Introduction and Some Help Please

[js]

Hi. As you can probably tell by my username I’m Kitcat’s sister. Thank you for all your lovely words about my new baby. He’s slowly realising that he isn’t a riding school horse any more but I think it’s going to take some time before he really relaxes into his new life.

I’m hoping you can help me with something. I gave him a month off from schooling and we’ve just started back. As he’s been a riding school horse all his life he’s picked up a few bad habits in the school so I’ve gone right back to basics with lots of transitions to get him listening to my leg. The problem I have is with bending and I think it’s an issue we both have. When doing circles he falls in. I think he has been allowed to get away with it as he’s had lots of novices riding him over the years. I know I need to use lots of inside leg but I’m not sure my leg is strong enough to keep him out. Have you got any tips or exercises to help him get suppler, me make my inside leg more effective and stop him falling in so we can start to get a good circle.


Thank you for your help.

[solomon]

Brig and Maxi will help you I am sure, but being ex-riding school it will take time. He needs to go back to basics probably. Getting him to respect a subtle leg aid. Transititions and millions of them seems to be the key to this. Also maybe a little lungeing to get him responding to your voice more. I say whoa a lot! It saves wear and tear on my horses mouth and he forgets to relax if I am in his face with the bit-literally! Motorbiking round corners is a pain but not the worst thing he could be doing. Maybe keep schooling sessions fairly short or do them after a hack when he is supple and less likely to argue, good luck.

[scattymare]

Hey. Good to 'meet' you
A good exercise I was tought to get them bending around your leg is to work on a square rather than a circle. Use 4 cones in each corner if that helps and work on getting the horse very straight on the sides and around your leg on the corner. Really open your inside hand rather than pulling (and make sure your arm stays up and doesn't drop) inside leg on firmly and little half halts with the outside rein.
Also, working on a circle, spiral it in and out - again open your inside hand and almost ask for an exaggerated bend - really see the inside eye. As soon as he yields to the bend, lighten the inside contact so you are not pulling him in. Then allow the circle out, put your weight slightly to the outside,push with the inside leg and small half halts with the outside rein. Most importanty, look up and around your circle where you want to go. It doesn't matter if he drifts out to start with as he gets the hang of moving off your leg.
Hope this helps.

[fimacg]

Scattys got some good ideas there and another one is to ride a wavy line... not a full serpentine across the school but up the centre line (or anywhere in the school) just ride 5m loops to get him to supple up a bit, his muscles will be set after years of work in a RS so you have to take things in small steps.

Another good exercise is to ride 10m circles at all the markers changing the direction at each so at c ride a 10m cirecle on the right rein and then when you get to the next marker ride a circle on the left rein a bit like doing a figure of 8 but working your way around the school (some need 1.5 circles to get to the next marker)

leg yeilding from the 5m line back to the track is another good one as is a little bit of lateral work - I call it head to the wall because I can never remeber if it travers, renvers or something else ride from A/C to the long side of the arena on a 45 degree angle (i.e. missing out the corner) as hou approach the side of the school ask for a bit of bend to outside (head to the wall) then use the outside leg and push them over because they are approaching the wall they cant keep going forward and they seem to grasp that they have to go forwards and sideways at the same time.

Also turn about the forehand gets them listening to the fact that leg means over as well as forward.

if he is fallin in there are a couple of things you can do...
immediately slap the rein against the side of his neck that he is bulging out through as if to say my reins are your corridor stay in there, in a similar way if yo carry a dressage stick you can use this on his shoulder where he is bulging out through.

also when riding a corner think of almost riding it in counter bend to get him to stay straighter.

oh and anotehr good one is the hands of the clock (but tough) put a cone in the middle of theschool and then leg yeid him around this as though you are the hands of the clock so his back end has to tak bigger steps than his front end as you get better you will be able to ride a steepper angle to the cone but initally he will only manage a couple of steps and as soon as he gets stuck ride sraight across the circle and set him up again.

hope that helps.

[fleabitten]

Hi there! I know exactly this problem. You might find it difficult to leg yield on him if he wont bend round your leg.

I would be inclined to start on the ground getting him suppler - carrot stretches after exercise, getting him more responsive on the ground as well - making him move over when grooming or in the stable, when tied up etc (maybe swing a lead rope, or knot the end and bump his side or quarters with it, or tap with a whip - using a voice command such as 'over') Getting him to move his feet and be more agile. Teaching him turn on the forehand and turn on the quarters from the ground and rein back as well. Hopefully once he becomes light and responsive on the ground this will transfer on into ridden work.

An exercise i picked up off the internet a few years ago for this problem was to ride a circle and let him fall in - the idea being that he would feel unbalanced and then sort himself out and work to balance himself - all you have to do is apply the correct turning aids and keep him going. i dunno if it works or not but might be worth a try!

[js]

Thank you for your help. You’ve all given me something to work with. I want to plan each schooling session (yes I’m a control freak!) so I’m not just aimlessly wandering around the school and it’ll also give him some variation rather than the last few years where, bless him, he’s done the same thing every lesson.

I’ve booked a lesson for next week so I can understand how I can make my legs work better. I think I’ve got a bit lazy as I’ve had lessons on a real school master, who is very good at anticipating what you want him to do and just doing it, for the last 3 years.

I’m not aiming for the Olympics or anything and would be really happy with balanced paces so I can start jumping him. I’m terrified of jumping but he loves to jump and will jump anything you put him at so it would be a shame to stop that. His Aunty Kitcat is riding him on a jumping day so he will have some fun in the next few weeks.

[brigadier]

Hi JS and welcome.
Falling in is initially caused by lack of balance, the horse brings its inside hind leg too far under its body to get round the corner then has too much weight on the inside shoulder so it 'leans' to balance. Its a bit of a chicken and egg situation as both problems come together and if the horse isnt corrected early it accepts it as the correct thing to do BUT it is not doing it on purpose! I personally wouldnt advocate smacking it down the side of the neck as there is no connection to what it is doing. Also other exercises are useful to improve suppleness in general but you need to tackle the immediate problem.

My sure fire way of curing this is to slow the trot right down so the horse isnt rushed into finding his balance, then wherever he falls in, half halt then do a little circle, about 10 m initially then smaller once he gets the idea, but do it slowly so he can place his legs. then ride him out of the circle, effectively you are doing a small circle instead of a corner. Gradually he will know what you are wanting and carry himself correctly. Can be used on a circle or around the school. Devote a whole schooling session to this exercise and you will see an immediate improvement.

[fleabitten]

brig - is that exercise kinda similar to the one i found on the net? it seemed to aim to let the horse find his own balance and carry himself. this kinda makes sense actually cos the trusty cob i used to ride at old RS would have cut the corners really badly and fell in a lot but when i managed to get him to canter really slowly (didnt manage this all the time there was a knack lol) then he went into every single corner! So i just thought that he was just going too fast and too unbalanced to get into the corners.

thats a good idea to have a lesson - ask your instructor for homework or use some of the things you did in your lesson when you are schooling yourself. riding on the inside track is a good one as he is probably used to riding on the track - but maybe not a good idea if you are sharing the school.

[js]

Once again thank you for all your help. I have been working on a few of the exercises and I have managed to get a few decent circles. I think having a lesson will give me some real direction with him.

I was feeling so good about our schooling session on Friday that we popped over a few jumps (from trot as his canter is very unbalanced). The first one was so low he treated it with the contempt it deserved and trotted over it! He’s so genuine and will jump anything put in front of him so we went a little higher. I enjoyed myself so much I nearly had to be forcibly removed from the school! Maybe I will start to enjoy jumping.

Thank you again and I’ll let you know how we get on.

[fleabitten]

Great!! With regards to jumping, i was reading that its better to practice your jumping in trot until you get the canter sorted - i think it was in reference to ex racers but it makes sense for all horses i think! Plus it will be good for your confidence as well!

Looking forward to hearing how you get on with him.