Improving balance how do you do....

[dcp]

Hello, I am not having lessons at the moment so I have been making up my own lessons. My horse is not very balanced so we are working on lots of circles and figure of eights etc. I know that these three exercises help balance but could someone explain exactly what I need to do to achieve these moves.

Shoulder in

Haunches in

Half pass

Also any other exercises to practice would be much appreciated.

Thanks ;)

[galadriel]

Actually, while those exercises do build up lateral strength, I wouldn't use them in a horse with uncertain balance. They're quite tricky and require that the horse already have a lot of balance.

Circles and figure eights are good. Soemthing else you might want to consider is a lot of transitions in those circles & figure eights. Really, I'd stick to transitions, shorter schooling sessions of circle work, and longer sessions of work on the straight (hacking/trail rides) for a horse who's developing balance.

[Loopslou]

as galdariel said, plenty of transistions through circles in shorter schooling sessions and loads of hacking with plenty of upward and downward transistions and hill work if possible. Once you feel the horse is starting to improve in balance start adding some polework on the ground which should help with balance and also keep your horse interested. Starting off with one on a circle and building up to quite spaced out and then start raising them slightly off the ground and start trying to achieve some gridwork, it should stop any boredom setting in as well.