Please explain leg yielding to me.

[nikkilab]

Hi. I learned to leg yield last week in my lesson. Can you refresh my memory of how to do it and what to do with hands and legs. If im yielding to the left is my right leg on the girth, left leg behind the girth?

Thanks. Im still trying to remember how my legs and hand work with the horse.

[vimto92]

There are many different schools of thought on this. Some believe that if your yielding to the right you should have your left leg on at the girth so the horse bends around your leg and moves over from it like that whereas others, inlcuding myself, think that you should place the left leg behind the girth to encourage the yielding away.

I ride leg yield by riding straight for the first few strides. As an example, say I am yielding to the left... I have a firm hold on my left rein to almost dictate the direction and encourage them to step into the rein and move over to the left. My right rein is opened slightly to encourage flexion, its very slight and not a continuous hold, check and soften, check and soften, check and... My right leg is behind the girth to ask the hind legs to go over to the left and my left leg is placed on at the girth to keep the horse moving forwards and also to straighten up a tad if need be.

The problem I see with the right leg on at the girth for the horse to bend around is that it may leave the hindquarters trailing off somewhere:rolleyes: ... and that is not what you want! And you also don't want a wonky leg yield trying to straighten this error up either! With the aids I use, you can push the hindquarters over and stop them trailing while keeping straight.

I hope you understand what I mean,

x

[acw295]

I'm sat here on the sofa trying to imitate what I do when riding - not a pretty sight!

I think though I do pretty much the same as vimto92 - I ride different rs horses (don't do that type of schooling on share pony or the other private horses I ride) so the actual aids vary a bit depending on the RS horse I am on - as some of them move laterally more readily than others. Going left - Left leg on girth and right leg slightly behind/more behind depending on horse.

I was always taught to ride straight for few strides first, and if you don't get what you want ride straight again before asking again. And if you are repeating the exercise ride completely straight at times to stop them anticipating and drifting off sideways without you asking. My RI always bangs on about you needing straightness before you get good lateral. I find it easiest to ride form 3/4 line to the track but other people prefer circles. Comes in very handy for gates out hacking - TJ leg yields perfectly to shut gates but refuses point blank to work in the school.

Best to get one or two correct steps then ride forward and straight....trouble is I'm not that confident I've got it right without someone yelling instructions :rolleyes:

[Dancinglite]

Hi. I learned to leg yield last week in my lesson. Can you refresh my memory of how to do it and what to do with hands and legs. If im yielding to the left is my right leg on the girth, left leg behind the girth?

Thanks. Im still trying to remember how my legs and hand work with the horse.



http://www.woodsdressage.com/leg_yielding.asp

[Gruntfuttock]

If I think too much about leg yielding I forget how to do it ! Sorry, that was no help at all, was it ?!

[JamesJackson]

If anyone says 'this leg should be here' etc etc, they're probably wrong. This is because the leg needs to be where it needs to be at that instant. So, in an ideal world, you keep the outside leg quiet, and begin the leg yield with the inside leg behind the girth to ask for the hidquarters to move over a step or two, depending on the angle. When you have that response, you move the leg back to 'on the girth' to move the whole horse over. (Remember - in front of girth controls forlegs, behind the hindlegs, and on the girth the whole horse). Ignoring the small fiddly technicalities, with your hands you stop the horse running away forwards or sideways, but allow it to move as required (A rein controls the foreleg on the same side, so if your horse is rushing through the outside shoulder, you'll apply the outside rein).

However, ideal situations hardly ever happen. A horse will wiggle, go bendy, drop a shoulder, rush the hindquarters, ignore you altogether etc etc. In these cases you need to decide what to do:

a) Correct if it's not too bad (like leading hidquarters - move your leg further forwards to stop asking for them to move) or
b) Abandon the exercise! If this is the case, make sure you continue to move in a straight line, that you would have been leg yielding on so the horse doesn't learn an evasion.

So basically, put your leg where you think it needs to be, but usually the outside leg is quiet and resting on the horse. Point the toe on this foot to the direction of travel to stop it doing strange things and keep it quietly on the horse.