My horse is relly having some problems with circles.  i beliee he is not responding consistenetly to my aids.  I an trying to gethim to understand to srap around my inside leg.  I am using my inside leg at the girth, my outside leg behind the girth.  He tends to lean on his inside shoulder especially to the right.  Recently at a clinic the instructor had me tap his shoulder with the dressage whip to keep it ove.  I am able to get it over but it just comes right back in about three strides.  I ride him western also and he neck reins very well and stays centered in his circles.  I feel I must be confusing him in some way.  Any ideas?

My horse is weaker going to the right and tends to fall in on that side. My trainer says one key to correcting this problem is to make sure he's connected to my outside rein, even if I have to counterbend him a little (all while squeezing with my inside leg to connect his hind end to the outside rein). To make sure he's connected to the outside rein, I'll periodically move my inside rein forward for a step or two. If he stays in the same frame, I know he's connected on the outside rein. Once I'm sure he's connected to the outside rein, I ask him to bend to the inside by taking and giving with my inside rein for a few strides. Then I relax the inside hand a little and see how long he can hold the inside bend by himself.

Another idea: Once as I watched a symposium with dressage Olympian Kyra Kyrklund, she explained that when she first gets on a horse, she makes sure he turns off her outside aids first. She walked the horse around a square and at each corner, applied her outside leg and rein to push the horse around the turn. Eventually, she rounded off the four corners a little at a time until she was riding a circle. If I feel my horse falling in too much, I go back to this exercise and it seems to get him connected to my outside rein even more.

Finally, we did an article with dressage rider Leslie Webb in the February 2005 issue in which she describes how to ride a circle. If you don't have that issue, let me know and I can send you that article.

 Good luck. 

I would very much like to read that.  My instructor yeaterday was having me do the outside rein too. I just started getting PH about a year ago so I do not have that issue.Thank you

It's very simple.

First we have to ask how did the inside leg forward outside leg back thing come about?

Well you are supposed to rotate your entire body, this naturally causes your inside leg to go forward and outr outside leg to go back. It also causes your upper body to rotate which creates a natural indirect rein infront of the withers.

That's your ticket...you need an inside indirect rein.

By doing so the horses weight is shifted to the outside "half" of their body via contraction on their "inner half" muscles. When these contract the outside ones stretch. By using an indirect inside rein the neck is bend around and the horse has a bend through out their body. 

Outside rein is used to help them corss their legs and bend if they start to drift out on a circle.

EDIT: Yes an indirect rein can be used to shift the entire weight to the outside shoulder. It's called lateral flexion. I still think that if you use a little bit of an indirect rein it achieves a bend. An opening rein just makes them lean to the inside more around the turns. You need the bend in the neck as well as the body and this is achieved through an indirect rein. 

 I'm not trying to say I know more than Beezie Madden...but you know just because she is a GP and Olympic rider doesn't mean she's right. Anky van Grunsven is an Olympic rider and look at how many studies say her training methids (rollkur) is wrong!

 Actually, there is an excellent article in PH this month about how an indirect inside reins is NOT  a correct aid for a bend.  And opening rein should be used to bend the horse correctly around your leg, pushing with your inside leg to keep him from falling in.  I have this nasty habit of using an inside indirect rein to try to push my horse over, and my dressage trainer is working hard to break me of this habit!  An indirect rein has a VERY specific application to shift the entire shoulder over at a specific time, something that you do not want when you are bending around a turn.

Geez, Solo, cleary this chic knows more than Beezie Madden.

Frizzle:

Geez, Solo, cleary this chic knows more than Beezie Madden.

*laughing...too...hard...to....breathe....*

I have a couple of ideas for you. I have some experience with this because it seems like every horse I have ridden is an OTC TB who likes to lean. First thing to do is make sure you have good impulsion (but not too much) - is the horse pulling you, do you have to push the horse with every stride, or are you somewhere in between. If the horse is pulling, the first thing you need to do is get his center of gravity off the forehand and towards the hindquarters, because only when he is correctly balanced front-to-back can he be balanced side-to-side. The best way to do that is with half-halts (I've seen them described many ways, but what works best for me is to commit to a halt from whatever gait you're working at, but change your mind at the last second) and transitions between and within the gaits. Once you feel like your horse isn't pulling on you on a straight line, and you can give with the inside rein, you can start working on the bending. If at any time he starts pulling, go back to the half-halts.

As far as the bending goes, it is important to establish the outside aids first. Sink your weight more into your outside heel (counterintuitive, I know, but it will work) then sweep the horse over with your inside leg. Your outside hand will allow the horses shoulder to move to the outside by moving slightly to the outside before you apply your inside leg. Your inside rein is barely there. Instead of steering the horse from the front, like a bicycle (and what do bikes do when you turn them but lean) you are steering from the back like a sportscar. The horse plants its outside hind foot, reaches under with its inside hind, and lifts the shoulders for the bend. A great way to practice this is to do spirals out - start at a small circle, say 10 meters, and work your way out by "opening the door" with your outside aids and pushing through with your inside leg. I wouldn't do spirals in yet - that could reinforce the tendency to lean. The key is, if you don't want the shoulder to come to the inside, you need to create a place for it to go. Ideally, that place is to the outside, which will give you a more correct bend and make it feel as if the horse is bending around your leg. Keep in mind the horse's anatomy - the spine is a lot less flexible than ours (we couldn't ride otherwise!) and it is the neck and hindquarters that give us the feeling that the horse is "wrapped" around us. You can pull the horse's head around to get that feeling, but the quality of movement will be affected, and if you are bending in preparation for jumping a line of fences, having more weight in the horse's hindquarters will give you better fences.

I'm sorry if this was a long post, but I hope it helps!

Please send me the article with dressage ride Leslie Webb in the February issue in which she describes hot to ride a cirecle.

 My e-mail address is r_oates@acs.org.

Thank you very much.

Rebecca Oates

 One other thing to check, are *you* leaning on these turns? It's very common for riders to lean into the circle slightly or just have their inside shoulder too far forward. (Ask me how I know!) Do you have regular lessons? Ask your instructor whether you need to square your own shoulders up. If you don't have a regular instructor, then just as a test try turning your torso slightly to the outside of the circle and see if that helps.

Another thing my instructor had me do to straighten out my horse was to keep the outside rein firmer and twitch the inside rein up a couple of inches when I felt her falling in. I ride English, so I don't know if you can do the same thing in western riding.

Thank you.  This is very good advice and confirms what my instructor is telling me.  I must be doing it wrong and can't get my body to do this.  It is definitely something I obviously need to do!

 Rebecca