Horse to the wall

[jillaroo]

Hello All,
Feeling less like a little fish in a big ocean after reading members' problems and the wonderful advice given by others. I am an adult beginner and have been having group lessons once a week for exactly a year now. We have spent a lot of time on jumping position (heels down, heels down!), posting trot, sitting trot, canter strike-offs, circles, serpentines and launching ourselves over small jumps. Most lessons I come away feeling exhilarated but often I have the same ridiculous problem that makes me feel like a complete loser and that I haven't progressed at all: keeping my horse to the wall! Honestly, it's ridiculous! I am on a different horse every couple of weeks and I think some horses just do as they are meant to do (keep to the wall) without me needing to do too much so then everything is fine. But other horses I can keep to the wall and around the corners beautifully at walk while we are warming up but then the minute we start to trot they head for the centre of the ring or cut corners and I seem to be totally inept at getting them back to the wall and keeping them there. I feel like such a complete loser! I know what I should be doing with my legs and hands (I think!) but the horse still gets the better of me.
I'd be really grateful for any thoughts or criticisms.
Thanks.

[Maisie]

I think the horse knows that you can't do much to stop what he does, so he goes right on and cuts corners. I have this problem too - there's one notorious fellow at my stable who always HAS to cut corners. It's getting less severe now, I don't know why. Try having a stronger inside leg.

Sorry I couldn't help very much, I'm trapped in the same problem as you! :)

[Rebecca]

I often ride a horse that hates corners and have had a little success by being firm with the horse from early on in the lesson, and always steering the corners as if there weren't a corner there, and I'd just decided we should turn because I felt like it. I find that if I do this even when we're walking round on a loose rein at the beginning then he listens to me more later, but like I say it hasn't sorted it out 100 percent, just helped a bit.

Rebecca

[olympicprincess]

Try circling into the corner. Get deep into it, really push him in it and keep it small. Don't allow him to drift out into the ring- tight circles. That usually helps.

[jillaroo]

Thanks Maisie, Rebecca and olympicprincess for your thoughts. I have renewed hope! I really like the idea of circling him in the corners! This sounds ideal as a way of letting him know that I'm not going to tolerate any of his nonsense, and a great way of getting him against the wall and keeping him there without giving him the chance to get off the wall. I want to get out there and try it now! It'll also be a very good test for ME to be sure that I'm giving him all the right signals with my legs and hands. Thanks!

[Clj369z]

Some things that have helped me get my mare into the corners. I do this first at a walk and then progress to the trot. As you come into the corner, think about putting your weight on your outside big toe (every horse is different in the amount - mine started out with me almost stepping on my toe) By stepping or thinking of stepping on the outside toe, it shifts your ourside hip slightly forward. Then put your inside leg on the horse - at first I used to think of pushing her over with the inside foot - but now the aid is much lighter than that. I find this helps me with the inside leg to outside hand concept.

I find that I have the problem at the trot due to balance and by doing the above - we rarely miss a corner.

Then we practice at first a walk to turn when ever I ask and do the same type of deep turn as in the corner.

For me - it helps to repeat for a while the above outloud while riding to make sure that I have the sequence.

Cindi

[Somethingroyal]

Try asking you instructor if you can ride the same horse for every lesson for awhile. I think you will find that if you are concentrating with one horse's quirks at a time you will be able to learn how to get 'im into those corners! Then you can switch horses later on and figure out how to get him into the corners.

[jillaroo]

Oh if only! Thanks somethingroyal. I agree that if I could stay on the same horse for more than 2 lessons running I would be a lot better off in many respects, especially in terms of beginning to feel confident which would enable me to tackle this canter problem head on and get it out of my system; but being on a different horse every couple of weeks never gives me the chance to start to feel comfortable so that I can stop trying to figure-out what this horse is about and get on with concentrating on my technique. I have asked the lady who runs the school and allocates the horses if I can do this and she just smiled and said well that's not possible because we have so many riders and the weather is so hot that we all have to be flexible (but even in winter we get rotated all over the place). And mostly I seem to be the one who cops it because I am small, so I can ride small horses which other riders can't - this is also partly why I get stuck with the nasty Arab gelding who tried to throw me repeatedly the very first time I cantered. I feel they were negligent in putting a nervous rider on a horse who is known by everyone to be a horror at times. But hey, I'm small and they needed the bigger horses for the bigger riders. You know what, the more I think about this, and the more I read of other peoples' riding schools the more I feel like saying I pay my money to be taught, and I bust a gut every lesson to try and do well, and I don't think I'm being taught very well here so I'm going elsewhere. Hmmmm...this has turned into a bit of a tyrade!

[Somethingroyal]

Interesting problem... if it is possible then I would say look into other stables! It is ok to be flexible every once in a while, but shoving people on to different horses won't help you feel secure or confident at all. If you can't find another stable, and can afford to lease a horse- I would suggest that you seriously consider leasing. That way no matter what you will always be riding the same horse because they don't have control of that horse. You could also consider a half lease.
Hope this helped!

[Jay Kay]

Had you thought of having an individual lesson every other week instead, you may be able to request the horse that you best get on with that way.
You may progress at the same speed as you will have 'quality time' with your instructor and riding.
Failing that I would agree that another school may be worth considering, there are the occasional riding schools that are not really interested in helping pupils to progress.
After all once a rider is competant they sometimes will progress to owning a horse/pony theirselves in which case the school will have lost a client.
I know this is not the general rule most riding schools view thier clients progress as a sign of their ability to teach well, for others it is purely business.
Keep us posted.

[Emarmite]

Hi Jillaroo,

Unfortunately as I am a mature beginner, I have been riding a year, I can not offer advice how to keep the horse to the wall, but just to say that I have been in a group lesson for a year and just given it up. I have experienced different problems with which horses I was allocated and the instructors bad attitude. I have now taken up private half an hour lessons (at a different school) and it is great, I feel like I have learnt more on 3 privates that I have in the group for six months. It also helps that I am doing the BHS stage 1 course and ride with usually about 6 others on a Monday (at the same school as my privates). The instructor we have for the course is also very good and between the two of them they may make a rider out of me yet

So good luck, sorry I can me of no further assistance, and keep us posted


Beverley

[jillaroo]

Thanks all so much for your suggestions. I feel fortified! Thanks somethingroyal, Jay Kay and Emarmite for you thoughts on my whinges about the school. At first I thought I was just being a whinger but now I really do think that I have something to grizzle about and yesterday I booked in for a private lesson. I explained to them why I think I'm continuing to have problems with some things and actually my concerns fell on sympathetic ears, so tomorrow I'm having a private lesson, for an hour, on a horse which is the best for the job (teaching me to canter and not freak out). So, we'll see how it goes! Private lessons for 1hr are only $11 more expensive than the group lessons so maybe I'll have 3 of these a month instead of 4 group lessons and get a whole lot more out of it. Thanks again guys.