What's it take to correctly bend your horse?

Are you struggling with getting your horse to bend correctly? Is your horse over bending their neck or drifting out with their shoulder?

Ideally, we want our horses to have equal bend throughout their bodies so they can stay balanced when we are riding movements such as a circle or serpentine. All horses have a stiff side and hollow side which can make it hard for them to bend correctly. On top of this, using incorrect aids can create incorrect bend.

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In this week’s video, I will be demonstrating incorrect bend and going over the correct aids to create a proper bend throughout your horse’s body. In the video, you will see how the incorrect aids influence Leo’s body and then how the correct aids get him balanced, bent evenly, supple, and focused. When correctly bent, your horse is supple, which means you are in control of his body and mind!

There are three simple steps that can help you help teach your horse to bend correctly. Often, we resort to using the inside rein to create bend, but this only creates an overbent neck and causes your horse to fall out through their outside shoulder. As humans, it’s only natural to go straight to our hands, but really, our leg is the dominant aid that helps to create bend in our horse.

Here are the three steps to create the correct bend in your horse’s body:
1)      Put your inside leg on at the girth and push your horse over into the outside rein to start your bend.
2)      Position your outside leg slightly behind the girth and keep steady contact with the outside rein. Use the outside aids to “catch” your horse’s body and prevent him from drifting out.
3)      Lastly, use your inside rein to supple your horse and get him looking in the direction of your bend.

It is important to remember to change your leg position each time you change the direction of bend. Your legs are the primary aid to create bend in your horse and indicate which direction you want your horse to bend. Practicing the correct aids for bend will help your horse become supple, and therefore become more connected to you!

Hope you enjoy this video!