Riding squares and/or corners

[OliviaR]

When I was looking for schooling things to do in walk someone suggested riding squares.  Well we gave it a go - and boy were we hopeless!!!!  I suppose it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise as our corners leave a lot to be desired.  Quite often we sort of just fall around them - rather than riding through them.

So can someone give me a noddy guide to both riding squares correctly and also refresh my memory on riding a good quality corner.

Many thanks

Olivia

[Heather]

Desi Lorent had us riding squares until we were doing them in our sleep, Olivia! The secret is in setting them up. What aids are you using to turn?

[OliviaR]

I got the feeling they would be a 'very good thing' if I could just get them right (teehee I sound like Winnie the Pooh ) but it was all going wrong.

I've been trying to think about what aids I was giving to ride the squares - but if I'm being brutally honest with myself I think I was doing something different at each corner which probably explains why they were pants.

I know I was riding FAR too much with my hands (really bad habit of mine) and I was staring at the ground a lot (ditto!).  My legs and seat I was trying to use inside leg to stop her falling through her inside shoulder and collapsing through the corners and my outside leg was there to stop her quarters swinging out too much (I know they need to come out a bit  - but at one point we seemed to be doing very rushed turns on the forehand which I didn't want). 

In terms of normal corners I'm really struggling to get Tilly to go into them properly - she tries to ride them like a 1/4 of a 10m circle.  I'm having to use my inside leg very firmly to get her to keep straight until the corner then we sort of fall around it.  Very not nice.  It's my fault I've let her get into this habit (hence this being in rider training!) both Tilly and I used to be able to ride a lovely corner, but for some reason I've completely lost it and am struggling to get it back again.

Cheers

Olivia

[OliviaR]

On a slightly more positive note we did rediscover the ability to ride a 20m circle in trot yesterday - another thing that seemed to have gone out of the window. This is my problem with riding  - it's a bit like holding jelly - I just get one thing and another thing goes clean out of the window...

[Heather]

Ok, so your legs are only one part of the aids equation! What are you doing with your hands and upper body?

[Ritchie]

Sorry, I hope I'm not side tracking too much, but riding squares always confuses me . Should the corners be ridden as turns on the forehand or turns on the haunches or a combination of the two . Thanks

[OliviaR]

ooh Sue  I'm also in the middle of Shropshire   - where abouts are you?

Heather - OK I'd struggle to tell you what my weight and torso are doing 

But my hands. Well inside hand is asking for inside bend - more than I'd ask for on a circle.  Normally I've done this by opening my inside hand (if she doesn't respond to a more gentle 'ask' with the reins) - but I'm trying to get into the habit of slightly raising my inside hand instead.

Outside rein is there in a supporting role and trying to stop her falling out through her outside shoulder.

[Ritchie]

OliviaR, I have sent you a pm

[Naiad]

Is there any followup to this thread? I've love to find out more about how to ride the corner of a square...

[shoveltrash]

imho..........
your outside rein controls the shoulders, and turns the shoulders......i ride a square thinking 'halt' at the corner (not actually doing it per se), then turn with the outside rein keeping my inside leg supporting and outside leg controlling the quarters.  i THINK it's supposed to be ridden like a ToH?  is this right?

[Mossy]

Sorry, I hope I'm not side tracking too much, but riding squares always confuses me . Should the corners be ridden as turns on the forehand or turns on the haunches or a combination of the two . Thanks

Sorry if somebody as already answered this but I was told the turn for a square should be a turn about the forehand. What does anybody else think?

[shoveltrash]

obviously we need some clarification

[christuris]

imho..........
your outside rein controls the shoulders, and turns the shoulders......i ride a square thinking 'halt' at the corner (not actually doing it per se), then turn with the outside rein keeping my inside leg supporting and outside leg controlling the quarters.  i THINK it's supposed to be ridden like a ToH?  is this right?

Hey, Trish, that's about what I would do for a square -- certainly a TOH rather than TOF.  I would override the corner a bit and then bring the shoulders back onto the square with the outside rein.  Manuel's been having us practice turning with JUST the outside rein -- no hand on the inside rein at all!!!  You need such finesse to be able to do a whole 360 degrees -- Comet and I can do 180 no problem, but then we lose it!  But it makes doing a corner like that much easier.

Regular corners I seem to remember from several French style trainers (and possibly others think the same too) should be ridden in a slight shoulder-in.  That's the way I try to do them, anyway.

Heather, can you chime in again and give us the answer?  Thanks!

Christina
Indian Hills, Colorado
www.AlphabetRanch.com

[shoveltrash]

that's what i've been taught.  and yes, turning with only your outside rein is challenging!  we actually started off on the buckle (well, hand holding the rein 3.5 inches to the inside of the buckle), and 'neck reining' with the outside rein for turns.  it actually translated well for the horse after contact was taken up.

[christuris]

Yipeeeee!!!!!  I can't believe it...today Comet actually did 360 degree turns with just the outside rein, one handed, no problems!  Whatever happened?  He must have thought long and hard about it and decided he would cooperate!

I hadn't done any squares for quite a while and did them with both boys and I'm amazed at how well they both did them -- in fact it might have been the best exercise for Xino as he's recently lost his steering...  He can't stay straight on the wall either!  Oh well, this is an opportunity to start with the basics, yet again, so maybe I'll get these exercises drilled into my head one of these days...

Christina
Indian Hills, Colorado
www.AlphabetRanch.com