Teaching leg yield

[Cinders]

I'm currently playing with the idea of leg yield with molly, but she's never done it before and whilst i've had a go on horses before i've never sat on anything that can do it properly so i'm a bit unsure as well.

Out hacking when off road on the farm tracks i've been asking her to move from left to right then back again and she's now fairly good at moving away from my leg but i'm not entirely sure she's doing it properly, i.e crossing her legs over! In the field at home it's a lot harder, i have no fence so nothing for her to balance against. I find i tend to lose her through the shoulder and she goes banana shape rather than staying straight.

I have found that if i slow the walk right down and almost halt i can get her to move over, without losing her through the shoulder and she does feel like she's crossing her legs, is slowing the walk right down something you'd do when teaching them?

Any hints or tips much appreciated as i'd rather not bother than teach her incorrectly

[CityLights]

its often difficult to get them to do it striaght and not loose the shoulder its a very common problem, make sure you have a decent contact on the outside rein and use a small amount of outside leg as well, dont just carry on stepping and stepping and stepping over do a few steps walk straight few more walk straight it helsp with the control and prevents them getting progressively worse and slipping out through the shoulder,

watch you arent over bending her too much bend will make it very easy for her to slip out through the shoulder and can prevent the foreleg from coming acorss of stepping out, if you can try leg yeidl from a slight shoulder in or shoulder fore positioning, with ollie when im schooling a start a little leg yiled on the circle to get his hind leg a little more active, about 10/8m and then do a few steps of shoulder in and then will ask him to leg yield,

leg yeilding on the circle is good to help get the legs to cross or doing a kind of turn about the forehand will help you one get the feeling of her legs crossing over and also helps her to get the idea, do a little of this work but dont do too much she sounds quite a forward horse anyway but with anything a bit backwards you can get a little stuck and loose some forward momentum, rember the stride should be the smae length forwards as it is sideways and there should be no loss of rhythm

[Cinders]

Brilliant reply, thank you! Will give the circle a go and see what happens.

She's not a stupid horse so thing we're just getting a bit confused at the moment lol

[lindsayyy]

Can you get someone to watch you while you do it? Then someone can help pick up on if the leg yield is happening at its best and when it does you can feel it and know for when it happens again if you are not sure it is happening properly?

[Aeia]

My instructor started teachine me this with Neo last night. He got me to walk up the 3/4 line with the idea of yielding out to the track. First he got us to stop and he gently encouraged Neo to move over by applying more pressure to his side. As other have said we did a few steps of yield then a few straight. Then he did it with us walking. After a couple of goes like this he then just used the lunge whip pointing at his quarters to help him get the idea. Just as the lesson ended he was doing it pretty well with no external aid.

We only did it to one side as he thinks trying to do both ways in one session can confuse them. So to balance it out the next schooling session I do with him I will do it on the other side.

[Catg]

Yup I had the same problem with Zeb in that i was over bending him and thus falling out through the shoulder.

This can be reduced as S&W advised by increasing your contact on the outside rein, start with a nice forward marching walk and make sure she is on the bit and listening to you. I tend to do it off the centre line so if you're on the field do a half 10m circle and then leg yield accross just a couple of strides and then walk forward again as S&W suggested.

Sometimes I find Zeb will ignore my leg so I just tap very gently with the schooling whip behind my leg and that helps to get him stepping over.

I also find it is easier to teach them on a hard surface first, do you have a driveway or quiet lane you could try it on in walk?

Cat x

[Cinders]

good ideas thanks!

When i've got a spare helper i'll get it video'd so i can see exactly how we're doing.

catg- yeh i've found it much easier on a hard surface too, she does it a lot better out hacking on the private farm tracks that have a hedge each side of the track, gives me something to keep her straight against lol