Inside leg to outside hand - help!

[ColdAsMice]

Okay so I understand the basic logic of this. But I have a real difficulty in that I can't seem to fix "inside" and "outside" in my mind. If you're riding normally around the arena (so not going across a diagonal etc), which is the inside and which is the outside?

Am I right in thinking that your inside leg is the one towards the middle of the arena and your outside hand towards the arena rails, so you're effectively pushing the horse in towards the rails and framing/holding with the hand nearest the rails? But then how does that work with the idea that the rein towards the middle of the arena should always be open?

I've tried googling diagrams but not having much use and no matter how many times my instructor tells me which is which I can't seem to stick it in my mind.

It’s really nothing to do with where you are in an arena. It’s to do with bend. You could be on the left rein, but asking for counter bend, in which case your outside hand would be your left.

Think of a curve. (To the left). Then imagine your horse’s body on that curve and following it. The inside is the shortest side. So your inside leg asks the horse’s body to bend around it. (Think of it as a pillar). Your inside hand asks the horse to look to the left (just so you can see their eyelashes). Your outside hand then controls the shoulders from moving off the line. Your outside leg controls the quarters and stops them swinging out. Just keep your outside hand against the neck - it’s not about pulling back on it. Your inside hand just remains passive as too much neck bend causes the outside shoulder to move to the outside. If the horse is bent correctly around your inside leg you should be able to give the inside hand and the horse should stay on the circle/correct bend/flexion.

Probably haven’t explain that very well!

Yes good explanation but inside leg in a normal school does point to the inside of the school as the horse is curved going round so os also 'bent' that way if you are just riding a circular arena.

Yes, 'normally' (when not doing an exercise requiring otherwise) you ride with an 'inside' bend, inside always meaning towards the middle of the arena, and outside conversely meaning towards the fence/wall/boundary. So therefore your inside leg is creating the energy and encouraging the horse to step through with his hind legs, the outside hand is containing/framing that energy as you say. Your inside hand is open to encourage the horse to bend through his ribs/torso (nb not just through the neck) around your inside leg, and your outside leg is maintaining straightness/rhythm. As PP said neither hand should be pulling back but both should maintain a steady, elastic contact with even pressure down both reins. You can regularly use a half halt down the outside rein to maintain connection, warn the horse of an upcoming transition etc. The horse should not follow the open inside hand to turn/fall into the middle of the arena, if he does the liklihood is you have actually pulled the rein rather than just opening, making the horse think you are asking for a turn, or you may have shifted your bodyweight slightly to the inside again confusing matters or possibly (particularly if this is a riding school horse) he may try and fall in as an evasion, you need to maintain true straightness and balance in your own position and quickly correct any loss of straightness in the horses shoulders or swinging of the hindquarters using your leg aids. Of course this is all very subtle, you'll need to do a bit of trial and error and will be a work in progress particularly if your horse is a bit wonky himself as many are!

As PP said, I know it sounds confusing but it can be a useful exercise to try swapping from inside bend to outside bend on a straight line, and therefore swapping which is the 'containing' outside rein and which is the 'open' inside hand (and same with your legs) without actually changing direction. If done correctly the horse should change his bend so you can see the edge of his left or right eye (depending on which way he is bending) without you having to pull on either rein or falling in/out. Practice first just going down the long side next to the fence first ask for inside bend using your inside leg and opening your inside hand/supporting with the outside hand, then swap around, open your outside hand, put your outside leg on and contain with the inside hand, you can use the wall as a bit of a block to stop the horse falling out when asking for outside bend. Hopefully the horse will change his bend through his body so you can see the outside eye. Then change back to the inside again. When you get really good at it you should be able to do this on the 3/4 line, changing the bend in either direction without losing straightness and falling out to the fence or in to the middle of the school.

Leg yield is another good exercise to learn to get the 'feel' and connection of riding leg to hand, in walk to start with come down the 3/4 line and use your inside leg to ask the horse to step up and across with his inside hind whilst continuing to walk forward straight, you should end up moving towards the track/fence in a diagonal line. You will need to use your outside rein half halt to maintain the connection and your outside leg to maintain the straightness and rhythm.

Good luck!

Thanks @maxelly for the detailed reply :) Lots to work on!

In essence

Oh this is a great question, I’ve been wondering about this. What is the inside leg physically doing in non-horsey terms please - squeezing? What is the outside leg doing? I was just learning about opening the inside rein and supporting with the outside hand before having to suspend lessons due to lockdown (Australia).

A lot of instruction online talks about “asking” with the leg (or hands) but I don’t know enough to translate that into physical movements! Thanks :)

@Gremlinsateit

Oh this is a great question, I’ve been wondering about this. What is the inside leg physically doing in non-horsey terms please - squeezing? What is the outside leg doing? I was just learning about opening the inside rein and supporting with the outside hand before having to suspend lessons due to lockdown (Australia).

A lot of instruction online talks about “asking” with the leg (or hands) but I don’t know enough to translate that into physical movements! Thanks :)

I think for novices it's probably easiest to think of it as a squeeze, yes, although it's actually subtler than that, I was always reminded by my old teacher that a horse can easily feel and react to a fly landing on their side so there's no reason they can't respond to an equally light pressure from the leg, on a well trained and responsive horse it's more like just barely touching them with the leg, almost an imperceptible tensing (or just thinking about tensing!) of the calf/tendon muscles will do it. Back in the real world however where our horses are sometimes lazy/not beautifully trained , we usually start with a very gentle squeeze and if we don't get the response we are after, back it up with a gentle nudge and then a flick with a schooling whip after that if they still don't respond. Ideally though your leg aid should be barely perceptible from the ground, it should be that subtle, although no matter what is 'proper', you will also sometimes see even very high level riders deploying the old style 'pony club kick' (where you tap the horse hard with your heels so that an observer can see clear air between the leg and the horses side) in an emergency such as approaching a jump and the horse is about to stop so don't panic too much if you can't achieve perfect style right away!

If you aren't using your outside leg it is on the girth, passive but wrapped around the horses side (not swinging back and forth or away from the horses flanks or anything inelegant or unbalanced) - it still plays a very important role in the 'inside leg to outside hand' equation in maintaining straightness/correcting any falling out or swinging of the quarters out and also maintaining the rhythm and pace of the gait though so don't fall into the trap of thinking you don't need it, all your aids need to come together in this beautiful and complex equation...

Thank you maxelly! That is very helpful and will hopefully stop me shrieking at youtube next time the presenter says “so I just ask him with my inside leg” :)

This is an amazing excellent thread ! Learning loads from it !

Wait till you you’re asked to do a 3 loop serpentine with counter flexion… that did my head in. Took a lot of brain power to ‘get’ it. Pony did better than me tbh. 🤣🤣🤣

Serpentine is a good exercise to think about separating inside/ outside from the wall/ middle of arena as every time you cross the centre line, the bend changes. Turning your body slightly helps to align it correctly so you know which bend you are on. The subtle turn of your hips gets your legs in the correct position. Have a read of Claire Lilley's Stop, go, turn. There are several unmounted exercises to help develop body awareness.