What is bending? Have you ever attempted to bend your horse? I’m not talking about bending his nose around to touch is shoulder. That is flexing. I’m talking about bending his entire body to conform to an arc of a circle. How do you do this? Why do you do this? There are a lot of wonderful trainers out there who can answer these questions and in many different ways. They all have their theories on how and why. A lot of it depends on the discipline they ride and their training techniques. But basically it all boils down to the same thing.
So here goes my way of teaching your horse to bend. Some of this I learned from John Lyons, some of this from my trainer, and some by just watching my horses and using my head. Let’s get to the ‘how’ of things first. In all honesty, this isn’t something we have to ‘teach’ the horse at all. They already know how to do this. It is our job as trainers to teach them how to do this on que or when we ask for it. Notice first that I said ask. Teaching is all about asking for a specific response from your horse and rewarding it for the correct answer and NOT punishing for the incorrect answer. (Think of it as trying to communicate with a person from another country and culture that we just met. They don’t know our language and ways, nor we theirs.) Stand back a minute and watch horses in a pasture. They can bend at the poll every time they bite at a fly on their chest. They can flex their neck each time they scratch their shoulder or back. They can bend at the girth area each time they move quickly away from a kick, bite or maneuver around an obstacle. Have you watched your horse raise it’s hind hoof to scratch its ear? It’s back end (haunches) are stationary, it’s bent at the girth, it’s front legs are stationary, it’s outside shoulder it out, it’s neck is bent, etc., etc., etc. My point it that they know how to do what we want, we just need to learn how to teach them this on que. So follow their lead and start putting a word and que to what they do naturally.
I like to work in a round pen so the horse has freedom to move around without me always pulling on the lead rope or reins to bring him around and I can ask the horse to move away without him getting so far away that I have to chase him down. The prerequisite to all this is to make sure your horse can stand without moving before you start.
First I make sure that my horse does flex certain specific parts of his body on que. I use treats as a reward. And I only reward for a correct answer. To ask him to bend at the poll, put a treat in your hand, let him smell it then put it behind his chin, when he tips his head and bends at the poll, let him have the treat. Then do this with the bit in his mouth by holding the rein on one side first then the other. When he bends at the poll, which is also giving to the bit, reward him by releasing the rein immediately and patting or stroking him. WHY? He needs to be able to flex to bend and flex on que without pulling on him. Nobody wants to ride a horse you have to force to move.
Secondly ask him to flex his nose towards his shoulder by taking a treat, let him smell it, hold it at his shoulder and let him take it from you there. If at first the horse can’t flex this far then practice with the treat closer until he can reach around to his shoulder. Some horses are stiffer than others and need practice at this. Also, it may be harder for older horses. This is completely different for them than biting at a fly. It is a different motivation and takes practice to build a response to the correct motivation from us. Do this with the bit, don’t pull the nose around, but ask by holding the rein and increasing the pressure a little at at time until the horse starts bringing his nose around then quickly release the rein. Again, practice in little increments until the horse can reach all the way to the shoulder without forcing. WHY? Same as before, plus you are building on concepts, just like in a mathematical concept. It’s the little steps that complete an equation correctly.
Thirdly I ask (whoops, there is that dreaded word again!) the horse to move away from me at the girth. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. He has to keep is feet stationary and move his waist. He can do it, I promise. Standing at his side, push on the girth area, if he pushes back, moves toward you or just stands there, push harder or start tapping. When he moves away, even just a little, stop and pat him. Remember, you don’t want him to move his feet, just his side. Later you will be teaching him to do this at a walk and can apply the same technique to teaching side passing and half passing, etc. But right now just work on moving away from pressure at the touch of your hand and small movements are great. You are getting the response you need.
Fourth ask your horse to stand still, front feet stationary, and push or tap behind the girth to get him to move his butt over just one step. This will carry over to getting him to understand that leg at the girth means move away and leg behind the girth (on the opposite side) will be to keep his butt in place. It may not make sense right now, but once you put it all together under saddle and practice one movement at a time, you can start putting it together two aids at a time until he is bending like you want.
Fifth saddle up, mount up and put it all together. Start with bending at the poll, the neck, the girth, then placing your leg behind the girth on the opposite side while you ask for the bend at the girth on the inside. Take this last part slowing as it may take your horse a minute to understand what you are actually asking for. Be sure you understand what you are asking. This may seem simple, but once you are in the saddle putting it in practice it can get confusing when your horse is starting to dance around trying to figure out how to transfer information you taught on the ground to performing under saddle. Be patient, take your time and be specific in your ques. Soon this will be easy and you will be doing this at a walk around a large circle. Practice a lot. Don’t forget that small movements at first is all you need.
Happy Riding!