Do you struggle to get your horse to go in the corners without turning in to a banana or falling in? What about keeping them in a straight line without them being all wibbly wobbly.
Here are our 5 tips for improving your horses accuracy and balance.
Don't Rush!
Everything is so rushed these days, who can get to the finishing post first by what ever means possible. This doesn't help our horses and is often why people get stuck and struggle to progress. The basics are so important and are often over looked.
If your horse is struggling to stay balanced in walk, don't expect them to be any more balanced in trot. There is so much to be done in walk that will benefit your horses balance and suppleness, that will help your horse stay in corners and straighten them.
2. Lateral work
Lateral work is so important and much like the walk is often overlooked. As it doesn't come in to competition until higher level tests riders tend not to attempt it as it's "not necessary" for them. But teaching your horse how to move their forehand and hind quarters separately is so important, especially for straightening work. If your horse is crooked you can help correct and straighten them through lateral work. If they are cutting the corners you can move them in to the corner with laterals, not pull them across. Lateral work done correctly and not rushed will also aid your horses balance and suppleness immensely. So whether you're a happy hacker or out competing at any level, get practising your lateral work and see how it improves other aspects of your training!!
3. Poles
Some horses (and their riders!) may be better with a visual aid. Place a pole at about 45˚ to the long side in each corner. Firstly ride around in walk and get your horse used to actually riding the corners, mentally and physically. Don't expect too much at once. Gradually over a few sessions roll the poles closer to the corner. The smaller the angle the harder the corner will be for the horse, don't expect them to have to turn on a right angle but do expect them to be able to get closer and closer to the corner as they progress. Once your horse is starting to feel more balanced and is taking the corners as they should in walk, put the poles back to their original place and repeat in trot. Eventually take the poles away. By this stage your horse should have developed the correct balance that they will not need to poles for guidance any longer. You can also use this same principle to help your horse stay straighter down the track, but start with the pole closer to the track and gradually increase the distance so the horse becomes less and less reliant.
4. Bend
It seems obvious but it's important to have inside bend when expecting your horse to go in to the corner. What happens very often is the horse falls in due to lack of balance and because the horse usually doesn't know any lateral work (as discussed above) the rider struggles to move them over into the corner (or keep them on the track!) and instead wrenches the head round to the outside to get in the corner. All that happens is the horse is now bent incorrectly, unbalanced and will most likely have swung it's quarters in to the school so is now also crooked. Always think about your horse either being straight through their body, or with slight inside bend, only ask for "outside" bend when purposefully doing counter bending not to stop the horse cutting a corner.
5. Halt & Turn on the haunches
Rather than avoiding the corner completely why not get your horse really acquainted with it! In walk, ride right into the corner, as far as you can without going in to the fence, and perform a halt. Once your halt is established ask your horse to perform a small (quarter) turn on the haunches in order to turn and continue on the track. Do this by sliding your outside leg back behind the girth, keeping your inside leg at the girth, dropping the outside hand down slightly so that the rein lies in a curve along the horses neck (to aid controlling the shoulders) and asking for a bit of inside bend with the inside hand. Use your outside leg to ask the horse to move over. The fence will stop the horse wanting to walk forward and your horse should naturally offer a turn on the haunches. Not only will this aid in suppleness and flexibility but will also help you and your horse tackle those corners that bit better.
We hope some of these tips will help you and your horse and prepare you for the upcoming winter dressage season!