'Bending' my horse?!?

Question

my horse is very young and was taught to steer by rein aids only (i.e. turning left would just be a slight squeeze to the left rein) but as he is progressing this isnt very helpful as i cannot perform a 'shoulder in' without his hind quarters turning too.

can anybody help me to train him to turn using my legs and can you give me exersies to help this?

thanks x*x

Answer 1

many of these aids are complacated how old is your horse and do you have a trainer if not get one keep your inside rein a little shorter than the outside oneif you want yourhorse to hoe dont pull back on the rains look where your going and squeeze your back and buttock muscles it also helps when doing a collected canter ride in a circle and sgueeze your horse with your legs and periodcaly do half halts also try bare back it builds up your muscles and keep riding dont give up

Answer 2

A good exercicse is to try 'bending' him in circles-maybe 3 or 4 feet in diameter.

Keep inside leg pressure on him, and inside reign. As soon as you can feel him 'soften' on the bit, even if it is just an inch of slack in your reins, let up on ALL of the pressure-immediately, to reward him for doing what you wanted. When he starts to put pressure on the bit/lean on your leg again, repeat the exercise. You want him to bend his body around your leg pressure and soften his mouth to the bit. It takes some time, but each time he does a good job it will happen quicker and quicker as he catches on.

Answer 3

When I wanted to work on my pony's response to my leg, I got off of her and walked alongside her, pushing my hand behind her girth on the inside (where my foot would go) while pulling the rein to the inside track through the corners, which helped her learn to bend. Then I practiced just riding on her, pushing my inside leg on hard to teach her that that meant for her to stay in the corner. Then I practiced with my inside leg on, and with a slight tug to the inside rein. This process took quite a while to complete, but she has gotten better! Hope this helps! :)

Answer 4

keep him in walk and steer him in serpintines and half ten meter loops and ten meter circles using only your seat.

try to steer him through bending poles in canter by just using your weight distribution

Answer 5

I think as he is very young you should not be attempting this yet anyway as he will not have developed strong enough muscles.  There is a difference between muscle and fat!

When you do start, start by walking a 5 meter circle to make sure he is bending round your inside leg.

Your outside leg should be a bit further back than normal to prevent quarter swing and push him over with your inside leg.  Only ask for a few steps at a time then go forward straight.  And reward.

Incidentally, legs should be used for turning in conjunction with reins.

Answer 6

http://www.juliegoodnight.com/articles/l...

http://www.midsouthhorsereview.com/artic...

Excellent articles on the use of "leg aids" on your horse.

http://www.lifetips.com/expert-guru/6695...

Answer 7

My guys know the command, "over". When we first had them this was ALWAYS accompanied by a thumb in the side, just behind where the girth would be. It only moves their rear end. I can spin them in circles from both the ground and in the saddle. It's called turning on the forehand...I think!

I take every opportunity to move them over like this, especially from the ground, grooming, bathing...even when they're lined up at the feed room door.

This way when it came to start using leg yields etc. I used the aids and my voice.

Do 10 metre circles in trot and gradually make it tighter and tighter, like a spiral, then all the way back out again.....using lots of inside leg to bend him around.

When you want to leg yield use the correct aids and try to walk him along a fence at 45 degrees, or have a friend literally push your horse's front and rear end over together.

I would be trying to teach leg yield before you teach shoulder in though!!!

Good luck!