2022 Riding Journey

#43 Leg Yielding With Mariah

You can tell winter's coming when you're riding in the indoor arena more.  Both Vivie and James came for a lesson.  Vivie rode Cordell and James rode Riggs, and I got Mariah. 

When I caught Mariah, I noticed that she had clearly been worked hard the day before, for her coat bore marks of dried sweat.  Sure enough, my trainer said she'd jumped her pretty hard yesterday, so we'd give her the day off from that.  Which was fine for me, I like jumping but I'm also interested in the dressage / flatwork aspect of things. 

So, I mounted up, and my trainer gave me the first exercise which was basically the exercise we did for most of the lesson.  She wanted me to go around the arena, and when we came to a corner, to come in as if I was going to cut it.  But then to use my inside leg and push her over in a leg yield.  It didn't have to be many steps though.  The goal was that I could then bring her out of that leg yield onto the straightaway, and that she would not just be sliding into the arena fence. 

Now, I've never really been taught leg yield.  I have worked on it with Shorty, and before he went lame I think we had a basic grasp of it.  But my trainer hasn't really 'taught' it to me.  I'm not quite sure why.  Maybe she doesn't see the need, because I've basically been using it in different forms, like when I'm making a horse stay out and bent on circle, or pushing them deeper into a corner.  I've just never been taught it as a 'movement'. 

Despite that, this exercise wasn't all that hard. I did it for quite awhile and experimented with using my body as an aid.  The first leg yields weren't that great, I didn't feel like Mariah was actually stepping over.  But the more I practiced and experimented, the better they got.  Mariah would go farther over and deeper in the corner.  Really, it's a testament that I was able to do this on her and her not throw a hissy fit, pin her ears, speed up, etc.  When she first came here, she'd spin around a lot when we did one rein stops with her. 

My trainer liked the leg yields that she saw.  So she told me to go into trot and keep doing the same exercise.  She also said that I would need to come further into the arena. 

I asked Mariah for trot and she shot off into that fast, whizzy trot that you can barely keep up with posting.  I was kinda caught off guard because she hasn't done that in awhile.  I kept up with her as best I could, and for the first two or three laps some corners I whizzed through some corners without even bothering to try for a leg yield. 

Looking back, I probably should've asked her to slow down and that probably would've been effective.  But as it was, we whizzed around for a little while and then I got my act together enough to begin asking for leg yields.

Mariah was not happy about me asking for leg yield in trot.  I came across the same problem that I had before; it did not feel like she was moving enough side-ways in response to my aids.   If I put my leg on stronger, she would get more mad about it.

But I persisted with it, and things got better.  She slowed down and also started moving more sideways.  My trainer told me to come down to walk, and then she had me come over to stand for a break along with Vivie.  And then she asked me something like 'how's that feel to you' or 'what do you think about that'.  

I told her it didn't feel like 'enough', like she wasn't moving over enough.  So she gave me two tips to hopefully improve that.  One was to turn my body more, not necessarily my upper body, but my pelvis and hips.  The other was the take my hands together to the side.  I'd already thought about / was working on the pelvis turning, but I hadn't thought about taking my hands to the side as well. 

One temptation for me in the leg yield is to try to use the inside rein to not only bend but push the horse over.  The inside rein is only to ask for flexion to the inside, that is it. You're not supposed to make a horse move over with that rein.  That's the job of the legs and body, and maybe the outside rein will invite the horse over. 

Anyhow, we took a bit of a break while James worked on something with Riggs, I can't remember what.  Then it was back to trotting for me, and my trainer wanted me to keep doing this exercise going the same direction.

Once again, she shot off in that fast, whizzy trot.  I just rode it out and worked for the leg yield.  Some were better than others, but I do feel we made progress.  

There was another break, and then more leg yielding in trot, but going the other direction, which was counter clockwise and both Mariah and I's harder direction.  Going this direction, we both had to work at things harder and leg yielding was definitely not as easy.  But again, I felt like we were making progress.

We took another break, if I remember right, and then my trainer asked me if I wanted to canter her, but said I didn't have to if I didn't want to.  I'm glad I decided to, because my trainer put forth an interesting way for me to ask for the transition from Mariah. 

She wanted me to ask for leg yield like I'd been doing, but not very much, and then ask for canter from her.  Mariah still has trouble getting the canter on straight lines, and it's easier for her to be asked to canter in a corner or on a circle.  But this is something that can help her with that.

Remember last week, how I said that our canter transitions were terrible?  Well guess what.  I did as my trainer said.  I began the aids of leg yield, then asked her to canter.  She popped right up into it.  No speeding up and not very much hissy fit throwing, just popped right up into it.  It was a wonderful result to get.  My trainer didn't see it and I can remember thinking that I wished she had.

After that I just cantered around the arena for some laps before coming back down to walk.  I was tempted to rise up into half-seat; now that I've figured out how easy it is to do, it sure seems better than sitting that fast canter.  But I knew that I also needed to work on sitting the canter, so I persevered and I think I did alright. Like with sitting trot, there were some moments where I felt like a bouncing sack of potatoes and other times where I was more in tune. 

We came down to walk and then went to canter the other direction.  In between, my trainer commented more on the leg-yielding-before-asking-for-canter thing.  I can't remember what she said about it, something about if it worked or not, and I said it felt like it had.  She said that this was a good way to check if your leg yielding from before had been effective.

This transition Trainer did see, and it was just as good as the last one.  She was pleased with it, like I thought she would be.  And I was glad to know all that leg yielding had been effective ;) 

During this round of cantering, my trainer told me to 'lift my toes' and pointed out to Vive that as soon as I did, I sat the canter better.  I did feel the difference, and I do know that I need to work on keeping my heels down.  My heels may not always be 'up' per say, but they're not as far down as they need to be sometimes.  Once again, sometimes I felt in tune, and other times I didn't.  Mariah didn't get too mad at my bouncing around or speed up because of it as far as I could tell. 

After that I walked her out on a long rein for a bit.  She did stretch down, though not as well as she did last time, and I'm not sure that her back came up.  I should mention though, that at some point during the ride my trainer told me she was pleased with the contact I had with her.  It was soft, but still there, it was still contact.  Mariah is getting more used to and more tolerant of contact.

So, with that, we ended the ride.  It was a good, solid one.  Not as basic as the lessons I've had on Romeo, but not as challenging as the recent jumping lessons.  My trainer says that Mariah is improving quicker now. 

Actual lesson 12/13/2022