Before we can 'feel' the diagonals we need to know which leg is doing what in which pace .....

Walk is a 4-beat gait and the sequence of footfalls is:

Left hind, left fore, right hind, right fore






Trot is a 2-beat gait and the sequence of footfalls is in diagonal pairs:

Left hind and right fore together followed by right hind and left fore together






If you look at the horse from behind you can see how the back dips and the barrel swings away as the hind leg comes through.






Understanding all of this is going to help us feel what is happening underneath us when we're riding.



Starting in walk

Sit on your horse, ask him to walk and see if you can feel the back dipping, first one side then the other.

Next see if you can feel when the barrel swings away from your leg.

Feel how your seatbones drop and then rise again with the horse's back.


Top Tip: You won't be able to feel this if you're pushing with your seat to try and keep him going (aka 'polishing the saddle' or a driving seat!). Try to sit quietly and let the horse move you rather than the other way around.


Once you can identify the dip of the back and/or the swing of the barrel you can go on to identify which leg is doing what :)


As the back dips on the left hand side the left hind is coming through followed by the left fore. As the back dips on the right hand side the right hind is coming through followed by the right fore.

As the barrel swings away from your left leg the left hind is coming through followed by the left fore. As the barrel swings away from your right leg the right hind is coming through followed by the right fore.


If you have someone on the ground who can help you then you will be able to pick it up a bit quicker :) Start by calling out when the left side dips, then the right and then try to identfy the swing of the barrel and then you can go on to calling out which hind leg is coming through.





When you can do this most of the time you can move onto trot.



Moving onto the trot


Repeat the exercises that you did in walk:

• Feel the back dipping
  
• Feel the barrel swing

On the right rein

Concentrate on the outside legs (left hand side of the horse).

When the back dips on the left the left hind is coming through which MUST mean that the left fore is coming back.

When the barrel swings away from your left leg the left hind is coming through which means that the left fore is coming back.


So ... when do you sit and when do you rise? Usually we're told to watch the outside shoulder and when the outside shoulder is coming back then we should be sitting and then rising again on the next beat. That's fine except we then get told to stop looking down!





Thinking about what the horse's legs are doing ....


Still on the right rein:

When the back on left side of the horse dips we should be sitting.

When the back rises we should be rising too.

If we allow the horse to move us and synchronise our movements with the horse then we will be able to feel the outside of the horse pushing us up into the rise and then allowing us to sit again in the sit phase.


On the left rein

Exactly the same but in reverse (sit when the right side dips and the barrel swings away from the right leg).


Once we can feel what the horse is doing it opens up a whole new world for our riding. We can use our legs with the swing of the belly to influence the horse both in rhythm and for lateral work. We can even feel when the horse is going on the wrong leg in canter and correct it before he's even struck off .... but that is for another day :)


Good luck and enjoy experimenting :)

---

Return to RidingTechniques