with Uwe Spenlen

The most basic of all lateral movements

IN THE LAST ISSUE OF EQ Uwe Spenlen discussed the necessary aids and process required to perform and develop the most basic of lateral movements – the leg-yield. Here he discusses some exercise variations that can be used to assist in your training. There are many patterns and variations which can be used in leg-yielding, just to mention a few of them:

1. line-to-line
2. on a circle
3. from the quarter line
4. half school diagonal
5. from the centreline

LEG-YIELDING FROM THE QUARTER LINE Leg-yielding from the quarter line back to the track is sometimes too much for some horses at first. For these horses it is easier to start the exercise only 2–3 metres off the track because the way is shorter. It is also a good choice for young horses and less experienced riders.

LINE-TO-LINE LEG-YIELDING To test and improve the horse’s obedience to the forward-sideways driving leg aids and the guiding outside rein, leg-yielding from line to line is a good exercise. The exercise on the diagonal into the arena is finished when the horse’s head is almost about 5 metres away from the wall. Here the horse must be ridden straight for one horse’s length. Then the flexion should be changed, leg-yielding back to the wall. It can be ridden in walk and working trot. The forehand should be always slightly leading in advance of the hind-quarters.

LEG-YIELDING ON THE CIRCLE It is recommended to start in walk on the left rein on a 20 metre circle, the open side of which touches X. To introduce, the rider should ride the horse straight along the circle from the track to X. At X he should use the horse’s tendency to return to the track and should start by turning the horse slightly more to the inside. This aligns him with the long side of the arena and the last few steps of that quarter circle can be made in leg-yield. Later on the rider should try to divide the full circle in two equal parts, the first half of the circle straight, proper bend and flexed (hind legs follow fore legs on the same track), the second half of the circle (the open side) leg-yielding. Then straighten again.

MOST COMMON FAULTS FOR INCORRECT LEG-YIELDING: – Horse is falling out over the outside shoulder – Rider is sitting to the wrong side (outside instead of inside) – Too much bend in the neck, too much pulling the inside rein. Most riders use their hands too much, impairing the horse’s natural way of moving – Angle too large, too steep to the wall (more than 45 degrees) – No correct flexion in the poll

So much of what will come later in the training of horse and rider is embodied in the leg-yield that one can not pay enough serious attention to the proper development of leg-yield. The training should be always controlled by an experienced instructor. Before one can think on more advanced lateral movements, horse and rider should have learned to do leg-yielding correctly, fluently and evenly in both directions. Then it is very simple to develop the shoulder-in from leg-yielding with the inside leg.