Have you ever gotten a comment from your instructor or on a test sheet at a competition – “needs more bend?”
When you hear this, what is your first thought? Is it to pull on the inside rein?
The problem with pulling on the inside rein is that it creates a brace on the inside of the horses’ neck and causes the horse to fall through the outside hind leg and the outside shoulder.
The aids to correctly bend your horse are much more complicated. The aids for bend are:
Inside leg at the girth to move the horse into the outside rein
Outside leg behind the girth – to guard the haunches from falling out
Inside rein- indicates flexion in the jaw
Outside rein – controls the outside shoulder
When you hear the word “bend” it is more than just bending the horse in the neck. You want to have a uniform bend in the horses’ body from the poll all the way to the tail.
If the horse is correctly bent, you should be able to give on the inside rein and the horse should stay flexed to the inside and bending in the body for several strides.
It is interesting to note that short coupled horse are harder to bend in the body than horses that are longer in the back. Short coupled horses have an easier time sitting for the collected work but it can be harder to get them to bend correctly for the half passes and lateral work.
I hope you enjoy today’s YouTube video on BEND! Let me know in the comments if this is helpful!
