sit, whichever you need to get you on the correct diagonal...and practise practise practise...
 
I usually sit for the first three beats of trot and then rise and it works. Don't know why it works, but it does for me.

I don't know if this will work for anyone, or if its just my horse. lol
 
when you do sitting trot feel your seatbones - as the horses back moves in two pieces so to speak in trot each side dips down as the hindleg is out behind them. (very badly explained its like rocking side to side - although you dont do that in saddle) you should sit when you feel your outside seatbone lower than inside.....so what i do is .... transistion to trot...sitting, wait til i feel seatbone on outside is lower then rise next step.

hope that helps - difficult to explain in words. try sitting and just feel what your seatbones are doing then it should make sense.
 
Splash a little tippex or chalk n the left shoulder - then you will see it out of the corner of your eye as it moves forward. Or close your eyes and try to feel when you're being "lifted" on that side if you don't want a visual cue

However watch your mare isn;t putting you on the "wrong" diagnal because it it more comfortable for her that way...has been known!
 
We think she has a more comfortable side and she found left rein very tricky initially.She hadnt been schooled at all just sj. I have been working more on left rein to correct her balance and its really helped it takes me several strides and then I sit for two.Ill try the chalk and some of the other tips thanks.
 
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