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The Joy and frustration of Lateral Work -part 3

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Coordinating Lateral Work 

Riders often find that the forward and sideways movement in lateral work is not smooth and flowing and is different on each rein. On one side the horse may be leading with the shoulders and therefore falling sideways due to too much neck bend and yet on the other side the horse just won’t move over.  The rider often struggles to find the solutions to these issues and the horse is often confused about what the rider is asking it to do.

You need to ask yourself what is the cause of these problems? The horse or the rider or a combination of the two?  

My experience of learning laterals

In my early days when I was starting leg yield, I was always asking for too much neck bend, with this error my horses lost the shoulder as it fell sideways and lost the balance. I would also ask for too much sideways step which didn’t allow the horse to step under his center of balance but past it, therefore having no benefit what so ever. On the other side the horse would resist bending and wouldn’t move over, leaving me feeling helpless and desperate.

In our next blog we will give you some ideas of what could be causing it.

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