Feilds...

[EventPony]

Well...a couple of weeks ago, i was riding in our small hunt field, and Tiffany wouldnt....well...steer! AT ALL....just enough to guide her over a fence, and even those are very spread apart. Now, a week ago, i was riding in a field, and she wouldnt go in a circle. I got her to go in a very sloppy circle at the walk, but when i ask her to trot, and especially canter, she would pull as hard as she could against me...i could get her to go in a half circle, then she would start goin straight. I would use my inside leg to ask her to bend, but then she would move out and wouldnt go on a circle...and when i used my outside leg, she would just...go the other way, not in a circle...i ended up having to pull her where i wanted her to go...and i gave up on the circle thing....please help
:(

[Bebe]

It's hard to say what the problem is without seeing you, but I suspect that your horse doesn't associate the field with work and that was why you had the problems. I find it hard to school my horse in our field, her attention just isn't there and trying to do even something as simple as ride in a straight line becomes very difficult. If this is the case, you can either persevere - it will become easier with time. Or, find somewhere else to ride (that's what I did, hired an arena).

The other thing it could be is that if your horse is used to only being riddein in circles in an arena. If this is the case, she may have become reliant on the fenceline of the arena to help her balance on circles. Without the fence, she has nothing to lean on mentally and so struggles with it, popping her shoulder, etc. If this is the problem, you could keep schooling in the field but start with doing very large circles, serpentines and shallow loops to enable your horse to become strong and balanced enough to cope with going to smaller circles.

Whilst you are riding, try not to fall into my bad habit- using the reins to steer when things get tough. It doesn't work but most people seem to end up doing it as a last resort. Try to stick to using your leg as much as possible. One exercise that helped me was to ride a diamond shape around 4 cones, using only my outside aids to get the turn. It really helped and we were finally able to ride a circle in the field. Start off with a large diamond (you don't have to use cones, just helps mark out the area) and don't expect the turns to be fantastic, I ended up doing almost a circle to get around the first cone but gradually it got better and almost became a turn on the haunches around the cone.

Hope this helps
Amanda

[ros]

Hi

I have exactly the same problem, in that Merlin thinks fields are for galloping about in and not for working! After two or three short schooling sessions he started to concentrate a bit better - he used to find excuses like bunnies rustling in the hedges to shy and tank off!

Amanda's idea about the psychological effect of an arena is good. I found that just a few poles in a circle in one corner of the field helped tremendously for lungeing sessions. I just propped them up on old tyres to make them more visible, but you could probably lie them on the ground, or even just use a few cones spread out - anything to give you and your horse a shape to work in.

I think you'd find it very useful to read Heather's explanation of the weight aids in the Enlightened Equitation section. They really do work! You'll find that just by using your left and right seatbones you can turn your horse like magic! You can practice that out on the roads, you don't even need a schooling area!

[EventPony]

Thank you, both, i will Try your suggestions...thanks!