Teaching a horse to leg-yield

When I train/ride my horse Diamond, my parents are always busy doing other things, so I don't know how to train her to leg yield. I know the "person on the ground with a whip tapping the horses leg, and telling the horse to move over, until they understand the cues." but without anybody to help me I don't know how to do it. So if anybody has any tips on how to do it, please share! Thanks! =)

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Permalink Reply by Mary H on February 21, 2010 at 11:22pm

Hi Jenna! To teach your horse to leg yield toward the wall start by walking a bit away from the wall.
You'll need to tap with your inside leg while she is raising her back leg to prompt her to set it down underneath her body. When you feel her side bulge out under your inside leg that means her back leg is going forward. That is when you tap or squeeze on her side. If she doesn't leg yield out on her own, you will have to prevent her from moving forward when you tap her side by pulling a bit on the reins. Make sure you look where you want her to go and try to keep her body parallel with the wall.
You can also start with having her just stand and you squeeze one side until she moves sideways - not letting her walk forward. Then let her take a couple steps and stop. Have her move sideways again then take a couple steps. Keep repeating until you can get her to take a step forward, take a step sideways, take a step forward and then blend it together.
It can get frustrating for both you and your horse until you get it down so make sure you space it out with some plain old walking or trotting.
I hope this helps! Mary