How do I properly make my horse turn?

[Wobblydeb]

Okay. Here is the start of the questions!

What aids do I need to turn across the school? (I am starting to understand that it will look like a well executed corner).

Particularly rein aids, because no-one seems to want to talk about these anymore, but most of the horses I have ridden need them in addition to leg and weight aids.

So how do I let the horse know
1) something is about to happen
2) to turn when I ask
3) to straighten up nicely after the turn.

Ooooooo and how much space should I be giving him to complete the turn in? I think in the past I thought horses were ponies and could turn immediately when asked. I am hopeless :(

[jeevesycat2]

I don't know if this is right or wrong, so don't shoot me if it is wrong!

I was always taught, if turning left, put your left leg just behing the girth, to support the horse, and squeeze with you right leg, to indicate to move towards the left. When doing this with your legs, turn from the waist up and look towards the direction you want to go, ie left. To make the horse straight after the turn, squeeze with the right leg just after the girth and the 'back end' should go in. It helps to do this along a straight edge, like a fence etc..

Hope this has helped some.

Like I said, please don't shoot me if I'm wrong!!;)

L x

Edited: This also uses the reigns as you turn...

[Bertie]

For example if you've got to change your diagonal from H to F on the left rein, you want to be thinking about your turn and planning it as your passing M.

As you get to C you should be looking towards F and your turn should be planned from here. your should have a good left bend and using your left leg to create further bend and push your horse into your right hand as you approach H squeeze slightly on your left rein whilst keeping your left leg on as you turn across the diagonal.

The same should be done on at the opposite end but with the other hand and other leg to create a right bend.

Hope this helps.

I've just read this back and it's very poorly described but I can't think of a better way to describe it without being their to show you - so apologises :(

[Wobblydeb]

:( Ooooooooo I really don't want to be awkward here when you guys are just trying to help....

....... but I don't understand a lot of your instructions Bertie. (Although I found an outline school on the internet to remind myself where H and F are!) Looking at this map, I was thinking more about getting from E to B or C to A. I find these much harder, as the horse is already anticipating a corner at H and F, and I seem to have managed to get a diagonal in the past by looking where I am going, leaning further over and (shame on my uneducated hide) pulling on the inside rein.... :(

I don't understand how to use my left leg to create further bend - do you mean pressure at the girth?
.......or what it means to push my horse into my right hand (brings all sorts of funny pictures to mind of lifting the ned with one hand!!!) :D

:confused:

[galadriel]

To let the horse know that you're going to ask something of him, you can half-halt. This gets him balanced and ready for a signal, and prepares him mentally to receive a signal of some kind.
http://lorienstable.com/articles/riding/900-half-halt/

To ask for a turn, you will keep a contact on BOTH reins; don't let one slip, or let one pull harder than then other. Use your inside rein to ask him to turn his head; don't haul on it, don't pull back on it, just squeeze your hand (squeeze-release-squeeze-release) to ask for flexion of the neck.

The whole horse should be bent in the direction you're turning, from poll all the way down to the tail.

To ask the horse's body to follow the flexion of the neck:
* Advance your inside seatbone; that is, move your hip so that one side is just a touch more to the front.
* With your hips turned that way, it will be much easier to use your legs properly: inside leg at the girth, outside leg back.
* The inside leg is the pole that you bend around
* The outside leg asks the hind end to bend inward following the curve of the spine.

[Bertie]

Sorry did say didn't expalin it well.

Gal has described it better and given a better explanation.

But to answer your question just think change the letters to one's your more comfortable with like C - A and start thinking about it at B or E, Look in the direction of A once you get to K or M then as Gal said.

[cvb]

If you are turning C to A, or A to C, it is useful to think of riding a half 10m circle to make the turn. Then you get a smooth turn, and should end up ON the centre line, not over shooting and then correcting.

As has been said, prepare before, with half-halt etc. With a 'tuned in' horse your body language can be very subtle and the small changes that just happen by you thinking about it and starting to look where you are going next should be enough to cue to the horse that something is happening.

It is also worth bearing in mind that a very small movement in your hand has quite an effect in the mouth of the horse. So as you yourself turn to (a) look around the turn and (b) make the turn yourself, you will get a small change in contact in the mouth, enough to just ask for a little inside flexion.

N.B. yes lots of things can go wrong with this ! Especially if the rider does not look where they are going and is not straight themselves.

An image that works for me is if you imagine you and the horse are on rail tracks. In making the turn, your shoulders need to stay at right angles to the track. i.e. you have to stay "straight" to the tracks, even though they (and you) are making a turn.

But also the inside track is slightly shorter than the outside track. So the inside of the horse has to travel a little less distance than the outside.

Another image that may help is pushing a wheelbarrow around the corner - you don't 'drop' one handle of the barrow, but you do need to steer the barrow to make the turn.

One final image - think of carrying a tray and turn the tray around the corner but keep your arms next to your side. To turn the tray you have to rotate through your body. Its really not a big turn, but the image may help to get the 'feel'. The nice thing about the "tray" image is that one of the rider faults that can happen is to collapse the rib cage to one side and twist around the corner. By keeping your virtual tray level, so you don't tip the contents off, you maintain a level rib cage, and the same gap between rib and hip on each side, ensuring a level turn by you.

You can't expect the horse to be level and straight if you're not !

Really the only difference between a circle and a corner (e.g. E to B) is the angle of the turn. A circle has a continuous smooth arc, whereas a corner has a sharper angle with straight before and after. As it is a more acute turn, you need to ask a little more and support more. After all, the horse has to step through and under with inside leg, and stretch his outside to step around.

[hometrotter]

Depends a lot on the horse. Sometimes all you have to do to turn is look where you want to go and the horse will go there almost automatically. You might need to follow up with some inside or outside leg aid or rein aid to correct his turn. When a horse is resistent to bend in a certain direction then inside leg and rein aids are needed more. I always ask the horse to bend first with my inside leg pressing on the girth and then follow up with rein aids. I also keep my outside leg ready for action if he starts to drift. The rein aid to turn to the right is that you hold the reins the same distance apart but just shift them both over to the left so that you have an opening outside rein hold the horse and the inside rein is going from the horse's mouth to your outside hip. You may need to sqeeze the inside rein intermittently to encourage the horse to bend. (And you should make sure that you have the reins short enough so that you have good contact on the horse's mouth.) I find this procedure keeps the horse balanced through the turn.

http://home.netcom.com/~tdmt/hometrotter