After learning initial beginner moves with a horse, a rider may be ready to take on the more advanced lateral moves. Learn how the rider and the horse can perform lateral moves properly from a horseback riding instructor in this equestrian video.
Horses move away from pressure
Hands left, horse right
Side passing
Practice
Kathy Kentala has been a horse enthusiast since she was six years old. Kathy owns the Bee Cave Riding Center in Texas and specializes in training youth groups.
Another progressive step in learning how to ride a horse is how to communicate well enough that we can create what's called "lateral work." After we have achieved the basics which is what we call "straight on the straight lines" and "around through the corners," we then want to start asking our horses to do things that mean that they have to use their bodies in a more advanced manner. That means that we're going to ask him to do some lateral work. We teach children--it's like east to west, side to side--rather than just going straight forward with their legs, the horse is now going to begin crossing over their legs to create a direction that comes from the movement where the horse is now crossing over the legs to create that left to right movement. The very first and basic one that we can teach pretty easily is what's called "a leg-yield." It comes with the understanding that horses are pretty simple in how we train them. If we ask and put pressure on the left side, the horse is going to move to the right. They simply move away from pressure. When our hands are also communicating well, we just simply create the direction we want the horse to move. So if we lightly shift our hands to the right, creating an indirect rein on the left and a slight directing on the right and add the left leg pressure, sometimes we refer to it simply as opening one door, closing another. That gives the horse permission and a room to begin that where they cross their legs over to create a left to right direction. After learning leg-yields, we can advance that to many things in both the English and the Western world. It can go to side passing, path passing, pirouettes and many other things that bring that horse to that ultimate dance with the rider.
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