[Everlasting]

I've noticed that my horse doesn't like taking a few corners well, and is pretty consistent with how he cuts them off and where. I also noticed that when he does that, I end up leaning and putting a lot of pressure in my outside side/stirrup, while tugging on the inside reign. But he still doesn't respond well to it, and I was wondering if my drastic leaning is actually throwing him off balance, making him want to move the complete opposite direction just to balance himself. Except when I try to not lean or lean a bit to the inside, he just continues cutting the corner or I feel very off balance like I'm going to fall off. And it always takes a lot of effort just to make him go into some corners.
I know I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not sure how to fix it.
Suggestions?

Also, I tend to cut corners myself as well when riding, which causing him to break his canter and generally slow down, which I do understand. But even when I do my best to get into the corner and turn him softly, he's always moving to the outside, almost out of the ring, causing me to lean and try to bring him to the inside and he ends up slowing down anyway. How can I use my body to get him to go through the corners without breaking his canter and keep him from almost going out of the ring going down the long side?

[AmyZ]

Sounds like you need to use your legs to keep him on track. Use your inside leg to keep him from cutting the corner, and your outside leg (behind the girth) to keep his quarters from swinging out. Does he know how to leg yield and do turn on the forehand? If not, you may need to work on these first. I wouldn't lean to either side as this sounds like its unbalancing both of you.

[AmyZ]

Originally Posted by AmyZ

Sounds like you need to use your legs to keep him on track. Use your inside leg to keep him from cutting the corner, and your outside leg (behind the girth) to keep his quarters from swinging out. Does he know how to leg yield and do turn on the forehand? If not, you may need to work on these first. I wouldn't lean to either side as this sounds like its unbalancing both of you.

I've just spend the last few weeks teaching my young girl how to do this using this advice I got from HGS and she is now doing corners and circles beautifully

[Everlasting]

Originally Posted by AmyZ

Sounds like you need to use your legs to keep him on track. Use your inside leg to keep him from cutting the corner, and your outside leg (behind the girth) to keep his quarters from swinging out. Does he know how to leg yield and do turn on the forehand? If not, you may need to work on these first. I wouldn't lean to either side as this sounds like its unbalancing both of you.

I actually just rode and experimented with different ideas I had, before my trainer came out for her ride and noticed my leaning. She told me basically the same thing; press with my inside leg and give and take with my outside rein and quit leaning. I also tried something I read for turning better in general, which was pressing with my inside leg and pointing my knee in the general direction I wanted us to go, and though it's not perfect (obviously, since it was my first time trying it) I think it really did help.
He would still, however, break out of his canter 3 out of 5 times in corners.
And he's still iffy going down the long side, he keeps wanting to go more to the inside but I guess it'll get better with practice.

He can do turn on the forehands nicely, and I'm working on turn on the haunches now, though we suck at bending nicely. Leg yielding changes day by day, we're still not great at it but he CAN do it.
So I guess keep practicing and do basic leg yielding more, eh?
Thanks =]

[Rhythm 'n Blues]

It's not jsut leaning that can cause these problems, it's not sitting 100% corectly even on both seat bones &/or dropping one shoulder over the other. Other problems that can cause this is acutally rotating from your hips up to the left or right.

Usually people have at least one of the problems mentioned above, but I usually find they have more than one.

Think of it this way, if you had a back-pack filled with books that only had 1 strap and you had to move around like your horse. There is no doubt that you would be some form of compensation in the way you moved around. This is what our horses go through when we, as riders, aren't sitting up 100% straight & even.

Also please remember that jsut because you feel straight & even doesn't mean you really are. Everyone has a more domenate side and years of being "right" or "left" handed makes that problem even worse. It also makes you feel straight when really you are not. It takes a great coach or grounds person with a well trained eye to see where the fault is coming from and it takes a dedicated rider who wants to fix it to really correct the problem.....but once it's corrected you won't see these sorts of problems to often.