Steering!!

[eucalyptus]

I'm really bad at steering, has anyone got any tips? Any exercise I can do when I'm not riding to improve it (as I can't ride every day since I don't have my own horse :( )??

[Purple Hugs]

Hi,

What are you finding difficult about it?

Are you pulling the reins outward, or pulling your arm back keeping your elbow tucked in?
I ask as my daughter had a tendancy to pull her hand away from pony to try and steer.

Also, do you use your leg to aid the turn / steering?

[eucalyptus]

Well, just in general really, find it really hard to get the horse to go where i want it to! Yup yup I think I'm pulling the reins outward in an attempt to steer. I do try to use leg aid but I don't know how effective it is! Maybe I just need to practise...?!?! Really want to do it accurately!

Thanks!

[BeachRiding]

Use your leg first then your rein. As my instructor says look,leg,rein,pull. Look where you want to go, if the horse doesn't respond, put on you leg, if it still doesn't respond pick up your rein, then finally pull it! I think you just need instruction form an RI and some hours of practice though!

[Bay Mare]

Practice :)

It could be that the horse isn't helping you much, they're used to being tugged around unfortunately :(

As WL says the turn really comes from your weight/leg rather than pulling on the reins. You shouldn't actually pull anyway, it's not a backwards movement. Think about squeezing a sponge, open and close your fingers, that's as much as you should need.

Some schools will tell you to turn your shoulders to the inside but there's some controversy on that one!