This was an original article designed especially for Heels Down Mag.
I recently moved up from to first level and my test had “needs to be rounder” on it more times than I’d like to admit. How do I get him rounder?
“If I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question…well, I could buy myself any horse farm I wanted! You are not alone in this struggle. It is very common, and it sometimes seems harder than it should be to achieve roundness.
It’s important to realize that there are different degrees of roundness, the roundness required in 2nd level isn’t as much as the degree of roundness required for Grand Prix. It takes years to develop roundness needed for the FEI level, and its something that we’re never quiet finished with because it’s so related to fitness and topline. A horse can loose their ability to have greater degrees of roundness if they have had time off or haven’t been working those muscles recently.
That being said, there are three elements that make up roundness. And as you work up the levels, you need to build on and add more of each of these elements.
Correct Position
The first step is to check in with your rider position. A lot of times when we get super focused on getting our horse round, we end up leaning forward, pulling, and staring at their head. Instead, we want to be looking up, sitting back, and have a straight line ear, shoulder, hip, heel. We also need to have a straight line from our elbow to the horse’s bit.
Forward
Next, we need to get our horse’s moving forward with energy and tempo. Before we even think about getting our horse round, we want to get them moving forward from our leg and seeking a light, steady contact on the bit.
Supple and Bend
Once your horse is forward, then you can start working on suppleness through bending, and riding inside leg to outside rein. To do this, you first want to put your inside leg on and push your horse into the outside rein. Keep a steady outside rein to support your horse, then supple and give on the inside rein.
