Instructions
Learning Leg Yields
Train on a horse that has been trained to do leg yields. While it is possible to teach a horse to do the leg yield at the same time as you are learning to ask it how to perform this dressage movement, it would be easier on both rider and horse if at least one party had experience in performing a leg yield. If your horse has not been trained in moving away from leg pressure, see Section 2 for basic information on how to train it in this basic first step, which will be necessary to teach it how to do a leg yield.
Ride the horse at a walk. The horse should be moving out -- not stumbling along half asleep -- and you should be keeping a light contact on the reins with its mouth.
Tug slightly with one rein in the opposite direction that you intend to perform your leg yield so that the horse is bending away from the intended line of travel. Keep the other rein slightly loose.
Shift your weight slightly in your seat toward the direction of travel, while still remaining straight and tall in the saddle.
Apply pressure with your leg on the opposite side of the horse of the direction you are traveling. For example, if you are traveling to the right, use your left leg. Depending on the way the horse has been trained, the leg pressure is usually applied a little behind the area you would normally apply it to ask for a faster gait. Some horses may have been trained to respond to a leg placed a little forward instead, so adjust accordingly. The pressure is light and steady.
Prevent the horse from interpreting your leg pressure as a call for a faster gait by applying steady rein pressure on its mouth and keeping it from breaking into a trot or canter.
Reward the horse by praising it when it responds correctly with a leg yield.
Teaching Leg Pressure
Face your horse into a fence so that it cannot move forward.
Apply steady leg pressure on the opposite side of the horse of the direction you want it to move. A horse that has not been asked to move sideways before may start to get confused and even upset, as it will think you want it to move forward.
Tighten the rein slightly on the side you want the horse to move.
Shift your weight slightly toward the direction you want the horse to move sideways.
Praise the horse when it makes its first steps sideways. Repeat a few more times, but then stop for the day. Learning to move sideways can be very stressful for some horses, so do not push the horse to learn the movement quickly.
How to Do Leg Yields in Dressage
In dressage, a horse performs the movement known as a leg yield when it moves away from its rider's leg in a sideways, yet forward motion, while displaying a small degree of flexion in the opposite direction from which it is traveling. Because the cues given to a horse to perform a leg yield are similar to those used to ask it to do other tasks, a rider must learn the correct way to ask its mount to execute a leg yield, so as not to confuse it.