Once our horses understand how to move forward off our leg, the next step is to begin teaching them to move sideways off our leg. This is when we teach a horse to leg-yield. In the leg-yield, we want our horses to move sideways off of our inside leg and cross both the front and hind legs. Because horses don’t naturally move sideways, this can be tricky to teach. Plus, when you’re on the horse, it can be hard to tell when they’re actually crossing their legs!
In today’s video, I’m going to share my secret to teaching leg-yields…
How to Start: Teaching a horse to Leg Yield
Whenever I’m having trouble with something in the saddle, or when I first introduce a new movement to my horses, I always start with groundwork. So, in this week’s video, I will be showing you how to teach the leg-yield from the ground! I always teach every single horse I train the leg-yield from the ground. You can more easily coordinate and introduce the aids to your horse and actually see when they are doing it correctly.
Before we get into the tips, I want to invite you to my FREE Groundwork Webinar on January 17th at 8:00 am PT. Groundwork is such a great tool to have, and I use it all the time to teach my horses new things, work through training issues, and enhance the partnership I have with my horses. In this webinar, we will be talking all about groundwork and the ways you can use it to help your horse learn Dressage movements such as piaffe, passage, shoulder-in, leg-yield, half-pass, and more!
Okay, now on to the training tips! The aids for the leg-yield are inside leg at the girth, half-halting outside rein, and inside rein for flexion. Remember that the leg-yield does not have bend in the body, only slight flexion of the neck to the inside. On the ground, you will replicate these same aids that you would use in the saddle.
How to teach the leg-yield from the ground:
- Start by putting the reins over your horse’s head, taking steady contact with both reins, and holding them just like you would when riding. Hold your whip in the hand that holds the outside rein. Get your horse moving forward at the walk as you walk alongside them. A nice forward walk is the first step to getting a good leg-yield.
- Next, turn up the quarterline or centerline, and ask for a little flexion to the left.
- Then, half-halt the outside rein, and give a few little bumps with the handle end of your whip on your horse’s side, just where your heel would be when you’re mounted, to ask your horse to move over.
- Watch for your horse’s front and hind legs to cross as you are asking for the leg-yield. Once they give you a few steps, release the pressure and let them walk forward a few steps before asking for a few more steps sideways. Make sure that you repeat this exercise on both sides. As you work on this with your horse you can ask for more and more steps, and pretty soon you will be leg-yielding all the way to the rail!
Watch the video where I demonstrate the leg-yield in the saddle and on the ground. I hope these tips help you and your horse with the leg-yield! Let me know in the comments below if they do! Groundwork is such a great way to teach your horse new things, because it’s easier for your horse to learn something new without you on their back, and it’s easier for you to teach them because you can see when they are getting it right and reward them at the right moment.
Happy Riding!
Amelia
P.S. Want to learn more about how you can use groundwork in your training? RSVP for my Free Groundwork Webinar!
Updated: 05/22/2026
