Help with contact in the bridle!

[kwpn_01]

Sigh… and I return back to the forums to help solve some of my “me” problems. Or at least ask for advice… and if anyone else has experienced anything similar!

Recently, or maybe this has been a bad habit building in to what it has now, I am very strong with my left hand. I think this has developed overtime, as my mare used to be really bad bulging out her left shoulder and/or not respecting my right leg (which has since gotten better). She is still wiggly nonetheless and sometimes her hips don’t like to follow her shoulders, but we are a flatwork “work in progress”. Mare is 6 and I bought her as a 4-year old, green broke and of course with professional trainer’s help.

When I am flatting, I am definitely more conscious of even contact in the bridle. She is LOVELY in the bridle, uses her hind end and sits perfectly on the vertical. Loves her bit/bridle combination so that is not part of the issue here. The issue is ME - and more so a problem when we’re doing over fence work. I know people say that over fence work should just be like flat work but with fences in between… and if only my mare viewed it that way. She is a hot jumper, she gets excited, small or big, doesn’t matter, and sometimes our lovely flatwork goes out the window. That being said, when she gets hot like this, I am uneven in the bridle and heavy with my left hand, so much so that her head is often crooked when approaching a fence (not great). She does “take me” to the fences, as what a jumper should do. But occasionally, we get into arguments and I find myself relying on that left hand - to the point where I don’t notice it until my trainer nags at me to let go of my left hand.

So I do that, and suddenly I lose her left shoulder. It seems I’m having a really hard time finding a balance between too much LH and too little. My barn mate suggesting taping my reins to ensure I have even contact on both hands, especially while jumping, or flatting with a crop in between my hands to get a better feel and force myself to carry even contact.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? I know everyone has a more dominant/stronger hand, as horses tend to have a better way of going (left rein/right rein), but this is getting to a point where it is bothering me and trainer, and I am not conscious enough of it while it’s happening to fix it. I also fear because of my crookedness, I have taught mare to take-off crooked to the fences and not push square from behind, which is a big issue if we one day want to do bigger things. I need to nip this in the butt now. Any feedback/advice/similar experience would be fantastic. TIA!

[knic]

Are you lifting and pulling left? I have one who uses his right shoulder like a weapon, I have to be very conscious to keep my hand low to contain the shoulder without tipping his nose too far right.

[endlessclimb]

It’s not your hands it’s your legs…

[kwpn_01]

I must be. I used to be in the habit of riding with my hands too low (from the old school days) and now that I’m in jumper land I have been taught to carry my hands a little higher. So I think I lift and hang unconsciously.

[kwpn_01]

I need more!

[endlessclimb]

It’s got to start from your legs. Somewhere in your body you are likely crooked (we all are). That said, even with a little bit of crookedness, if you put your left leg on, your horse should not go blowing through that left shoulder.

Here’s what I’d do to work on that.

Set a low X on the centerline, parallel to the SHORT sides. Keep your hands TOGETHER. Literally, your thumbs should be able to touch. Come up centerline, let her lock in a little (enough to elicit that reaction), then ask her to leg yield back to the rail left. Repeat but leg yield right. Repeat and go over the jump. Mix and match. Don’t separate your hands for this, make her come off your LEG. I imagine the first few times you do this, you may end up in a tiff with her, as she says “eff you, I’m going over that jump”. Downward transition if needed to slooowwww her brain down for a second so you can get your point across that no, we are leg yielding.

That’s where I’d start, to get her and you out of the habit of bearing down on the left side.

Edited for clarity.

[CBoylen]

More right leg. I have the same habit if I’m not paying attention. Also, reins with stops help.

[IPEsq]

This is not an uncommon problem. Are your reins different lengths also? If so, then stops or tape or even something like the correct connect grips will help you there, whether you are choking up too short on the left rein or allowing too much loop in the right rein.

If you have a left shoulder lean problem then partially why your horse tips her head is because she doesn’t want to hollow out that left side (whether it’s because the left side is stiff or perhaps it’s the right side that doesn’t want to stretch). To fix that part, you need to make sure she’s also in your right rein and the body is aligned…maybe haunches are going right? What direction are her ribs and withers going? Is there a block in straightness directly under the saddle? When you start thinking about controlling those body parts, you may stop going to the hand as much.

But really, it’s not uncommon to go to your dominant hand when the rideability has gone out the window. Work on maintaining the rideability (being able to supple forward and back as well as laterally) even when she is more animated, and then you don’t need to pull so hard with the one hand as your last resort.

I like incorporating small jumps into the flatwork for this instead of following the pattern of warmup and then just go jump.

[Demerara_Stables]

What @endlessclimb said - she needs to come off your leg.

Also, work on getting her quieter over fences. When they get “up,” rideability suffers (on the flat or over fences). I love @endlessclimb’s exercise. You can also put a ton of cavaletti in the ring and trot/canter over them during your flat work. Once she’s bored with those, change them to cross rails. She needs to be able to move laterally and increase or decrease pace/stride length off of your seat and leg during flat work and over fences.

As a warm up or cool down exercise, at the walk, hold the buckle in one hand and put that hand on her withers. Do not move it. Steer her around jumps, towards and away from the gate, and halt and walk just off your leg. Once she can do that, graduate to the trot, then the canter. You’ll be surprised how hard it is if she’s not truly coming off your leg.

[adultammylife]

I’m also very one-handed and an exercise that really helped was when my trainer had me ride with a string threaded through the bit (unattached, just through and tied in a big circle that I held as reins). Reins tied in a knot, holding onto the rope only, which then forces you to steer with your legs because if you pull on either rein to steer, you simply pull the rope through the bit and pull your other hand.

[mika0116]

Leg and driving rein style grip

Hot horses need leg - a lesson I learned over and over again for 5 years leasing 3 jumpers with big motors.

Weird tip - try riding an eq flat test / dressage test with 2 or 3 small (2’ max) fences in the middle of it all - semi close to what @endlessclimb mentions above if I am interpreting her correctly & what @Demerara_Stables & @IPEsq are also saying. You go back to SMALL stuff studded into your flatwork.

think a flat ride with lateral movements and other movements with occasionally there being a jump that YOU choose to go over and sometimes you laterally move away from it through YOUR choosing.

too many riders sharply transition from flatting to OKAY NOW JUMPING - and for hotter horses where we forget to ride from the leg … it makes a bit of a mess.