Feature


Nicola Byam-Cook and Twyford Salamander


OURMODELS


Nicola Byam-Cook rides her own Twyford Salamander (Solo), a 13 year old Welsh section D gelding. In 2018 they won an elementary national title at the British Dressage Winter Championships and now they are competing at medium level, with the aim of moving up to advanced medium by the end of the year.


Nicola starts by warming up Solo on the flat Move aside


Zoe Sopp’s complete guide to lateral work will talk you through the various sideways movements that are required in dressage training. This month we start with leg-yield, shoulder-in and turn on the forehand.


OUR TRAINER Zoe Sopp


Zoe is a dressage rider and trainer based on the Surrey/ Hampshire border, who runs Colgate Dressage (find them on Facebook). She has been training Nicola for one and a half years and tells us: “Nicola and Solo have been a joy to teach. They both try so hard, improving week on week.”


levels of dressage, there is no escaping it. You can begin to teach your horse the concept of moving sideways from a young age – in fact this type of work often begins on the ground when you are educating a young horse to move over in the stable or yield his hindquarters or forehand away from you, so he learns to move away from pressure. If your horse is familiar with this type of groundwork, then teaching him to move away from your leg aids under saddle should be easier.


L


It’s more helpful if one of you already knows what to do – for example, a novice rider with a schoolmaster or an experienced rider with a youngster – but if not have a go anyway. Most horses soon get the idea of what you


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ateral work has many benefits for horses and if you want to move up the


are asking them to do and you might be surprised by the results.


Once Nicola had warmed- up Solo with a stretch for 10 minutes in all three paces, the pair were ready to demonstrate how to ride leg-yield, shoulder-in and turn on the forehand.


Leg-yield What is it?


When riding leg-yield, the horse needs to be moving forwards and sideways with equal steps and flexing through the ribcage


Top tip


If at first nothing happens, keep asking for a little bit each time you ride.


You should find your horse starts to offer a few steps after a while and you can build from there.


How to ride it


1. First of all, make sure the trot is travelling forwards with plenty of energy and that the horse is working nicely into the bridle.


around your inside leg, with a soft bend away from the direction of travel.


When is it required? Leg-yield is a movement that’s included in elementary level dressage tests.


The benefits:


Improves straightness, suppleness, acceptance of the rider’s aids and helps to get a better connection


from the horse, so he works more through from behind into a secure rein contact.


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