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Bending help

2K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  Spyder 
#1 ·
Hi


I have a mare that is 5 yrs old, and has long neck and when she goes around the corner, she doesnt bend, she leans in kinda, and at the canter on a corner she really leans and she just doesnt bend, how do u teach it?, would draw reins help??? any suggestions would be awesome! :)


thanx
 
#2 ·
i would start out by having her flex her neck at the halt & the walk. she probably just doesnt have those muscles if its never been asked of her. also dont forget to keep you inside leg on if shes falling in. =]
 
#3 ·
I agree. You need to start doing lots of lateral flexion even at the stand still. Then you can work on softening her more at the gaits. You also want to get her to be responsive of your leg. Work on turn arounds and forhand turns to get her off you leg. That will help you then to support her when you say she's leaning in on you.
 
#4 ·
I agree with the above. But whenever you turn, you have to make sure you really step into your outside stirrup and don't let your inside shoulder drop. It sounds like part of the problem is she doesn't have incredible balance so you have to help her balance by doing so. I ride a horse at my barn who does the same thing with turning.
 
#5 ·
Since she is 5, I highly doubt anyone has asked her to bend or frame. It is easier to teach them to bend if you are teaching them to frame also. But to teach her to bend, she must be collected, you have a deep seat, moving forward, and have a good feel on her mouth. Start at the walk do small figure 8s. Use your inside hand to turn her nose and inside leg to push her body out, straighten her on the straight-away and then repeat as you go the other direction. When she gets good at this you can do it at the trot and go around the arena. You just need to make sure you ask her correctly..otherwise she wont do it because it is not the correct ques.

Good luck :)

Draw reins do help but they are mostly for framing. Also, make sure you are experienced with the use of draw reins before using them on a green horse
 
#6 ·
Hi


I have a mare that is 5 yrs old, and has long neck and when she goes around the corner, she doesnt bend, she leans in kinda, and at the canter on a corner she really leans and she just doesnt bend, how do u teach it?, would draw reins help??? any suggestions would be awesome! :)


thanx
You cannot fix a crooked horse by a method that is designed for the front end when the problem originated and developed from the hind.
 
#10 ·
Yes but Spyder, horses can't bend their necks from side to side naturally! We have to teach them and build those muscles!!:lol:

It's called an inside leg. Start to teach her to yield to pressure in her barrel slowly and eventually she will become more supple in that fashion as she understands to give to pressure from one leg. At first if you are applying the aid aggressively, she may try to run away, so start softly and give big rewards for a small improvement.
I also recommend lessons with a good instructor and trainer to help you give your young horse a really good start.

Good luck!
 
#7 ·
no draw reins! do a lot of beinding/supplying exercises. start off with easier exercises and then go into more difficult ones with more bending. I am riding a horse right now who is amazing with everything just he's so stiff through corners because he has never done anything other then just go around a hunter ring stiff as a board. Anyways, when I was younger my instructor's rule of thumb was that you never go around the whole ring without some sort of circle. So at some point you always do a circle. Start off with 20m ones and after warming up on those do a little smaller ones till you can go down to 10m circles. A great exercises are 4 loop serpentines. I wouldn't do these until you can bend your horse on a circle. Shallow loops are a great way to see how responsive your horse is to your leg for bending too. Start slow, it's like humans you can't start doing the spilts without stretching and working towards it. Just the keys are inside leg stays on (bend the horse around it) and circles!
 
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