How to ride bend
In the equestrian world, particularly dressage, the way a horse bends its body is like a graceful dance between rider and steed.
It's not just about looking good; bending helps the horse turn smoothly and keep its balance, all while moving with energy and impulsion.
Let's take a closer look at how bending works and what it takes to get really good at it.
Bending is a dynamic movement asking a horse to balance through a turn. The tighter the turn, the smaller the circle the deeper the flexion through the horse's body that gives bend. The analogy I like to give in lessons is imagine a train pulling 2 extra carriages behind it. Now imagine putting the engine behind the carriages and driving the train without jackknifing the carriages. The application of aids to keep the horse from jackknifing is delicate and what we are looking at with bend aids.
Most riders learn to turn and steer by pulling the horse's head.
Now imagine if you have a little monkey on your back telling you to turn by pulling on a piece of metal on your mouth and pulling on your head.
How balanced do you think you will be to turn towards the direction you are getting pulled in?
This is where we see the brace of the under-neck, the resistance to the head, the head tossing and being on the forehand and hollow (even if they look like they are in frame) comes into action.
Straight on a curved line comes from keeping the carriages (shoulders, neck and pole) from jackknifing and the horses falling in or falling out on the circle. The answer is the legs. The quicker we can get our horses steering from our legs and seat and not from our hands, the more balanced our horses will be. The neck won’t be jamming and the jaw locking and bracing against our hands just trying not to get pulled off balance.
This is why we love slow work! To build trust and confidence in our hands, relaxation and acceptance of contact without hyperflexion, forcing submission to our hands with the aversive action of the bit we have to come back to the walk and reiterate the steering from our legs as soon as we feel like we are pulling on their head to turn in trot and canter.
Bend improves with training and balance and conditioning exercises. This is the point of the training scale. You don’t hop on a baby horse or a green or out of work horse and expect it to do pirouettes. Initially we walk the horse to be able to steer around turns from our legs. The circles get smaller as the horse gets stronger and more balanced which improves the balance and quality of paces towards collection. As the paces get more balanced and dynamic, you can shorten and lengthen the strides and frame the circles get smaller and the bend gets tighter.
One of the most common mistakes a rider makes when learning bend is to try and hold the horse out with the outside rein. You can imagine if someone was pulling the rein on your head to try to keep you out closer to the track you would want to pull in the opposite direction for balance. You want to keep your horse out and balanced because of your leg. You are asking them to stay out and look where they are going from your leg and very gentle butterfly kisses on the inside rein.
One of the exercises we practise first up under saddle is asking the horse to look left and right and find how light you can get. At the halt you can see the horse grab in the opposite direction; if you are pulling too strong, the horse will brace and lock the jaw as you are pulling them off balance. We want this lightness and responsiveness to transfer through to the walk and trot, but it's easier to develop this feel first at the halt and also on the ground in our in hand work and then in the walk, trot and canter, returning to the walk or halt when we’re getting heavy handed and our horse is pulling in the opposite direction rather than forcing submission.
In the end, mastering the art of bending is a journey of partnership and discovery for the Holistic Equestrian. It's about working together with your horse to unlock its full potential and create moments of beauty and harmony in motion. By practising simple yet effective exercises and nurturing a strong bond of trust and understanding, riders can elevate their bending skills and enjoy the thrill of dancing with their equine companions.
So let's saddle up and embark on this journey together, celebrating the joy and beauty of bending in the world of horseback riding.