Comments on: Sharpen Your Eye for Trot Diagonals

By: TheRidingInstructor

TheRidingInstructor — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 17:11:25 +0000

In reply to Mark. Great suggestions Mark. Thank you

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 16:28:50 +0000

Yeah, seems everyone has a different way to go! If I’m teaching people who want to be instructors, I tell them how I see it – which (as I’m usually on the inside of a pupil) is they they are going forward (and slightly up) in time with the inside hind of the horse/pony. (I’m a stickler for thinking forwards rather than up, always tell beginner riders their belly button must be the most foreward part of their body at the top of the rise!)

For me, in the middle of the school, this is easier to see than the outside fore. But, I still teach novice students to synchronise with the outside fore, as, if they cant feel the inside hind yet, they can glance down (without tipping their head foreword!!) and see the outside shoulder.

By: TheRidingInstructor

TheRidingInstructor — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 02:13:12 +0000

In reply to Heather. Heather what an interesting way to check diagonal! Thanks Barbara

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 00:24:39 +0000

I always teach beginner coaches, parents and other interested ‘watchers’ of riders to check diagonals by getting them to nod their head as the outside foreleg strikes the ground. It’s then a simple matter of checking whether the rider’s rising action ‘matches’ the up and down action of their nodding head.

By: TheRidingInstructor

TheRidingInstructor — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 18:35:30 +0000

In reply to Bob Wood. Thank You Bob. Yours is a great suggestion and would work both with the rider watch for their own diagonal and learning to watch a group. I like that the Furazone spray washes off fairly easily. I also like your different choice of words. It puts a different picture in the mind. Thank you for sharing your good teaching method. Barbara

By: Bob Wood

Bob Wood — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 16:38:13 +0000

Thank you Barbara. I also use visuals. My favorite is to spray yellow furazone powder along the line of the slope of the shoulders. As the fore legs move forward, each shoulder line, inside and outside, “flashes” at an easy to see place on the horse.

My explanation is much like yours, simple. I chant “long, short, long, short …” instead of “up, down”. This is after I explain how the horse must reach further with the outside diagonal and that is why we rise on the outside. So many students come who know diagonals but not the “why”.