bending exercises for young horse

[pippa553]

I am looking for some good bending exercises to add to my mounted routine at a walk and get my horse thinking. Any tips appreciated. Thanks :)

[Elegante E]

Simplest one is teaching turn on the fore. It's best started on the ground, holding the reins in one hand and the blunt end of a dressage whip in the other to teach the horse to move away from the leg. Once mounted, have someone on the ground help to encourage the horse to move away as the rider gently raps with the heel. Once the horse understands this you can do squares (having the horse leg yield to the new direction).

Young horses are just getting their balance so do not ask for much bending. Keep your circles to 20m, especially at trot. Bending takes lots of time to develope so perfect the large circles before trying to go smaller or asking for more. Remember, horses don't actually bend much, only a tiny bit along their backs. Their rib cages do move aways from the inside leg, but most bending is from the inside hind leg reaching under. So to truly develope bend, first work on the horse going forward at trot and reaching under himself while staying connected. If you don't understand this, find a professional to help as horses can easily go hollow in their backs or over tempo (running).

hope this helps.

[slight]

That helps me a lot - glad I checked in on this post!