Bending to the outside

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Bending to the outside; Any schooling suggestions?
Topic Started: Jun 8 2009, 06:20 PM (172 Views)
Trialbyfire	Jun 8 2009, 06:20 PM Post #1
It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure! Posts: 2,189 Group: Members Member #250 Joined: January 8, 2007	I've gotten so many great tips from this board, I thought I'd ask for another. My mare has improved so much since last year (and I've improved my riding of her in the last few weeks after some great TOC advice!) One thing she consistently does [to the extent that I now believe it is an evasion] is that she will invert her body in the corners while trotting and bend to the outside. Which then becomes a fight/struggle to get her straight (if possible), and then back to the correct bend. Since we are gearing up for trot-canter transitions, I want to fix this soon! My standard "correction" has been to make a small circle coming out of the corner and get back out to the rail, but she is now getting wise to the correction and will fall in dramatically if I ask for a circle, dropping her inside shoulder and basically being a big, lazy fool. Needless to say, "fighting" doesn't work, so I need some new exercises to work on this a little bit. I have often gone back to the walk and worked on maintaining a nice, relaxed bend; but often at the trot we struggle. Sometimes she is perfect, so I know she can do it. Any schooling tips/exercises to work on bending? Thanks!!



MissBri	Jun 17 2009, 07:34 AM Post #2
Cead Mile Failte ! ! SLAINTE! Posts: 4,011 Group: Members Member #973 Joined: April 20, 2007	move 'your' corners up so that you are working a 'smaller' arena and she doesn't have the physical corner in which to evade. Also, do two 10-15 meter circles just before F,M,K,H then enlarge it to 20 meters on the third circle, straight on the long sides, circles on the short sides. Another thing that often works is to counter bend at E then just before H ask for a true bend carrying it through the corner, then a circle at C. Serpentines Spirals in and out, maintaining the same cadence throughout. Start at walk. get out of the physical arena and work on an imaginary one in a field. On a straight line bend and counter bend.



Trialbyfire	Jun 17 2009, 07:50 PM Post #3
It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure! Posts: 2,189 Group: Members Member #250 Joined: January 8, 2007	MissBri Jun 17 2009, 07:34 AM move 'your' corners up so that you are working a 'smaller' arena and she doesn't have the physical corner in which to evade. Oh thanks! This is actually what I ended up doing -- I used cones and made an "oval" and she was very, very good. We have recently introduced the canter w/ a rider and we are seeing this evasion again after she'd been good for some time. Clearly it is her "preferred" move when she is confused or unsure. Needless to say, we are backing away from cantering - now that we've got response to the canter cue we are going to continue to ask for it, but only at the end of a training session, and continue to work on bending and rhythm -- just once or twice to remind her of the cue, but only to make the transition and then some nice pats and praise for picking it up, and back to the walk. Thanks for responding; I had actually forgotten I had asked this question!



FlashGordon	Jun 19 2009, 07:54 PM Post #4
Is the meadow on fire? Posts: 1,959 Group: Members Member #2,251 Joined: December 3, 2007	This will sound strange, but you could also try "square corners." Then you will just be focusing on straight... and not thinking about trying to create a proper inside bend. I know it sounds weird but it has worked for me with green horses or those that are wiggly, popping the inside shoulder, etc. Dunno if it is because thinking about straight lines and 45 degree turns changes the way I use my body, or what... but worth a shot maybe! Also maybe work on moving her shoulders? Walk pirouettes, shoulder-in, and things of that nature? Give you a little more control of her front end?



Onelanerode	Jun 22 2009, 11:18 AM Post #5
Thomas H. Cruise! Posts: 633 Group: Members Member #130 Joined: January 7, 2007	Make sure you are not encouraging an outside bend by tipping your outside seatbone in front of your inside seatbone. I am horrible at that ... my left seatbone always wants to sit slightly in front of my right seatbone, and my mare bends beautifully to the left. To the right, I'm constantly having to think about where my right seatbone is and whether it's ahead of my left one. I know if my mare starts to counterbend to the right, it is most likely because my right seatbone has crept back again.



Trialbyfire	Jun 22 2009, 05:44 PM Post #6
It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure! Posts: 2,189 Group: Members Member #250 Joined: January 8, 2007	Onelanerode...haha...yes, rider error is a very big possibility!!! (No wonder my mare always looks so much better with my trainer on board!!) I will keep the seat bones in mind next time we school; it is very possible that I also tip her off to new, "scary" things, such as a canter departure so I may very well be setting her up for anxiety.....I know that when I set up my arena into the oval with the sole purpose of working on bend through the corners in trot, she was fantastic. Then not long afterwards I worked on that canter departure again and she was inverted on more than one occasion....could definitely be ME! Flash, good suggestions, too! I wish my arena were bigger, but it's only 80x100....so it's hard to get nice straight lines for very long. Very possible, of course, but an extra 20 feet would certainly help! I will try the square corner idea, even if only at the walk, because that sounds really interesting and a great exercise to make sure she's listening to me and not just plugging along. We have done a fair bit of in-hand work this spring and it was very helpful - getting her feet to cross over and work on turning on the haunches and forehand. Unfortunately, she was very rigidly trained from the left side only (at the track and maybe also as a broodmare), and working from the offside is really hard, so we took a break from working on that for a while (I think she was getting very frustrated). It's amazing what can be trained into a horse -- she is so rigidly trained in-hand that if you are a step ahead of her she will NOT walk on for you. You have to return to her shoulder and then she'll go. It's nice to have such a polite horse on the ground but every now and then it's annoying! (E.g. farrier wants her to step forward one tiny step and you can NOT pull her forward one inch! But go to the left side and stand at her shoulder, no problem!)



FlashGordon	Jun 23 2009, 10:41 AM Post #7
Is the meadow on fire? Posts: 1,959 Group: Members Member #2,251 Joined: December 3, 2007	TBF, Win is like that on the ground too!! Onelanerode, I can tell you've been riding with G?!?



Ibex	Jun 24 2009, 10:34 AM Post #8
Off visiting Candy Cave, be right back. Posts: 1,183 Group: Members Member #1,160 Joined: June 22, 2007	I have to second all the reco's above. Once you have it, you could consider working on bend/counter bend on the straight lines or larger circles. This has been a huge help in getting Bria supple enough to bend whichever way we want...



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