The leg yield exercise

Last week we worked on leg yield with the horse angled away from the wall. A few of you progressed from that to asking for shoulder in. Alternatively a few of you found this mind boggling requiring me to demonstrate by getting down on all fours...

It occurred to me that a video demonstration might assist as we are going to try this again next week.

Why the focus on leg yield? Leg yielding is required in first level dressage as it shows the horse's ability and willingness to move laterally off of leg, and maintain a semblance of straightness and forwardness. For jumping, have a horse that moves laterally off of leg can help with issues of straightness, to push a horse into the corners better, and will also progress to flying lead changes.

By doing the leg yield at an angle away from the wall, the rider must focus on fine control of how much sideways, and how much forward the horse is able to do. The achievement is measurable as you can see the angle achieved, and measure how far off the wall you ended up coming!

For Izzy, this exercise will help her shoulder in; she tends to want to pop her shoulder to the wall rather than maintain a true bend; by going from this leg yield to the shoulder in, and back to this leg yield, I am forced to maintain control of the shoulder.

Here is the video of Izzy

Try to see where I switch from leg yield to shoulder in and back again. In Leg Yield, front and back legs cross, and the horse should be straight in the body, with just a slight flex in at the jaw. In Shoulder in, her hind legs should not cross as her hind quarters should be parallel to the wall, and she should have bend through her body. Note how she resists by bringing her head up, and how I respond by kicking, and asking her to give with her jaw by give and take with that inside rein.

I am trying to get a clear four track leg yield from her (inside legs travel on a track inside the hinds) but she is not wanting to do this, and I can only get a few good steps as she really wants to pop out with her shoulder!

Now here is Coregel
Note how I am able to get Coregel on four clear tracks. This is easier on her vs. Izzy because she is a stiffer horse front to back, and popping her shoulder out isn't something she wants to do! I have done a slow motion take and hopefully you can see where I go from leg yield to a step or two of shoulder in, and back to leg yield a couple times. I only do a step or two of shoulder in on Coregel as she is just getting back into work, and more than a couple steps of shoulder in would be unfair to an unfit and slightly fat equine, and would only encourage her to evade.

What I am not sure you can see with either horse, is that although the inside leg is the one asking for the leg yield, the outside leg is also back and ready to tap tap tap to regain the forward. Note too, that I am restricting with my hands so that the energy I am creating goes up and across, and not scrambling and forward.

Hopefully this increases some understanding of the exercise so we have more success next week!

Karen