I would like to ask a question to all you experienced horsepeople out there. On Thursday I rode a horse that I had only ridden once before. She is the sweetest mare alive, but one thing was starting to cause me to get frustrated. I am used to riding horse who will usually turn with\ the touch of the leg, no reins needed. THis mare was much diifferent. I was pulling (rather roughly) on the bit to get her to simply turn the corner. My instructor then wanted to know 'if that horse can canter.' Boy was that mistake. I was cutting corners, and even got myself into a traffic jam or two unless i was literally yanking her head around with the bit. I am a strong believer in not getting off until you have somewhat done the task at hand right. With this mare, however, I decided to get off when she went around the ring one whole time without running into anyone and everyone. PLEASE give me some advice on how I can make her more sensitive to leg aids, or something!! HELP!!
Leg Aids
- Thread starter Bejeweld
- Start date
My dear, you just use those legs of yours until they feel like they are going to fall off. You can't give up your form because of one horse. Use a combination of the legs and hands, so then she gets the idea that "hey! I can do this and my mouth doesn't hurt!"
Hope that helps!
Medalia
Hope that helps!
Medalia
Thanks a ton for the help. I'll be sure to try that next time I ride her, and I'll let you know how it went. THanks again.
Basically I would do what Medalia siad, but practice it at a walk before you trot, and at a trot before you canter. If you try to do it at the canter first, most likely the horse will be too excited to listen to you.
Allie
Allie
hi, bejewled.
mmm; getting a schoolhorse who may very well may be dead to your leg to listen to you can be a tremendous pain, eh? there are lots of things you can work on to get a horse to move off your leg more effectively, but of course, it's hard to work on these things when you're in the middle of a group lesson with 6 other horses and riders running around, not to mention the fact that you've got an instructor who may not be paying too much individual attention to you.
if you'd like to think of this as sort of a "project", ask your instructor if you can have a private lesson or three on this mare, if that's convenient and affordable enough for you to do. it'll be a lot easier to work on this without all those other people and horses getting in your way!
before you start working on things like bend in corners and circles, try getting her to listen to your *lighter* leg aids. here's how i learned it: schoolhorses are often kicked away at so much that they learn only to respond to huge amounts of pressure (an 8 or 9 on a scale of 1 to 10). if possible, it'd be good for the mare to respond to a 2 or a 3, so you can get more out of her when you need it, like, say, in an extended trot or any upward transition. perhaps your instructor will allow you to work with a crop - say you want to go from a walk to a nice working trot. give what you consider to be "normal" leg pressure. if she responds, FABULOUS, give her lots of praise. if she doesn't (and she probably won't), TELL her want you want instead of only asking for it - give her a sharp tap with the crop or a quick kick. the important thing to remember is to not go on giving her more and more leg pressure; she knows she can get out of doing work by not listening to you until it's absolutely necessary. so, when she doesn't respond to a 2 or a 3 on the scale of leg, give her a 9 or a 10. when she moves in response to that, praise her like mad. even if she responds with a little more trot (or even canter) than you'd like, let her go for a few strides, and then ask her for a walk. by the time you do this a few more times, she may very well figure it out! then you just *might* be able to use your inside leg to get some bend out of her when you need it.
so, to make a long story short - try to work with the mare individually for a while, then go back into group lessons. by that time, you'll ideally have a better relationship with her, and she won't try to get away with bad behavior like running all over the place.
hope this helps somewhat (and it isn't too detailed) - good luck!
mmm; getting a schoolhorse who may very well may be dead to your leg to listen to you can be a tremendous pain, eh? there are lots of things you can work on to get a horse to move off your leg more effectively, but of course, it's hard to work on these things when you're in the middle of a group lesson with 6 other horses and riders running around, not to mention the fact that you've got an instructor who may not be paying too much individual attention to you.
if you'd like to think of this as sort of a "project", ask your instructor if you can have a private lesson or three on this mare, if that's convenient and affordable enough for you to do. it'll be a lot easier to work on this without all those other people and horses getting in your way!
before you start working on things like bend in corners and circles, try getting her to listen to your *lighter* leg aids. here's how i learned it: schoolhorses are often kicked away at so much that they learn only to respond to huge amounts of pressure (an 8 or 9 on a scale of 1 to 10). if possible, it'd be good for the mare to respond to a 2 or a 3, so you can get more out of her when you need it, like, say, in an extended trot or any upward transition. perhaps your instructor will allow you to work with a crop - say you want to go from a walk to a nice working trot. give what you consider to be "normal" leg pressure. if she responds, FABULOUS, give her lots of praise. if she doesn't (and she probably won't), TELL her want you want instead of only asking for it - give her a sharp tap with the crop or a quick kick. the important thing to remember is to not go on giving her more and more leg pressure; she knows she can get out of doing work by not listening to you until it's absolutely necessary. so, when she doesn't respond to a 2 or a 3 on the scale of leg, give her a 9 or a 10. when she moves in response to that, praise her like mad. even if she responds with a little more trot (or even canter) than you'd like, let her go for a few strides, and then ask her for a walk. by the time you do this a few more times, she may very well figure it out! then you just *might* be able to use your inside leg to get some bend out of her when you need it.
so, to make a long story short - try to work with the mare individually for a while, then go back into group lessons. by that time, you'll ideally have a better relationship with her, and she won't try to get away with bad behavior like running all over the place.
hope this helps somewhat (and it isn't too detailed) - good luck!
Thanks a lot for the info Cynthia. I am usually riding by myself, or ocassionally with one other person, there just happened to be a lot more that day (it was basically just a pleasure ride, even if I was not getting much pleasure from it.) I will try my best to do what you said, the problem is, she does respond VERY well to leg pressure, except when bending. I have to watch my self and make sure I don't get a canter when asking for a trot. I will ,however, try my hardest to do what you said. Thank you very much for our adivce.
ahh, sorry i misunderstood your problem! i probably babbled on about things which you already know... oops.
if it's only bend she goofs around at, but *does* know how to move off your leg, perhaps you could try some simple suppling excercises with her when you're by yourself. do you know how to do leg yields, or turns on the forehand? how about just some simple spiral in, spiral out to get her listening to your inside leg? you need to teach her that leg pressure doesn't always mean "go faster", and suppling excercises will help with that a lot. spirals (start by riding a 20m circle, and gradually make the circle smaller with each one, down to about 10m, then spiral out by gradually increasing the diameter of your circles) and serpentines (divide the arena lengthwise, and use only half of it so you don't have to worry about changing your diagonal) are good places to start. doing these at a nice, collected trot, with the addition of some half halts along the way, might be a very good thing. ask your instructor to show you if my explanations don't make any sense.
you sound like you know what you're doing, though, so don't fret - you just need to work with her a bit. it *is* possible to change old schoolhorses that are set in their ways, you just have to work at it!
[This message has been edited by cynthia (edited 20 December 1999).]
if it's only bend she goofs around at, but *does* know how to move off your leg, perhaps you could try some simple suppling excercises with her when you're by yourself. do you know how to do leg yields, or turns on the forehand? how about just some simple spiral in, spiral out to get her listening to your inside leg? you need to teach her that leg pressure doesn't always mean "go faster", and suppling excercises will help with that a lot. spirals (start by riding a 20m circle, and gradually make the circle smaller with each one, down to about 10m, then spiral out by gradually increasing the diameter of your circles) and serpentines (divide the arena lengthwise, and use only half of it so you don't have to worry about changing your diagonal) are good places to start. doing these at a nice, collected trot, with the addition of some half halts along the way, might be a very good thing. ask your instructor to show you if my explanations don't make any sense.
you sound like you know what you're doing, though, so don't fret - you just need to work with her a bit. it *is* possible to change old schoolhorses that are set in their ways, you just have to work at it!
[This message has been edited by cynthia (edited 20 December 1999).]
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