Preventing horse from looking to the outside

[Anvil83]

No matter how hard I try I just can't get this right, I end up in such a mess! :confused:

Just as I'm coming into a corner I squeeze the inside rein to try to get the horse to look slightly to the inside & I use my inside leg, I keep the outside rein taut, not pulling but just supporting, my outside leg is slightly behind the girth & nothing! The horse completely cuts off the corner, looks to the outside & doesn't listen to my inside leg whatsover. I got the horse to go forwards although it wouldn't go on the bit, he did start to relax a little & drop his head slightly. I find that if I try to get his head so that I can see his eye then he just turns in & makes smaller circles. This gets even worse in canter! Help, I've read so much theory but I can't put it into practice!

[Bay Mare]

We can only go on your description as we can't see you in action but a couple of thoughts ....

I wouldn't have my inside leg behind the girth, I'd have my inside leg on the girth. If anything the outside leg should be slightly behind the girth.

Having the inside leg behind the girth is going to be bringing your inside hip/seatbone back which is actually asking him to turn to the outside!

Check that your outside rein is still allowing him to bend, it can be a difficult balance between a 'supporting' rein and a 'preventing' rein.

[Anvil83]

Sorry, I meant outside leg is behind the girth, inside leg on the girth, I'll edit it now.

So the outside rein should be elastic then?

[baileyboy]

Make sure no matter what that your hands stay level and even. Think of using your hands to guide forward into the space you need to go and your legs to engae the movement. watch when you open your rein that its not lifting sometimes you need to use out side leg to inside rein if your getting too much of a bend and missing the corner. Make sure that your horse is listening to your leg and that your not having to 'nag' with it. Keep working on it and be consistant :)

[wildponies]

Actually i'd be keeping my inside leg continually 'on' whilst going round the corner, you are asking the horse to bend from its ribs 'around' your leg, not just a bend at the neck.

I would watch you don't put your outside leg too far behind the girth with too much pressure. I would think of the outside leg as more of a supporting aid than anything else.

If you put too much pressure on with your outside leg too far back you may be encouraging the horse to swing his hindquarters into the school and a natural response from the horse would be for his head to swing to the outside.

You should only be asking for slight bend/flexion down your inside rein.. ideally you ask for the bend using your legs.

The outside rein should be used to control your forward movement, try to have your reins the same length.

The outside rein will contain the impulsion and the inside rein will ask for the flexion of the neck.

Hope at least some of this is some use but i am not an expert by any means!

[Fanshawe]

Also try applying the inside leg aid at the same time as you use the inside rein and asking for canter in the second corner of the short end so that you have time to establish a good canter before you get in to the next corner which is more difficult for them. Also look at your weight distribution- you may find that you are putting more weight on one side and that's what's giving him a different aid to what you intend. Oh and back,saddle checked?

[blues mum]

How old is your horse, and what is his level of schooling ?
some horses actually need to look outside as they strike off in canter, untill they become more advanced and flexible

[Anvil83]

Thanks everyone for your advice :) She's a riding school horse & knows all the tricks in the book, so I've really got to learn how to get her forward & listening to my aids, but I feel that as I don't have a full understanding of the aids & I have no "feel" then I'm probably not communicating very well with her & sending her mixed signals.

What can I do to get her to listen to my inside leg?

Also if I weight the outside seatbone will that push her to the inside making things worse or should I weight the inside seatbone & bring this seatbone slightly forward?

[emm]

this is so typical of riding school pony.

Before worrying about where horse is looking try just getting into the corner.

As you ride down the long side, imagine you are going to ride out the end of the school, through the fence, keep looking straight, so your body language does not tell the horse you are going around a corner. Before you get to the corner, use lots of inside leg on and off, and keep weight down outside hip. You will be amazed just by looking straight through the end of the school how you can get into the corner.

Next step is to keep doing this, but also play with the inside rein to encourage the horse to mouth to this side, remembering to allow slightly with outside rein, but still keeping on and off with inside leg.

Sounds more complicated than it is.

Main thing is where you are looking, if you loook and focus on something you will end up there as this will set your body language correct for where you want to go.

Experiment -- walk down centre line, look over to E or B, keep focus. Because of the change in your body language your horse will turn off the centre line!! It really does work, even for riding school ponies.

[LindaAd]

I agree with Emm - if you think about where you're going, your body will automatically tell the horse what to to. I find if I think about my inside and outside legs separately, I go all stiff, and if I include seatbones too, it gets worse.... OK, maybe I'm just dim, still focusing on where you want to go does work.

The way you descibe what you're doing, you're not really using your inside rein to ask for the inside bend - and you're thinking more about the outside rein than the inside one - that would make the horse look out anyway. The title of your post suggests you'e concentrating on the looking out rather than the riding round the corner: it's like the old story about not thinking about the donkey's tail. Horses read our minds, and they'll know if you're thinking about an outside bend, although they won't know if you're thinking "look to the outside' or "don't look to the outside". A wily old riding-school horse will want to cut the corner anyway, because that's the shortest route; if it's cutting the corner and looking towards the outside instead of looking where it's going, that suggests to me that you're actually asking for an outside bend!

[eml]

The suggestion from emm is what I advise when ponies start cutting corners in the school and I often put out cones to focus the riders mind on riding the corner.

Sadly its not the ponies at fault but the number of people who do not bother to actually ride the corners but treat the school like a large oval. I almost inevitably end up puting out corner cones when doing ride order work.

[peronacedressag]

Ride lots of circles and serpentines, always keeping a close eye to your new inside bend. Keep him bent to the inside the whole way around the ring.

[horse_crazy]

agree with what everyone has said. My riding school horse is an expert at this. He's fine now that he really lissons to me,and I am an expert at fixing it, but he was tarable when I first started riding him. you really have to watch your outside rain,there is a fine line between supporting and restricting. watch your sholders as well. Back up your inside leg with a tap with a dressage wip behind the leg if she isn't lissoning. your inside leg is very importent for flexing.

[keds mum]

The suggestion from emm is what I advise when ponies start cutting corners in the school and I often put out cones to focus the riders mind on riding the corner.

Sadly its not the ponies at fault but the number of people who do not bother to actually ride the corners but treat the school like a large oval. I almost inevitably end up puting out corner cones when doing ride order work.

Echo this

Another way that may help is to ride a square or rectangle. In walk first, then trot. Ride straight, half halt before you turn, turn, straighten and then halt.
Look where you want to go and use your outside aids. After you have halted walk on and do the same at the next corner, occassionally stopping before the corner, so the pony doesn't anticipate and rush.
OR/aswell
Circle in each corner (10m) on both reins - don't hurry just think about what you are doing and how the pony feels.
It will come eventually, and can be fun practising.
Good luck

[Anvil83]

Thank you all for your help! :) Hopefully I'll get it some day :o

[Lyndz & Siners]

if you still cant get him to go deep into the corners after this, try putting more weight in your outside stirrup and seat bone.