Leg Yield Tips

[Rarah]

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

It's still early days with Logic's schooling - we've got her working all nicely soft and round in walk and trot - still need her to be working from behind more - but have made real progress :)

BUT we've hit a brick wall this week!! :rolleyes:

Leg yielding is confusing the heck out of Logic. She seems to think I want her to go backwards!! We're probably doing a very advanced dressage move.

Has anyone else experienced this that could offer any tips?

I've tried leg yielding in trot to get her thinking forwards, and this does help a little, but I don't think she's crossing her hindlegs over in trot and there's never anyone around to watch and tell me if we're doing it right. It just feels like we are generally edging across the arena.

My instructor has suggested we just keep trying through the week in walk, but not to get stressed when it goes wrong and to praise any attempt at going forwards. I wanted to wow her with our progress at our lesson on Friday, but I don't think that will happen somehow!

[coss]

make sure you keep it relaxed and make sure you are in complete time with her. do it in walk and put your inside leg on everytime your inside hip moves forwards (as this is when the inside hind is moving) and you want it to be a fairly strong push from your leg. makes sure it is a clear pushing aid and that the whole leg and seat asks her to move. i would make the outside leg slightly more passive than normal and i might open the outside rein a little although that may invite her to fall through the shoulders so don't push that one.

Don't ask for too much at the beginning, i would start by walking up the inside track instead of 3/4 line and do it once straight and then the next time ask for the leg yield just before you reach the centre letters (b or e), if she does two or 3 steps then give her lots of praise and ask for more next time.

hope that helps :)

[bexj]

Hi! :D

I struggle with leg yield too - and have had...."STOP Mum, I don't know where to put my legs":eek:

Are you opening the inside rein and maintaining a contact with the outside rein? (I ask cos I've been taught 2 different ways to LY:confused: ) If you are, then you need to make sure that you aren't pulling the inside rein backwards by mistake, and then your contact on the outside is telling Logic not to go forward either, so she is stepping backwards instead. Sorry, sounds a bit garbled....;) I also find it helps to tap behind my leg with the schooling whip too.

[Daffy Dilly]

Daffy is being taught to flex first, then flex on a circle, and then yield on the circle. We haven't progressed to doing it on the straight yet, but he certainly spirals very well on a circle.

[Rarah]

Thanks for the tips!

I'm a slow learner and can only concentrate on a couple of things at once, but this makes sense................


Don't ask for too much at the beginning, i would start by walking up the inside track instead of 3/4 line and do it once straight and then the next time ask for the leg yield

Logic is getting tense and thinking "backwards" as soon as we go up the 3/4 line. If I just practice walking / trotting up their without LY then I guess we can get her thinking "forwards" before we attempt the yielding.

With regards to rein contact - I might be getting this wrong actually. :rolleyes:

If we forget about "inside" and "outside" for a moment because that confuses me and say we're going round the arena on the left rein (anticlockwise). We've passed A and are making our way up the 3/4 line and want to start the leg yield at F. I put my inside leg on and do what with my contact?? This evening I was squeezing more with my right hand whilst maintaining contact with my left so Logic didn't just bend her neck and change direction - I can't even remember what my instructor told me to do with my hands - it just seems like the natural thing to do.

The more I think about it now the more I wonder if I ought to leave the leg yeilding till my next lesson in case I manage to confuse my horse more?? :o :p

[coss]

i agree with DD that it can be easier to do on a circle (spirals first but i think it depend on the horse)
i would definately quit going up the 3/4 line for a while and just ride the inside track. this will mean you don't have as far to travel to hit the track so it will be more rewarding. you will also be closer to the track to start so she's more likely to want to drift that way.

hands:

you should slightly (and i mean very slightly) flex to the inside (in your example to the left). you should be able to se the eyelashes on the left side (thats how minimal flexion is). rein contact should be there on the right rein but not pulling back. the left rein that asks for flexion should ask and then relax so it doesn't become a pull back in which case you lose the shoulders.

[Keket]

If we forget about "inside" and "outside" for a moment because that confuses me and say we're going round the arena on the left rein (anticlockwise). We've passed A and are making our way up the 3/4 line and want to start the leg yield at F. I put my inside leg on and do what with my contact?? This evening I was squeezing more with my right hand whilst maintaining contact with my left so Logic didn't just bend her neck and change direction - I can't even remember what my instructor told me to do with my hands - it just seems like the natural thing to do.

When Coquette was first learning, I put my inside leg on and a little back (the left leg in your example) to keep her hind end straight. My right hand keeps a steady contact on the rein to stop her from just turning, and my left hand picks up enough contact to tip her nose to the left. I carry the crop in my left hand so I can tap her hind end if she starts to ignore the leg. If Logic is backing up, try to keep the right leg on to keep her thinking forward. At first I found I had to bend Coquette quite a bit to the inside to get the movement I wanted, but now, a few weeks later, I can put my leg on and just tip her nose, and she'll leg-yield right across the diagonal.

[Gracie]

I've been trying to teach Cherry this and gotten the same results, backing up.
I tried using the wall as a barrier so he cannot back up and just get him to step a few steps over, then thats it for the day and keep asking him everyday.

[KateWooten]

How is she coping when you do it from the ground ?

[Rarah]

How is she coping when you do it from the ground ?


Good question Kate!! My instructor also suggested doing it on the ground, but didn't explain how other than to put pressure on where my leg would be.

She does a turn on the forehand which I what I suspect she thinks I'm asking for when I'm riding, but she gets confused and goes backwards.

Logic is a very willing little horse and always trys to do what I ask, but she's obviously getting the wrong message from me somewhere along the line!

[Bay Mare]

We've taught Saff lateral work from the ground very successfully. Get your instructor to show you how to do in hand work, it's very helpful. We're doing everything up to half pass on the ground which is translating really nicely to ridden work. Contrary to popular opinion in hand work isn't only useful for piaffe :)

We do tend to incorporate clicker training into all her work now which has been really successful ... she'll do anything for a treat ;)

[andreaB]

the other option which can work very well is to have you on board with a helper on the ground helping to move the horse across

that way you can concentrate on keeping the contact , keeping the outside shoulder & pushing the horse forward

hopefully between the two of you you will get her going & also because you have less to do you might have a better chance of not tensing up

[coss]

the other option which can work very well is to have you on board with a helper on the ground helping to move the horse across

that way you can concentrate on keeping the contact , keeping the outside shoulder & pushing the horse forward

hopefully between the two of you you will get her going & also because you have less to do you might have a better chance of not tensing up

i've seen this done and it works really well.

[KateWooten]

I find it you can easily get a forehand yield on the ground... and easily get a hindquarter yield, then you have pretty much everything in place for all sorts of lateral work, because putting the two of them together - or very closely after each other - gives the horse a very clear approximation of what you want. I'd concentrate on that for a week or so and see how much difference it makes to her suppleness overall. Once you've isolated the horse's body parts, so that sometimes you're speaking to the butt, sometimes the shoulders (and obviously, with different aids, you're also controlling the head and neck)... putting it all together becomes much simpler.

[Jessey]

With Jess we started out on a circle (it is easy for horses to fall out of a circle so use this to help until you can get it off the leg both ways, then ask them to move in on the circle, then take it onto a straight line), ask for a little extra collection then leg slightly back and on in time with the lifting of the hip you are trying to move - she got that very quickly :p now she will yield from any point straight or circle.
As kate says having control of each end helps alot, i use shoulder in and travers to try and improve suppleness and balance and this also helps me control LY or half pass.

[Joyscarer]

The one action that got joy into leg yeilding was to do it on a quiet lane when out hacking mainly beacuse I hate working in the school. She knew that she was meant to walk on the left hand side of the road anyway and clicked onto the fact that I wanted her over extremely fast. You can then work on the other rein once she has that one sussed.

Added to that I ignore the thoughts that say you shouldn't talk to your horse. I do a lot of ground work and she knows that over means over and then it's just a case of knowing how you want her to step over :)