Lateral Work

[karen thompson]

Hello, I have just been reading all the help on the canter transitionand found it really useful, can some one help me with my lateral work. Sorrell and I are just getting back into full swing of things and have started having weekly sessions with a local trainer. I had my first session videod and was horiffied at me and the impact this was having on poor Sorrell. I was also mortified that the instructor had not told me what I was doing, neither wonder Sorrell was resisting, if I was him I would have bucked me off for sitting like that!

I approached Diane and asked her to take me to pieces and put me back together, then progress to me and Sorrell. It is working and my back and pelvis has now loosened and my balance is back so we have started to progress a bit. We started doing lateral work this week and the problem I have is that I am making it too complicated. Please can some one transpose this into simpleness. Also I am expecting too big a movement and end up fussing too much, which then leads to confusion or resistance as I am pushing him too much.

I understand the principles of slight flexion to the inside, move away from the inside leg, can someone please reitterate the weight aids, I am keen to get this right and keep it simple so that the movement becomes harmonious.

Karen
 

[cptrayes]

Hi Karen,

Isn't it shocking how many trainers will let you go on and on sitting wrongly and expect the horse to improve its way of going?  :( They don't seem to understand that if you correct the rider the horse will improve by itself! :P

Lateral work? Do you mean leg yield, shoulder-in, travers/renvers or just all of them in a general way?

The simple answer with respect to weight is that the horse will move under where you put your weight, so put your weight where you want it to move to. On a circle you want it to come round, so you weight the inside seat bone slightly. On a shoulder-in you want it to go forward down the track, so you weight the outside seatbone slightly, which is in the direction you want movement. Think then of pushing the outside shoulder in off the track with your outside hand, while keeping your inside hand and leg asking gently for bend and both legs asking for movement forward.

I find it most easy to teach a horse shoulder-in by doing two or three steps and then keeping the bend, doing a quarter of a ten metre circle (which reminds the horse you are going forward, and allows them forward and also proves to you that they are going forward and that they have the proper bend - if they can't go forward then the shoulder-in was a fake!). Then another few steps and a quarter ten metre circle, so you gradually reach the other side of the arena, having done four attempts at shoulder in and four check-the-movement 10m 1/4 circles.

Don't try too hard! (how easy that is to write B))If I try too hard my boys just seize up, and although they have perfect shoulder-in  they suddenly become camels!

Is that any good? Give us a bit more detail about what causes you the most confusion and we'll try and help!

Caroline.

[karen thompson]

Thanks Caroline,
You are right I was so shocked at how badly I was sitting that I asked Diane why she had not corrected me, her reply was that it was my first lesson !!! Mind you she is putting me through my paces now and I think she is enjoying the fact that if it goes wrong I blame me and my first words are what am I doing wrong ? rather than blame Sorrell.

You are right when I said lateral work I was meaning in general, but we just attempted leg yeilding on Saturday, I know that Heather taught me to think about how I would walk a movement if I were walking it on the floor and I try to do this to shift my weight/shoulders/pelvis the right way. I think I am worrying about it too much, wanting to get it right. I do have a tendancy to collapse my left hip which causes problems on a left rein circle as I force Sorrell out of his outside shoulder, the difference when I sit up straight and lift the side if felt immediately and I can really feel his shoulder coming around without the drifting.

I think what I need is a check list so that I can think about the movements really simply, I know that I can ride the movements but it has been such a long time since we have worked in this way that I want to make sure I ask him correctly and don't confuse him.
Karen

[cptrayes]

I guess it's difficult for trainers on a first lesson - they need the pupil to come back again or their livelihood is gone! But I know that round here the vast  majority of trainers will not correct the rider's positiion, but go on and on and on trying to get the rider to correct the horse. I only know one local trainer who corrects the rider, out of absolutely dozens. Still, your video will be your best friend, just like mine is.

Going back to lateral work, something that works for me might work for you, but it depends on whether your horse is willing to give it a go too. If you can, try doing a leg yield in very slow motion. So slow that it is literally leg by leg (horse's legs not yours). As you do it "record it" with your inner eye, memorising how your body feels. Then when you ask for the same movement at a normal speed, replay your internal video and try and recreate the same feeling.

Try it and let us know if it works.

C

[karen thompson]

Thanks Caroline I will give this a try, have to find a willing volunteer to video though !!!

The more I am thinking about what I am doing the more I think I am doing too much. I thought Sorrell was anticipating as we came on to the three quater line, but I think that I was thinking about leg yeilding back to the track so much that I was probably giving him the signal without realising it, I need to do exactly what you have suggested and really slow it all down. Thanks for your help will let you know how we get on.

Karen

[cptrayes]

It's absolutely amazing how much you can catch on a video just by leaving it running on top of a fence post at one end of the arena. Certainly enough to see basic flaws in your own riding position, particularly if you circle at the far end or in the middle. If it stops raining long enough you could try it!

I know what you mean about thinking about a movement making you give the aids for it. When I was trying to teach my five year old to trot promptly at a given point, he trotted as soon as I decided what point I was going to ask him to trot at, well before we actually got there! Clearly I was giving him some sort of aid, and he got terribly upset when I told him off for trotting early. It took me ages to realised that as far as he was concerned, I had asked for trot, and he had given it. It makes you wonder why it's all so difficult, doesn't it, if all you have to do is think it and they do it?

Good luck with trying the slowing down trick.

C.  

[tubby]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that tries too hard & does too much, as you say they seem to know what we want anyway. I too have found that if I just relax & think , we both cool down,relax & then we get somewhere. Perhaps it's all in the mind, does anyone know an analyst to sort my poor befuddled brain out ?