Leg Yielding ect.

[GlenmuirCrusader]

Well, I have been having a go at doing a bit of lateral work and that sort of thing with the Dougster to try something different and mainly get him suppled up and moving away from my leg as I have had a huge amount of trouble getting him to pick up his left canter lead and am hoping this will help [we've been worked on picking it up over poles as well, with success.]

Have managed to teach him turn on the forehand. Started on the ground and with a lot of work he now does it really nicely on both reins so I have been riding a square with TOF at each corner which is a nice little excersise that makes him think. Also started teaching turn on the haunches from ground but this is going to take quite a lot of work i think.

My instrcutor suggest shoulder in but I am struggling with this one. managed a few steps with her help in my last lesson, which was a long time ago so would appreciate some help with that? Is there anything I can do on the ground yo help him?

Also, leg yielding! Have attempted this at PC but have been unsuccessful, but would like to have another go at it now he is more co-operative.

And some bending excersise suggestions would also be much appreciated!

Sorry for all that babbling on!

[Sazz]

Make sure that when you bend and circle that he is bending around your inside leg and responding to the aid with your outside leg supporting. Make sure you use your corners as this is another good way to enforce moving away from the inside leg. If he is happy that the leg aids don't always mean "go" he should be willing!

Always start on the inside track moving back towards the fence. Make sure you are giving the correct aids so you need to put weight into your inside seat bone, put your inside leg just behind the girth and outside behind the girth to support the hindquarters and encourage forward movement. Ask for inside bend and allow with your outside hand but keep the contact so he doesn't fall out.

Turn on the forehand is definitely a good start to get him responding to sideways movements. If at this stage when you are introducing leg yield make sure you only ask for a little bit and make sure you reward when he gets it right even if it is only a few steps. I had trouble with my young horse as he always thought legs meant go, when we began asking for sideways he used to get himself in such a state if he was worried he wasnt getting it right but lots of praise when he is getting it right makes a difference, I still praise him everytime he gets it right now otherwise he worries!

[GlenmuirCrusader]

Thank you very much for such a detailed answer.
Yes, it's taken me ages to get him to understand how to do turn on the forehand, he used to get in a right muddle trying to do it. Backwards and fowards and sideways. But itt's clicked with him now so I'm hoping this means he'll find leg yielding a bit easier as he'll understand more of what I'm asking him.
Thank you!

[CityLights]

if he finds turn on the haunch difficult back him up into it dont do a proper back up just do the slightly rock backwards so that his front end is already slightly lighter with his weight onto his hocks that way he should be able to plant his hind leg better and lift the front end around,

the turns on a square are very handy for teaching the starts of leg yield they are a very good exercise to use anyway once you have got the turn on the huaches started do the same with them to loosen up the front end and shoulers to make him more supple then you should be able to start on a circle just pushing him in and out, i find it easier on a circle as the horse is less prone to just falling in or out towards the fence

to set up for shoulder in do a very small volte and then just try to contiue the feeling along the fence for a few strides and then ride out of it straight, its important to not carry on the movement for a long time as it will slowly get worse you will loose the quality its better to get two or three good strides stop queing and ride off staight, that way you also dont get a horse like my older one who will just get stuck in the movemnt whilst you slowly loose quality of the movement and makes it difficult to ride out of it to ask for anything else,

shoulder in is much easier to teach in hand and make sure its a true shoulder in on three tracks otherwise you end up just doing an wonky leg yield which does not have the same effects and doesnt have the same strength buliding qualities, shoulder in requires the horse support its weight (like in half pass) where as a leg yield they step away from the weight which makes it much easier and why many horses fall and lead with the shoulder

[GlenmuirCrusader]

Thanks very much for all the advice! I'm itching to put it into practice now. (: