Turn on the haunches

[salexis]

Hello

Its me of a thousand questions! ;D

Brig very kindly responded to my walk to canter question with a tip on using turn on the haunches. I've not done turn on the haunches before and am not sure what the aids are. We can do turn on the forehand, leg yeild, shoulder-in and rein back, but am not sure where to start with T-O-H!

Any advice, as ever, always appreciated!

[brigadier]

Okay, this is your mantra from now on......
inside leg on the girth, outside leg behind the girth, inside rein open and lead, outside rein neck and support! Repeat repeat repeat! Those are the aids for practically every movement. But its how you apply them. So Turn on haunches to the left.
Approach either A or C in the school on the left rein and repeating the mantra place your aids so you are in that position. Ask for halt so the horses bum is level with the marker. Keep the outside leg firm to stop the bum swinging and simply indicate to the horse with the left rein that you want it to move its shoulders so that it is facing up the centre line, the outside leg is the key to blocking the horse swinging it bum and the position of the fence will help. The outside rein stops the horse bending its neck too much as if it does you will make it too difficult. in all movements you want the tiniest bit of flexion but mostly keep the horse straight. This will really help the horse lift the forehand and open the shoulders. Take your time, one step with the bum staying still is worth several with it swinging. Then its practice, practice, practice- master it one way before your try the other and only do a quarter turn onto centre line to start with. It sometimes helps to think of your hands as a pair almost lifting the shoulders through the quarter turn. Once on the centre line then walk to x and practice your halt. Then praise and have a trot as a reward!

Some people dont like this exercise as Turn on the Haunches is not strictly a dressage movement- but it is the gateway to lots of other movements that can really help your riding and position and your horses adaptability.

Let us know how it goes!
Brig

[maximum]

once you have mastered T on H I move onto walk piroutte really gets them loose through the shoulder and moving away from the leg.

[kitcat]

My instructor had us doing TOH to walk a square in my lesson last night and then using this to ensure that we always got right into the corners.

[brigadier]

Hi Maxie
I do that too, it helps the rider realise the control needed with the outside hand and leg before doing the pirouette I find, because otherwise there's the tendency to rush the pirouette and lose it. both great exercises.

KitCat your instructor sounds a good one if she is doing this! Certainly a good exercise but a lot of BHS instructors dont know/dont use it! How did you find the exercise- any tips for Salexis?
Brig

[kitcat]

My instructor isn't BHS - she's been teaching in Portugal for a number of years and has only just come back to the UK.

As to advice, I'm not sure I'm the best to ask as I haven't been riding that long. In the main she had me riding it the same way as you described but instead of the outside leg being back she had me using it to push the shoulder round. Ryan is only 4 so just learning too. We were also trying to do a 180 degree turn and I found that often we would get 90 degrees TOH and 90 degrees turn on the forehand. Thinking about it now should I have moved my leg back once he started going round to control his bum?

[brigadier]

Hi Kitcat- yes as the outside leg supports the movement and as you dont want him to move his bum otherwise it becomes a turn on the centre which is more of an evasion. Like I said- do it really slowly with lots of encouragement and praise- one good step is worth several bad ones, so if you get a good step- pause then praise then walk forwards and the set up the exercise to try again.

you instructor didnt sound BHS.....hee hee! Not that Im against them as Im one but some get locked into the stages training which isnt very varied and they dont think wider (but thats probably the suject of a different post!)

Good luck with it
brig

[kitcat]

He he Brig, I've had a pretty awful BHS instructor before and now have a wonderful one who is not BHS. I do something different almost every lesson and she is flexible enough that if something isn't looking right she will change the whole lesson to work on exercises to correct it (sitting trot!!!)