My Horse Has Become Numb to My Inside Rein, Can You Help?
I have limited access in my arena( if that’s what you want to call it). It is pretty much a flat area that is about 70′ x 75′. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciate it, my dad paid everything he had to have an area flattened for me and my horse. I am schooling dressage on my horse for next spring, but I am finding very hard in this little space. Because the straightaways are very brief and not really straight, I almost always have contact on the inside rein and leg. He is becoming dull to my bending aids and his circles and arc have gotten worse since I started training him. Is there anyway I can teach him how to bend, but not dull my inside rein and leg. Sometimes, when I ask for a circle, he is so used to the inside rein, that I have to use a sharp tug to get him to understand. When I rode last, I thought of an idea. I decided on the briefaways, haha, that I would straighten him out using my outside leg and rein, essentially giving him a break from the inside aids until the turn comes along. Is this a good idea? Do you have any other ideas for loosening him up…I try to frequently change rein, cut across the diagonal, etc. But it doesn’t seem to be helping.
Thanks!
oh yeah, my arena is pretty much round shaped…ish. here is an old video that kind of shows you the size of the area..
Hmm, your probably using pressure and not releasing enough, so he has no reinforcement for what he does.
id suggest taking him in the arena, have verry loose rein ask him to felx to both sides (while standing still) as soon as he moves his head round even a fraction (you are re training) reward him by letting go of the rein.
as for leg aids, get off, using your hand put a small amount of pressure on his girth area, and up the pressure untill the yeilds to the side then release the pressure, do it with both sides untill you need a light touch, get on ask him to yeild using your leg aids then when you are moving take it in stages,
IF you remember that horses learn from release of pressure, not the pressure itself then you will have a light responsive horse.
i hope this helps and if you would like more in-depth help then just ask me.
EDIT: it dosent matter what size your arena is.
When trainers say that a horse should bend around your inside leg it dosent mean you should put pressure on the inside leg it means the horse should be moving into your inside leg not away.
You need to learn to turn your horse from the outside aids. If your horse is not listening to the inside rein, you need more inside leg. True bend comes from the inside leg, not the rein.
I suggest that you actually spend some time riding with a completely loose inside rein. You will then have to ask for the bend with your inside leg and push him around the turn with the outside rein and leg. You will find that your turns get much better balanced when you do this.