Leg aids - on the girth, behind the girth?

[Berry]

Hi

I've been riding for about a year and am trying to ride more with my seat and legs rather than pulling the horse with the reins. I'm a bit confused about a couple of things though.

What are the correct leg aids for a circle? I remember I've been told you bend the horse around your inside leg applying pressure on the girth and use your outside leg behind the girth to stop the quarters swinging out? Is that right? What do you do with the reins?

Another thing is if the horse drifts off the track, should I be using my inside leg on or behind the girth to push him back over? I'm trying to use my legs more because if I try and pull him with my outside rein he swings sideways and does a rather fetching shoulder-in type thing. What should I be doing with the reins? If anything would it be better to keep slightly more pressure on the inside rein to keep the horse straight? Is that similar to leg yielding? He can do that because he has been trained at dressage (not by me!) and is very responsive to the aids.

Sorry about all the question marks!

 

[LMS]

Your upper body controls the front of the horse (shoulder, front legs, neck & so forth) & your lower body (waist down) controls the hind (body & hind).

In a bend, such as the circle, you begin by looking where you want to go this should automatically make your upper body (from seat bones up) turn towards where you want to go.

Think about your seat bones following the shoulders of the horse. Therefore your outside seat bone will automatically be slightly forward (don't force it, it just happens) & your hip will open to allow your outside leg to automatically come back a wee bit behind the girth.

This leg (outside) is then controlling the hind quarters' bend so that they don't swing out. Your inside leg is on the girth supporting & ready to push the horse out should he fall in.

For your hands, the inside reins gives the direction you want to go and the outside rein will determine how much bend you want. For example if you only use the inside rein your horse will just turn his head & probably too much. So only his neck & head will turn in, therefore making the circle tinier as he walks along.

Oh... a client just walked in. I'll continue later

 

[LMS]

For the wandering issue. When you are riding both reins & legs all work independantly eventually.

But for now, when your horse is coming off the track, generally (since I can't see how exactly your horse is doing this of course) you'd be using both your inside leg on & using your outside rein to bring him back.

Depending on how he is is coming off the track is how you will use these aids. And your RI is the best one to explain this to you as you are riding.

I have a client whose horse does this. She became quite frustrated & we agreed she would come off & I would demonstrate & verbally describe every aid I was giving.

It was "real time" teaching.

 

[Berry]

Thanks so much! That's really helpful. There's so much to learn isn't there. Next time I ride it will be time for lots of circles! This horse belongs to a friend and I don't have lessons on it, she is very experienced with horses though and helps me a lot. I'm learning a lot from her and the horse.
You're obviously a teacher though and I think there is a difference between being able to do things yourself like my friend and being able to explain things to others. Anyway, would you like to fly over to Scotland and demonstrate your advice to me?

 

[LMS]

SURE!!!! I would love to go to Scotland!

Hubby & I wanted to go there on our honeymoon, as he has family there, but we couldn't afford it at the time. It's still a dream of ours to eventually go there (before they all pass away! )

Yes I am an instructor. But I had to learn to verbalize everything when I was going through my training.

Some people are brilliant riders but aren't really good at verbalizing it & some great intructors aren't effective on top of a horse.

I'm not brilliant at either but more like a happy medium

I'm glad I could help.

Oh by the way: the circle is IMO the most difficult figure to ride.

 

[Berry]

Great! I have some family in Canada so we could do a swap! Seriously, I hope you get to come here sometime, personally I think Scotland is just a cold, soggy place but people seem to love it! Some great pony trekking country too up in the Highlands.
You know, I wish that schools had circles drawn on the ground like a basketball court or something. 10m circle, follow this line. And a big huge X right in the middle of the school. It would make things so much easier! I would still probably wobble all over the place though...

 

[LMS]

Hehehe yeah!
But you know what? If you have access to shavings & a lunge line: it makes a very accurate circle!

When I teach the circle, I set up cones and draw a circle on the ground using the lunge line & shavings.

Have someone hold the line in the centre and you, at the other end, go around and sprinkle a line of shavings and VOILA a perfect circle!

If you don't have shavings, just drag your heel to make a line.

 

[Berry]

That's such a simple idea but really good, I'll need to try that (if I can convince my friend to let me put shavings all over the place!)

 

[LMS]

Hehe, oh well at least shavings blend in after a while and it's a natural substance.