So, this topic has kind of sprung out of a discussion on another thread, but also my own riding experience. I haven't been able to get a straight answer anywhere it seems and since I don't have the means to have an instructor right now I thought I'd ask here (specifically in the general riding forum, so hopefully more people will see it!) :blueunicorn:
Anyway, I have come to realize lately that Nav has some holes in his training, probably a lot due to my general inexperience... He is tricky to ride and very evasive, has a lot of tricks to get out of work. I have been dealing with a straightness/bending issue lately where he doesn't want to properly bend for me. This is coming after approximately two months off due to lameness, and prior to it he was not noticeably against bending left, though that is his weaker direction. I'm not sure why it started.
I've been working a lot on suppling him and bending and having good warm ups so we have the best chance at success. I noticed during my last two rides that he is not really moving into my outside rein and definitely not bending off of it! He bends to the inside contact. I tried an exercise where I put a lot of slack into the inside rein to see if he would keep bending or at least keep tracking around and almost immediately he turned to the right (the outside) and started going that way.
I don't think I have a good grasp of inside leg to outside rein. I know my inside leg should be asking him to bend, outside leg keeping the hindquarters from drifting, and outside rein should be an anchor or wall for him to work into. But it doesn't really seem to work on him? Maybe he is dull to the leg. Though he tends to speed up when leg goes on, even when asking to move laterally. When I was taught (back in the pony club days) "inside leg to outside rein", I was riding a very nice horse who kind of took care of me and she did what I needed her to almost without asking. Nav is not so trained so that's why we're running into problems.
Ahh, I know this is long so I'll wrap it up here. I've posted a bit about this in my journal but hope I can get some more input from a stand alone thread. Let me know if I need to clarify!
Anyway, I have come to realize lately that Nav has some holes in his training, probably a lot due to my general inexperience... He is tricky to ride and very evasive, has a lot of tricks to get out of work. I have been dealing with a straightness/bending issue lately where he doesn't want to properly bend for me. This is coming after approximately two months off due to lameness, and prior to it he was not noticeably against bending left, though that is his weaker direction. I'm not sure why it started.
I've been working a lot on suppling him and bending and having good warm ups so we have the best chance at success. I noticed during my last two rides that he is not really moving into my outside rein and definitely not bending off of it! He bends to the inside contact. I tried an exercise where I put a lot of slack into the inside rein to see if he would keep bending or at least keep tracking around and almost immediately he turned to the right (the outside) and started going that way.
I don't think I have a good grasp of inside leg to outside rein. I know my inside leg should be asking him to bend, outside leg keeping the hindquarters from drifting, and outside rein should be an anchor or wall for him to work into. But it doesn't really seem to work on him? Maybe he is dull to the leg. Though he tends to speed up when leg goes on, even when asking to move laterally. When I was taught (back in the pony club days) "inside leg to outside rein", I was riding a very nice horse who kind of took care of me and she did what I needed her to almost without asking. Nav is not so trained so that's why we're running into problems.
Ahh, I know this is long so I'll wrap it up here. I've posted a bit about this in my journal but hope I can get some more input from a stand alone thread. Let me know if I need to clarify!