For a horse to truly get his feet underneath him, particularly in sideways and backward manoeuvres, he needs to lift his body up, hence flexing vertically to some degree through the whole body. Try it yourself. Get down on the floor on all fours and try lifting your back up as high as you can. Note what happens to your shoulders, neck and head.
For a truly flowing and fluid sideways or lateral movement, a horse needs to elevate. His legs swing like pendulums, so when he lifts through the body, it becomes easier to move freely. This makes true sideways and backward more elevated movements.
Have you ever seen someone trying to back their horse up or go sideways quickly? If the horse is flat and on the forehand, his movement will be less than smooth. A horse going backward like this will just drag his feet on the ground no matter how fast he goes. In sideways, he’ll appear to skip across so that he doesn’t trip, rather than cross his legs smoothly.
When riding laterally, remember that with collection comes elevation. The more collected your horse is, the more elevated he will become. If you want your horse to flow freely in his lateral moves, make sure you get in time with his feet, lifting and elevating across with him rather than just pushing harder causing him to be flat.
One of the things that humans are renowned for is being very literal. Try not to exaggerate too much, just get in time with your horse’s feet; find the rhythm and think up and across, timing your cues to offer the direct reins not just pushing constantly with your leg. If your horse goes toward the open door, he will reach further in his stride and have more flow. If you just push harder with your leg you will cause him to flex in the opposite direction and possibly push against you.
Remember, horses will go toward comfort given half a chance. Offer the open door and then get out of his way and allow him to take the good deal.
Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.
- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.