Leg yield - advice please

Mossy · #1 7th Jan 2001, 07:27 PM

Over this wonderful winter Moss has been off due to assorted lurgies and/or under exercised due to this wonderful weather. I have finally been able to restart some schooling and suppling and he has got very stiff leg yielding etc left to right. Right to left he is fine, soft supple and crossing legs fine. It is not naughtiness, he is trying to please but can't. He has always been stiffer clockwise than anticlockwise but my previous instructor's method was to wallop him till he moved over/ round etc. [I have sacked her and got another who is lovely but I cannot use her 'til the field dries out.]He finds gates that require him to manoevoeure tightly clockwise difficult. Bearing in mind I am very limited for schooling facilities and the National Park take a very dim view of wet figure of eight hoofprints round gorse bushes all suggestions please?
Thanks

PS Idea in bath - we're all full of them tonight. I should have mentioned that his back is fine structurally. I was wodering about carrot stretches concentrating more on the nearside muscle groups. No problem doing them, previous experience in human anatomy and much previous advice from bank specialist Vet - obviously slowly and little at first and build up but ideally how far should I expect a Highland to be able to stretch?. Connie nearly ties herself in knots but she is much more instrinsically flexible than Moss.

[Edited by Mossy on 7th Jan 2001 at 10:10 PM]

Sharon H · #2 8th Jan 2001, 01:32 PM

I think stretching would be worth a go. I've never done it myself but I've seen people doing it with carrots, holding them in a position that means the horse has to bend to reach it. I would make sure you do both sides though, a bit like when you're riding.

Wally · #3 8th Jan 2001, 05:25 PM

Ah yes, the instructor that belts a horse when he is physically unable to carry out what is being asked of him... Hákon met one of those! She got the sack too.

Hákon had exactly the same problem. Frances did lots of circles to his stiff side and eventually it came.

Fufi · #4 8th Jan 2001, 06:29 PM

Well good for you sacking the instructor! People do need to stand up for their horses. Re the leg yield, if you can find anywhere to lunge, try Moss in a Chambon training aid. It's very gentle, and basically the horse uses it himself by flexing through the back. This will lead to stengthened lateral muscles. If you lunge more on the left rein, this will help to stretch the stiff muscles, enabling Moss to use them when u ask for leg yield left/right. I know its hard finding anywhere dry to ride at the mo, but try the leg yield when on a quiet lane. This helps as you are moving forward as well (and isnt as boring as in the school!) My horse Diplomat (he isnt diplomatic....) was an absolute pig when we started but with time and patience it all came right and im sure it will for you. In fact, we even won an equitation championship last season! <shock> I hope this helps and wish you and Moss the best in the future.

Mossy · #5 8th Jan 2001, 06:39 PM

Wally
To my eternal shame, and "respect of the "experts"" what finally made me question this good lady was her constant rubbishing of Connie, and insidious rubbishing of me! When initially she was insistant that Moss was being naughty I believed her - she was right, he was. What I missed was the subtle shift between unschooled 6yr old saying "Don't want to go to school!" and trying young horse saying "This lesson is too hard just yet". Highlands are too compliant for their own good poor things.

Wish I had found this board 12 months earlier. It has given me the courage of my convictions, and would have saved me and mine a great deal of heartache.
[I have since heard things about her which would make your hair curl!]

Mossy · #6 8th Jan 2001, 06:43 PM

Wally
To my eternal shame, and "respect of the "experts"" what finally made me question this good lady was her constant rubbishing of Connie, and insidious rubbishing of me! When initially she was insistant that Moss was being naughty I believed her - she was right, he was. What I missed was the subtle shift between unschooled 6yr old saying "Don't want to go to school!" and trying young horse saying "This lesson is too hard just yet". Having had my eyes opened by Conn I assessed her work with Moss in a new light and did not like the nasties previously hidden in the shadows. Highlands are too compliant for their own good poor things.

Wish I had found this board 12 months earlier. It has given me the courage of my convictions, and would have saved me and mine a great deal of heartache.
[I have since heard things about her which would make your hair curl!]

Wally · #7 8th Jan 2001, 10:04 PM

Now our good lady expert announced that Hákon was a spoilt brat, he was just displaying bad manners and had been allowed to get away with too much!
The actual problem was Frances was told he was 5 when he was in fact 3 when she bought him. We started him much earlier than we should. But turned him away again until he was 4½.
At a training weekend someone who claimed to know the horse swore blind that he'd seen the horse at the breeders 5 years ago and he was in fact 6. He told the trainer this who beleived him. Hákon was 4, there was no way he was 6. So he got given 'O' levels when he should have been at play group, and a smack when he couldn't do what was being asked.

Mossy · #8 9th Jan 2001, 12:03 AM

Wally
I may be way off line here and displaying my ignorance in public but I would imagine that Highlands are very similar to Icelandics in that they respond to be "started" later in life rather than earlier. I know you leave your Icelandics until they are a good four, and although Moss is older he has definitely "grown up" over the past twelve months. They are both well built and that level of bone must take a while to develop and mature.

Mossy · #9 9th Jan 2001, 12:41 AM

Thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately it is really not practical. I have never used a Chambon, or any sort of lunging gadget, and instinctvely am worried by them. I refuse to use a flash noseband when riding and am very careful about sidereins unless the lunge area is dead level which our field is not. Lungeable in when dry yes but definitely good for encouraging concentration on where am I putting my feet. Conn found that out last summer when she stopped concentrating on me for a moment so she could talk to the horse across the river! [These children who will talk in class!]
We do all our schooling in lanes and on the moor - esp this weather. There is local lane which is dead straight, good visibility, and quiet and gets used for no reins work. Leg yielding whilst going round a curve in the road is good for stretching supple muscles. Thanks for the advice keep the ideas coming.

Wally · #10 9th Jan 2001, 05:50 PM

Highlands, Shetlands, Norweigians, all are classed as primative and these particular ones all seem to have a common ancestor, yes they are similar and do respond to slow starting. Hákon is 7 now 8 this year (my god how time flies!) He is now really begining to work sense, but you'd expect a Warm blooded or hot blooded animal to be doing far more advanced things by 8!

Mossy · #11 23rd Jan 2001, 12:35 PM

He's got it sussed. Not perfect by any manner of means - give him time please, but we've been playing games round bushes. A school would call it a three loop serpentine. i would call it taking a circituous route round the moor! He has finally realised that yes he can bend left. Circles, leg yields, you name it in walk and trot. Tail says this is fun, ears all attention and not a wallop in sight! Can't turn on the forehand yet but I am not about to do him a violence to achieve it. It will come. One Happy Highland!