Introduced in First Level dressage, the leg-yield is an important prerequisite for the horse and rider before starting more advanced lateral work. But it’s also a useful warm-up move for horses of any level to loosen the muscles before moving on to other work.

When you first work on the leg-yield, your expectations should coincide with your horse’s level of experience. Initially, I look for the horse to grasp the concept that I am asking him to move sideways in a steady rhythm. The elements of more leg crossing, connection, and straightness will all become more refined with time.

Troubleshooting Leg Yield Errors

Here are four common errors you will face with your horse if you’re just beginning to work on the leg-yield, and how to fix them.

Error No. 1: The horse rushes off when you squeeze your inside leg. An exercise that is helpful for this problem is to begin the leg-yield, and the moment your horse begins to rush, start a circle in the opposite direction of the movement. Return back to the line you left from and proceed on with the leg-yield.

For example, if you are leg-yielding left from the centerline (away from your right leg) and your horse begins to rush near the quarterline, turn right onto a 15-meter circle to help rebalance him and then return back to quarterline and proceed straight with the leg-yield again.

Error No. 2: Your horse won’t move sideways. I like to teach as much from the ground as I can so that it translates easily to the horse under saddle. One in-hand exercise I use to teach the leg-yield is the turn on the forehand while keeping the horse straight through his body.

If your horse is still struggling under saddle when first being asked to leg-yield, providing him with an opening outside rein and slightly shifting your weight in the direction of the movement will guide him over. As your horse begins to connect the push of your inside leg with moving over, you can begin to stay more neutral in your stirrups and keep the outside rein toward your horse’s shoulder to build the leg-yield straighter and straighter.

Error No. 3: Your horse comes off the bit. This is commonly due to a loss of balance. When a horse is first learning to leg-yield, I don’t get flustered if the connection doesn’t stay consistent the entire time.

The leg-yield is used to improve connection from inside leg to outside rein, creating a more rounded connection over your horse’s back. As he gets stronger and improves in the exercise, the connection will also improve.

One thing you need to be sure of is that you don’t automatically begin pulling back on the reins to “wrestle” your horse’s head back down. This leads to tension in his back and loss of control of his hind end.

Instead, be sure to offer a rebalancing half-halt on the outside rein, keeping a slight flexion away from the direction of the leg-yield, and trust that the issue of the connection in the front will be fixed by your horse coming more underneath you with his inside hind.

Always be sure to soften the rein pressure as your horse begins to relax down into the bit as a reward and reassurance to him that he is doing what you’ve asked.

Error No. 4: Your horse will not cross his legs. For this, I use the “head to the wall” leg-yield exercise. Beginning in the walk, travel straight through the short side and cut the second corner on a diagonal toward the wall. I tell my students to pretend they are going to ride out of the arena on a diagonal line.

As your horse’s head comes to the wall, keep his neck straight and send him away from what was your outside leg. For example, if you are tracking right, you would be sending your horse sideways from your left leg. Be sure to keep his body on that same diagonal line, around a 30- to 35-degree angle, and not swinging straight back to the wall or perpendicular to it. This is also a useful exercise for the horse who has a tendency to rush through the leg-yield.

When ridden correctly, the leg-yield establishes a better connection from inside leg to outside rein and helps to supple the horse through his hips, croup, lower back and shoulders. Ultimately, it will improve overall balance, which is important for keeping you and your horse working in harmony.

This article about how to fix leg yield errors appeared in the June 2021 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Correcting Leg-Yield Errors with Your Horse appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

The U.S. Equestrian (USEF) Dressage Rule Book describes the leg-yield as follows:

The horse is kept almost straight, except for slight flexion of the poll away from the direction in which he moves, and the inside legs pass and cross in front of the outside legs with the forehand slightly in advance of the quarters.

You can use the leg-yield in many types of exercises to establish a better connection from inside leg to outside rein. Lateral work improves connection, balance, and suppleness. It also gives you more insight on where your horse may be struggling with tension in his body. The leg-yield is typically ridden at the walk or trot.

This movement is introduced in First Level dressage and is an important prerequisite for both the horse and rider before moving on to advanced lateral work.

How To Ride the Leg-Yield

When performing the leg-yield under saddle, I prefer to start in the trot since the exercise has the tendency to compress the horse, so the forward impulsion helps keep him moving sideways more steadily. With a more forward and sensitive horse, it may be better to start in the walk.

Sitting slightly more on your inside seat bone, keep your shoulders level and pointed in the direction of your horse’s shoulders with your hands parallel to each other. Your eyes should be looking straight ahead with the destination of the leg-yield in your peripheral vision.

Beginning on a straight line—either the quarterline or centerline—first ride straight and forward before beginning this move. Keeping your horse straight through the neck on the outside rein with a little inside flexion, press with your inside leg slightly behind the girth in the rhythm of the trot.

Be sure to keep your outside rein contact steady, as you may need to half-halt if your horse begins to rush or his shoulders drift too far over. Your outside leg does not come off, but stays on softly as what I call a “forward guiding leg” to prevent your horse from falling abruptly sideways. The inside flexion encourages your horse to stay soft in his jaw and poll throughout the movement.

When you are first learning to leg-yield, give yourself plenty of time to reach the wall. Moving on too steep of an angle may cause your horse to lose straightness and balance.
I recommend beginning the leg-yield about a quarter of the way down the line you start on and finishing on the wall before the next corner. For example, starting the leg-yield between D and L, and finishing at H or M.

When you arrive at the wall, your outside leg closes and your outside hand comes into the neck to ask your horse to travel straight and then prepare for the bend in the next corner. You may feel that the corner becomes easier to ride as the leg-yield pushes the inside hind under your horse’s center of gravity, creating a greater degree of bend.

Troubleshooting Rider Errors

Here are three common errors when riding the leg-yield and how to fix them.

1. Incorrect riding position: During the leg-yield, it is important that you remain balanced in the center of the horse’s back. Commonly I see a rider swinging or rocking her hips or dipping one shoulder. The leg-yield is a relatively straight movement; you must continue to think of traveling a straight line with your body to help the horse maintain balance.

Often the reason for the position issues is that your horse is not responding to the leg you are trying to yield away from. In this instance, I would recommend carrying a whip or wearing a small spur to assist and reinforce the aid, if needed.

A good visual is to picture that you are leg-yielding to multiple lines close together; travel on one line straight and just move a few feet over to the next line, and the next, until you have finished at the wall.

2. The horse’s neck is crooked or pulled in the opposite direction of the leg-yield: In this case, the horse does not leg-yield, but rather pushes through the opposite shoulder and falls sideways.

You must remember to keep your hands parallel to control your horse’s neck position and to keep his shoulders from drifting. I often tell my students to glance at their hands and use the front of the saddle pad as a reference to keep their hands parallel.

It’s an easy visual for you to see from the saddle if one hand or the other wants to drift forward or back. By keeping your hands in this position, the contact of the outside rein prevents your horse’s neck from overbending and gives him a steady connection to push his inside hind leg into.

3. The horse turns on a diagonal line rather than moving sideways: For this issue, I like to set up pairs of poles or cones parallel to the side of the arena. You should only need about three pairs when leg-yielding from centerline.

Depending on the length of the arena, place the first pair about a quarter to a third of the way down the arena somewhere between centerline and quarterline. Set them a comfortable width apart to trot your horse in between them, maybe 4 to 5 feet.

Set the next pair another third of the way down the arena the same distance apart, and the last pair on the track at the far end of the long side before the corner.

To ride this exercise, begin your leg-yield from centerline to the first pair of poles. Close your outside leg and send your horse straight through the poles. Leg-yield again to the second set and proceed straight through the poles again. Finish the leg-yield between the last set of poles at the track.

By breaking up the leg-yield, you’ll understand how to use your outside leg to guide your horse straight in the leg-yield to prevent him from turning to a diagonal line.

Take your leg yield to the next level with Part Two of this series.

This article about the how to improve your horse’s leg yield appeared in the June 2021 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Improve Your Horse’s Leg-Yield appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.