


Single Loop Serpentine


  • Repeat on the other rein.

Single Loop and Leg Yield



Twenty Metre Circle with Voltes



  • Repeat on the other rein.


Many riders avoid doing any lateral movements with their horse. This can be because of fear of doing them wrong and “hurting” their horse, lack of knowledge and not knowing where to begin, or even not knowing why doing such movements are so beneficial for the horse. I often hear riders say they “just enjoy hacking out”, and therefore they have no need for such fancy movements, or from those that “do” dressage that they “don’t’ need lateral movements until they reach Medium Level”. I couldn’t disagree more with these sentiments, I think we should all be teaching our horse lateral movements.

Shoulder-in, along with most of the other lateral movements, are essential tools in helping your horse to become straight and supple, two of the key elements in British Dressage’s Scale of Training and in my mind necessary for the physical well being of the horse. In fact, Nuno Oliviero declared “shoulder-in is the aspirin of horseback riding – it cures everything!”

To me, using lateral movements, is like doing Pilates with your horse. Lateral movements can be used to help correct the horse’s natural asymmetry, to help him become equally strong and supple on both sides – without which you cannot have straightness. They can be used to improve his core and strengthen his back – which are fundamental requirements if you want to ride your horse. And finally they can help your horse learn to engage his hind legs by taking them further underneath his body, which is required if you want to ride in true collection rather than just with “head set”.  Lateral movements help keep your horse balanced and supple whilst only ever schooling or a riding on a single-track encourages stiffness in the shoulders and pelvis and exacerbates your horse’s natural asymmetry. Even if you never ride in a school you can incorporate simple stepping over exercises, such as leg yields at a walk, to positively influence your horse’s basic balance.



These exercises are meant to benefit the horse and help him biomechanically – just as attending a Pilates class helps you. Accept that things might not be perfect to start with and try not to get frustrated with your horse. If you experience difficulties with a movement, it is far more likely that you are asking incorrectly or your horse can’t actually do what you are asking, rather than won’t. Slow the request down and ask for less, such as only asking the front leg to move rather than the whole horse. Over time you will be able to ask and expect more. After all you wouldn’t expect your instructor to ask you to hold a plank for 60 seconds at your first ever Pilates class!

I tend to teach my horses on-line before doing the exercises in-hand but there is no right or wrong way, use which ever method you (and your horse) prefer. The most common mistake to look out for. in any of the lateral movements-against-the-direction-of-travel, is over bending the horse’s neck to the inside, which causes the horse to fall onto his outside shoulder. This can be caused because we have asked for too much bend with our hand or because it is the horse’s hollow side and he has a natural tendency to bend that way. If you are working in-hand you can use your outside rein to prevent the excessive bend and support the outside shoulder, if you are working on-line you need to be able to use your stick to support the shoulder.








I like to break Rider Biomechanics into 3 components – the biomechanics of the human, the biomechanics of the horse and finally the biomechanics of the horse and human combination – rider biomechanics.


The Biomechanics of the Horse



The Biomechanics of the Human



The Horse & Human Combination – Rider Biomechanics




“The application of one aid alone will never produce an accurate and correct movement. Only the correct application and co-ordination of all the aids can bring about perfection” Charles Harris  – Workbooks from the Spanish Riding School.






Exercises One to Six



Wait a few strides before starting the next exercise.


Wait a few strides before starting the next exercise.


Wait a few strides before starting the next exercise.


Wait a few strides before starting the next exercise.


Wait a few strides before starting the next exercise.



Change the rein and repeat on the other rein.


Exercises 7 to 10








In the most basic terms, contact refers to the situation in which the reins are stretched in a straight line between the mouth of the horse and the hands of the rider. To an onlooker, correct contact should appear as an unbroken straight line from the rider’s elbow (which should be held at or above the hip) to the mouth of the horse.  For this to happen, the rider mustn’t have their hands too high or too low but at the appropriate height for the head carriage of the horse. As a rough guide the hands should be held just above and in front of the pommel of the saddle.







The amount of actual ‘weight’ in your hands when taking contact will vary from horse to horse due to conformation differences and as already explained, the “frame” or level of schooling of our horse. The contact feels at its heaviest when the horse is stretching forward and down, becomes lighter as the horse comes into balance and even lighter when the weight starts to shift to the hind legs so that the horse now ‘carries’ himself (self carriage).

Another important factor is we have to learn to accept the contact from the horse as he moves into our hand. So many riders ‘give’ the rein as soon as they feel the horse coming to their hand. If they do this regularly, their horse will never be able to step in to the contact. You need to have a steady hand that ‘accepts’ the contact and closes the circle of aids. If you give away the connection at the same time you ask the horse to step under and carry more weight on his hindquarters the effect is like squeezing a toothpaste tube with the top open,  the energy runs out the front and the horse doesn’t achieve the rounded frame you want.











Obviously your safely is of paramount importance. So if your horse is aggressive towards you that needs to be dealt with first  – perhaps even consider calling in a professional to find out why. Most horses aren’t naturally aggressive; so if they are aggressive it is normally caused by pain or fear.



















Rock together, forwards and backwards.

Vary the speed, even in trot.





Exercise One – Leading your horse from his shoulder


Exercise Two – Turns


Exercise Three – 10m Circles




Start together – lean slightly forwards.





These exercises are just the start – as you continue you will refine your body language and speed up the reactions of the horse. You will be able to transfer your own relaxation and softness to the horse. Then you can start dancing together.










Round Backed


  • Head/chin held forward.
  • Cervical spine hyper-extended.
  • Shoulder-blades may elevate and rotate upwards and outwards.
  • Thoracic spine has increased flexion.
  • Pectoral muscles are tight.

Consequences of round backed posture in the saddle:

  • Strains rider’s intervertebral discs.
  • Leads to chair seat with rider behind horse’s movement.
  • Frequently causes rider to look down and round their shoulders.

A few suitable exercises are:

  • Chin Tuck
  • Swan Dive
  • Spine Twist
  • Cobra
  • Chest opener (over ball) or Dumb Waiter
  • All core strengthening exercises – Bridge, Boat, The Hundreds, Scissors
  • Full walk out on ball

Over Arched Back


  • Hamstrings are tight.
  • Lumbar spine is hyper extended.
  • Knees may be hyper-extended.
  • One hip is frequently tighter than the other.

Consequences of over arched back posture in the saddle:

  • Causes low or mid back pain.
  • Causes horse to invert and hollow his back.
  • Limits suppleness in the rider’s shoulder girdle.
  • Makes it hard to find elastic contact.

A few suitable exercises are:

  • Pelvic tucks
  • Cat & Horse (mat)
  • Arch & Chair (ball)
  • Hamstring stretch
  • Side Clam
  • All core strengthening exercises – Bridge, Boat. The Hundreds, Scissors
  • Seated walk out on ball

Sway Backed


  • Head and chin held forward.
  • Cervical spine is slightly flexed.
  • Lumbar spine is flexed.
  • Weak hip flexors (stretched).
  • Upper rectus abdominis short and tight but lower abdominis weak.
  • Knees hyper-extended.
  • Hamstrings short

Consequences of sway backed posture in the saddle:

  • Restricts the movement of the rider’s pelvis.

A few suitable exercises are:

  • Jack knife with ball
  • Ham string stretch
  • Bridge
  • Boat
  • Squats
  • Plank
  • Plank with side bend
  • Side Plank









Exercise One – Diagnosing Crookedness – Figure 8



Exercise Two – Spiral Volte  – Improving Crookedness






















All horses and all humans are asymmetrical to a greater or lesser extent. The muscles on one side of the body are stronger than the other, one side may be more flexible than the other and we (and our horses) are more coordinated with one hand or hoof than the other. So if we are all asymmetrical, why should care if we or our horses are straight?  Fundamentally the asymmetries of the horse and rider have a profound influence on each other which is why straightness or symmetry should be important to us as riders.

If you compete in dressage the chances are you will know that Straightness is the 5th element in the Dressage Training Scale, following after Rhythm, Suppleness (& Relaxation), Connection and Impulsion. As dressage riders we realise the importance of straightness or the lack of it, fairly early on, as we struggle to ride a straight centre line or stop falling in on a circle. Conversely many leisure riders don’t ever think about straightness and just assume that the way their horse moves is the norm or that they need to tighten their girth just a little bit more to stop their saddle slipping to the right.

However, the negative consequences of us not correcting both our own and our horse’s asymmetries can have a serious adverse effect on our horse’s soundness and well being not to mention our own health.

Let us look first at our horse and why crookedness should have such a negative effect on our horse’s performance, ride-ability, and health. I read a simile recently that compared our horse’s crookedness to a car whose chassis is bent after an accident or where the wheels are not aligned. If the misalignment is severe enough, the car will not steer well, it will veer in one direction, it will not hold its line of travel when you have to brake and the tires will wear very unevenly. The same principals can be said to apply to our horse.

  • He will make his turns smaller than intended towards his stiffer (convex) side and larger than intended towards his hollow (concave) side.
  • He will tend to veer away from the line of travel towards the stiffer side.
  • He will tend to stop with his haunches turned in or with the hind leg of the stiffer side out behind.
  • He will be difficult to bend towards the stiffer side.
  • He may have trouble cantering on the stiffer side. He will find it difficult to sidestep with the hind leg on the hollow side.
  • He will lean onto the rein of the stiffer side, while staying behind the rein of the hollow side.
  • He will overload the legs of the stiffer side, making them susceptible to repetitive stress injuries such as spavin, ring bone, and tendon injuries.

These are just some of the symptoms of crookedness that are caused by a misalignment of the horse’s feet. These problems originate because the hind leg on the hollow side does not step under the centre of gravity, but steps out to the side of the body, which results in that leg neither carrying nor pushing the body mass effectively. This then causes a chain reaction throughout the horse’s entire body.

One of the most serious consequences of the leg not stepping under sufficiently on the hollow side is that this overloads the diagonal shoulder, causing a loss of balance, which in turn leads to the horse leaning on the rein of the stiffer side and curving his spine towards the hollow side. In other words, the horse carries too much weight on his forehand and on the stiffer side of his body, which creates excessive wear and tear on the legs that have to carry more than their fair share of the weight.

This imbalance can also lead to muscle blockages as the horse will tense muscles to prevent himself from falling over. True relaxation and suppleness is therefore only possible when the horse is balanced, and balance is only possible when the horse is not crooked.

When the horse braces his muscles to prevent himself from falling over, his gaits are uncomfortable to sit. When the hind legs don’t flex and open at the joints sufficiently the back of the horse becomes tight, which prevents the back from swinging properly which in turn causes a roughness in the gait.

When a horse is stiff on one side and hollow on the other the rein contact can never be light, steady and even. The rein will always be heavier or harder on the stiff side. When our horse’s hips and shoulders are not aligned properly he won’t be able to bend correctly, which in turn has negative repercussions on his rhythm, suppleness, rein contact, impulsion, and collection.

When only one hind leg steps underneath the center of gravity (point of mass), the haunches are unable to direct all their energy towards the center of gravity, which means that the horse can’t develop his full impulsion. Other issues caused by crookedness (or not stepping under) in our horse can include “sucking back” or being behind the aids, which in turn can lead to shying and even more dangerous behaviors such as bucking and rearing.

Crookedness or asymmetries in the horse can have an adverse affect on the rider’s position too. When a horse is unable to flex his hind leg, his hip on that side is pushed up. This means that the rider will be sitting on an incline and her hip on the other side will slide down into the “void” and cause the rider to collapse at their waist.

The tendency of the horse to brace on the rein on the stiff side encourages the rider to brace her hand as well. This bracing on the stiff side can also make it hard for the rider to maintain rein length. Her arm on the stiff side will tend to creep forward taking her elbow further and further from her hip, whilst on the hollow side the rider may well take her hand further and further back in an effort to find contact. And if the horse has a tendency to carry his hips towards his hollow side he will probably place his rider in the same position.

But it is not just the horse’s asymmetries that cause crookedness. A crooked or asymmetrical rider can cause crookedness in their horse.

If the rider’s pelvis is unlevel, so that one hip is higher than the other the horse will fill the void and lift his hip on that side and then the hind leg on that side will lose the ability to flex properly and carry weight. If one side of the rider’s pelvis is further forward than the other, the horse will find it easier to do a canter depart, haunches in and half pass in that direction and may well tend to travel in a haunches-in position at all times. If the rider consistently has too much weight in one seat bone, then the horse will tend to veer in that direction, as well as falling in or out on a circle in that direction. If the rider’s pelvis is always tipped forward and she sits with a hollow back the horse will sooner or later mirror that position and hollow his back. Whilst if the rider sits in a chair seat the horse’s back will sag and his hind legs trail out behind.

The asymmetries of horse and rider influence each other. Sometimes the rider’s crookedness can cancel out the crookedness in the horse but they are far more likely to exacerbate each other. In fact, in most cases the rider’s and horse’s crookedness become so intertwined it becomes hard to know whose crookedness is whose. The first step in straightening either ourselves or our horse is awareness. Just as our proprioceptive system lies to us, so does the horse’s proprioceptive system lie to him. His body will seek to take the easiest route which isn’t necessarily the gymnastically beneficial solution.

This is when it really pays to work with your horse on the ground first. Whether you chose to work on-line, in-hand, on the lunge or with long reins, the advantage of working off your horse’s back are manifold. You know immediately if your horse falls out or in that the asymmetry is his and not because of your seat. You can see how the horse moves his body and be in a better position to influence him and you can help show him a better way of moving without accidentally interfering with his balance.

Just as we need to work on our horse’s asymmetries we also need to work on ourselves too. Whilst a posture assessment on PI will help you become more aware as to whether you are a chair seat or hollow backed rider, sit more heavily on one seat bone or another and which of your hands tends to brace more, we need to make an effort to correct ourselves and teach our body a new and better way of moving. There are any number of ways you can help yourself, including taking up Rider Exercise, Swiss Ball, yoga or Pilates classes.

In extreme cases exercise classes or ground work may not be sufficient for either you or the horse. If one of you has a pelvis that is seriously “out” for example, it may well be worthwhile consulting a Physiotherapist, or getting a Bowen or Emmett treatment.

Once we have worked on our horse and ourselves separately we can start to use arena patterns as diagnostic tools/improvement exercises when we ride.  The arena patterns and movements that we ride can change the horse’s balance and posture, which means we can use certain patterns to analyse and then target specific muscle groups. Every movement or exercise requires the use of different muscle groups in the horse’s body. For instance, corners, turns on the haunches and voltes mobilise the shoulders.

So as you can see, Straightness, for both the horse and the human, is the one of the most basic requirements there is for riding our horse in harmony. Perhaps it should no longer be placed at the end of the Training Scale but at the beginning with Rhythm. After all it is the combination of Straightness and Rhythm together that enables our horse to find his lateral and longitudinal balance, which then allows the horse to relax, become “through” in his back, find a light, steady and even rein contact, bend correctly, and to develop impulsion and collection.

I hope that I have provided a pretty convincing argument for the importance of straightness. It is certainly something I work towards everyday because the price we and our horses pay for crookedness is high, and the rewards of straightness are more than worth the time and effort.

Being able to feel the footfall of your horse and knowing at any given time where each of your horses legs are, is or should be, the foundation of good riding. Unfortunately, for most of us, it isn’t something we are taught when we start learning to ride. Indeed for a lot of people, feeling the footfall or even knowing the exact sequence of the footfall isn’t something they consider important, or even relevant to the way they ride.

So why is feeling where your horse’s feet are so important? Fundamentally it is because so much depends on it. If you don’t know where your horse’s feet are, the efficiency and accuracy of your aids are compromised, not to mention your horse’s balance and straightness! Applying the aids at the right time helps the horse respond correctly to the aid, while staying in balance, whilst applying them at the wrong time not only violates the laws of physics it actually makes it impossible for your horse to do what you have asked immediately and forces him to either ignore or resist the incorrectly timed aid.

There are two dimensions to knowing where the horse’s feet are; the first is feeling if a certain leg is in the air or on the ground and the second is knowing where the feet are on any given line of travel. Telling if a certain leg is in the air or on the ground is important because a horse can only respond promptly to certain aids when the leg is in the air, while other aids can only be effective if timed to when the leg is on the ground. Knowing where the horse’s feet are in relation to the line of travel is equally necessary as this plays an important roll in improving your horse’s straightness and balance.

Knowing the theory of the sequence of the footfall at a walk, trot and canter can help you feel and understand which leg is moving. One of the most common misconceptions people have is in thinking the horse begins walking by moving a front foot. He doesn’t. He actually begins the movement with a hind leg, which (even if it hasn’t yet come off the ground) has to push the horse forward. This push from the hind leg means that the horse fractionally looses balance and so has to reach forward with a front leg to catch himself and reestablish his equilibrium. The sequence of strides in a walk are therefore left hind, left fore, right hind, right fore (or vice versa), which makes the walk a four beat gait with no moment of suspension. To feel the horse’s back at the walk you need to be sitting with your seat bones pointing downwards and your weight equally distributed between your left and right seat bones. Your balance and the freedom of movement of your pelvis will have a direct affect on the quality of your horse’s walk and whether you can feel each hind leg.

The movement of the horse is bilateral. If your hips are tight, you will find it difficult to follow the movement, which will probably result in your pelvis moving forward and backwards rather than left to right and make it more difficult for you to feel what each foot is actually doing. When the left hind hoof touches the ground and the horse starts to put weight on that foot you should feel his back rise and lift your left buttock. As his right hind leg swings forward, his back on that side will drop and his rib cage will swing inwards. Pay close attention to one buttock at a time. Feel each lift and drop. Notice the constant movement of your hip joints. The front legs are easier as you can see the movement of the front legs by glancing down at the shoulders. When the shoulder blade moves forward, the front leg on that side is in the air. When the shoulder blade moves backwards the front leg is on the ground. You can also feel the movement of the front leg moving forward in your thigh and knee as they will move forward slightly at the same time.

If you can’t feel the hind leg touching down you may be leaning to far forward or hollowing your back. It could also be that your horse is not moving with enough energy so that the movement of the hind leg is too small. An easy way to help you learn is for you to put both reins into your outside hand and place your inside hand on the point of your horse’s hip. Feel the movement of your horse’s pelvis with your hand and once you have the feeling memorized place your hand on your own hip and try to feel the same movement pattern there. Eventually you will be able to feel the movement just with your pelvis.

Once you know if your horse’s legs are in the air or on the ground you can start to time your aids to make them more effective. For example if you wish to enlarge a circle you should time the sideward driving aid of your inside calf to coincide with when the inside hind leg is in the air. Equally if you wanted to move the shoulders of your horse to the inside, your horse will find it much easier to comply if you time your request to when the outside front leg is in the air. Half halts can only really be effective if you time them to coincide with a leg on the ground. So if you wanted to stop into the outside hind leg you could, for example do the following; half halt when the outside hind leg touches down (one stride), half halt when the outside hind touches down (second stride), halt (when the outside hind touches down (third stride).

When it comes to knowing if your horse’s feet are deviating from the line of travel it helps to give yourself some navigational markers, such as arena letters, trees, posts or anything else that can help make your straight lines really straight and your circles really round. This way you can tell if your straight lines are straight and your circles round. For instance I use small cones to form gateways at strategic places along my intended line of travel.  Then, if my horse steps on a marker I just have to ask myself, which leg it was. If it was a front leg, it means that my horse’s shoulder has drifted to that side and I haven’t framed my horse’s shoulder sufficiently with my knee and rein on that side. If it was a hind leg, it means that the croup has drifted in that direction and that I either didn’t frame my horse sufficiently with my calf or my horse ignored my aid. Of course drifting out through a shoulder or falling in with the croup can also be caused by the horse’s asymmetry as well as a rider fault but the more precisely I ride the lines the better balanced my horse will become.

Obviously we have only looked at the walk in this article but once you have mastered the walk and know the footfall sequence of the trot and canter, mastering these is relatively easy.

When done properly the “Turn on the Haunches” or “Pirouette” is one of the most effective gymnastic exercises for your horse that you can do. A correctly executed pirouette is a thing of beauty, a masterpiece of collection, impulsion, suppleness, strength and balance. In canter, it is one of the most physically demanding movements we can ask of our horse. It is a test of the rider’s ability to develop self-carriage and of a horse that is completely attentive and responsive to the aids.

The pirouette is a movement that fills many riders with awe and apprehension, a movement that too many feel is “not for me” because it is “beyond my abilities”. But as I mentioned in my introduction, it is a movement that has huge bio-mechanical benefits for your horse and whilst a perfectly performed canter pirouette may well be too advanced a movement at present, a walk passade is also extremely gymnastically valuable and can be learned relatively easily.

As with so many of the lateral movements there are a plethora of names to describe the same or similar exercise(s). Basically the “Turn on the Haunches in Motion” and “Passade” is one and the same, as is the “Turn on the Haunches” and “Pirouette”.  In either of these exercises the horse is bent in the direction of travel and is expected to retain the rhythm of the gait with all 4 legs. Which means the inside hind leg has to keep moving. They therefore differ considerably to the Western “Spin” in which the horse just pivots around his inside hind leg.  In a practical setting, such as bull fighting or herding cattle, pivoting is much faster. In fact prior to the 1850s a pirouette pivoted around the inside hind leg too, but as sword fighting became a thing of the past the pirouette evolved as bio-mechanically maintaining the footfall sequence is more beneficial.

Both the passade and pirouette are excellent exercises to improve your horse’s suppleness and mobility, help free his shoulders, engage the pelvis and hind legs, strengthen the abductor and adductor muscles and improve collection and uphill canter transitions! The only real difference between a passade and the pirouette is the size of the circle. When done properly, the passade is a very small turn in a quarter or half volte, with the hindquarters describing a smaller circle than the forehand.

It is a good idea to teach the passade on a slightly larger circle as if the circle is too small the hindquarters are apt to lose the rhythm or even come to a standstill. Probably the best place for your horse to learn the passade is in the corner of the arena, with the centre of the circle set some 3m to 5m behind the horse. When executed in the walk this is probably the easiest of the “side stepping while bending in the direction of travel” movements to learn and is a great preparation for renvers, travers, half pass and of course, the pirouette.  You can make things considerably easier for both yourself and your horse if you teach the exercise on-line or in-hand first.

Before you can begin to teach the passade on-line you will need to have taught your horse the cue to move his outside shoulder and outside hind leg across with the stick. Once you have that cue firmly established, walk your horse round on a 10m volte in the corner of an arena. After passing the corner come to a stop at the 5m point. Stand just in front and slightly to the inside of your horse, with your toes pointing towards the horse’s hip (approximately 45°).  Gently ask for flexion towards you. Start walking sideward and backwards around the arc towards the 5m point on the other side of the corner, drawing your horse’s chest towards your belly button. Ask for the shoulders and quarters to move as required by raising or pointing your stick.  Look for just one step initially and reward. Then ask for 2 steps and reward. Allow a little forward drift to make things easier for your horse and to give him room to be able to cross his outside legs in front of his inside legs. In fact you may like to ask for one stop forward and one across initially as this helps to keep the horse active and the gait pure.

While executing a walk passade, the horse’s body should be bent in the direction of the turn from ears to tail, in a harmonious curve. It should not be over bent or crooked with the neck going in one direction and the quarters another. This means that your horse needs to be supple and his muscles elastic enough to accommodate the extending of his body on the outside of the bend and the contracting of his muscles on the inside of the bend.

If your horse is stiff and his muscles are not supple or his tendons and ligaments are tight, he will find it difficult to bend well longitudinally, flex the joints of his supporting inside hind or extend the joints of his outside hind leg to step over and around his inside hind leg.  It is therefore important that you listen to your horse, are sympathetic to any difficulties he encounters and only ask for baby steps initially.

However, once both you and your horse find passade on-line in the corner easy on both reins it is time to try it in the saddle. At the 5m marker after the corner transfer your weight to the inside of your horse by rotating your pelvis. At the same time bring your outside shoulder a little forward. Your inside leg stays at the girth and keeps the inside hind leg active whilst your outside leg prevents the hindquarters from swinging out and supports the outside hind leg moving across.  The inside rein leads the horse into the turn whilst the outside rein defines the position of the head and neck and asks for the horse’s shoulder to move over as does your outside knee. The inside rein aid should be the most passive.   Break the movement down into tiny steps, and think inside calf to move forward, outside calf and hips to move the quarters across, then outside rein and knee to move the shoulders across.  A little trick that can help us get into the correct position whilst we are learning to do the passade is to turn and look at the inside hind leg of our horse. By doing so, we rotate our body in the way it needs to rotate and lean in towards the turn. You see this slight tilt of the torso a lot with the Spanish and Portuguese riders although it tends to be frowned on in conventional circles.

Common rider faults consist of

  1. Using too much inside rein.
  2. Too much outside leg.
  3. Collapsing the inside hip.
  4. Wrong placement of weight (onto the outside of the bend).

These faults frequently happen together and may cause the horse to step backwards and flex incorrectly.

requent horse problems include

  1. Incorrect bend, invariably towards the stiffer side, which may well be caused by the horse not stepping forward enough with the inside hind leg.
  2. Going backwards. The passade increase the amount of weight that the inside hind leg has to carry, so the horse avoids this by stepping backwards. Alternatively this could be caused by the rider error of using too much rein.
  3. Throwing the haunches out against your outside leg. This tends to happen when the inside hind leg struggles to flex; as the leg straightens it throws the haunches out. Throwing the haunches out can also be caused by the rider turning their pelvis the wrong way, e. taking the outside hip forward and down rather than the inside hip.
  4. Pivoting on the inside hind leg, this normally happens because the inside hind braces against the flex/additional weight. Use your inside calf to establish a forward step, then ask for the quarters to move across, then ask the shoulders, then ask forward.

Once you have mastered the passade in the corner you can progress to passade along the long side of the school to change the rein. You want to aim for the passade to be performed in the same rhythm as was performed in the walk immediately prior to and after the turn.

As your passade develops you can reduce the size of the circle until you eventually perform a half pirouette.

The stifle is the largest, most complex joint in the horse, and probably one of the weakest.

The bones that make up the stifle are the femur (thigh), tibia (shin), and patella (kneecap). A thin capsule surrounds the entire stifle joint that has a specialized fluid to help with shock absorption and lubrication. There are also a number of ligaments  that  provide stability.

In the centre of the stifle joint are two large crossing ligaments (the cruciate ligaments). These two ligaments form an X inside the joint by attaching to the femur and tibia. They prevent the leg from bending excessively but can unfortunately they can easily be torn or damaged.

While standing, the horse is able to lock his hind legs by shifting his weight and rotating the patella. This action which locks the three patella ligaments over a ridge located on the femur allows the horse to sleep while standing. However some horses are find it difficult to release these ligaments once engaged, hence the condition – locking stifle.

A weak stifle is often due to a general lack of muscle tone in the hind limbs and pelvis. This can be compounded by poor confirmation (very straight and upright hind legs), poor shoeing or trimming (too much toe or extended heels), arthritis or cruciate ligament injury.

Anatomically the stifle corresponds to the knee joint in humans. In humans it is well established that strengthening our gluteal muscles, along with our quadriceps and hamstrings plays a pivotal role in maintaining proper knee function. The same is true of the horse.

So just as a doctor will prescribe physiotherapy to a human after a knee injury or recommend pilates to someone suffering from arthritis, so our horses with weak stifles need more movement, not less (unless your vet specifically recommends box rest).

Research into stifle injuries showed that the affected horses are often clumsy, lack balance and are overweight. It was also noted that they frequently had weak abdominal and gluteal muscles. So we need to help address the horse’s balance and to tone muscle.

The more balanced, supple and flexible the horse is, the easier it will be for him to build correct muscles. When a horse becomes supple, he will relax in his work, which alleviates tension, allowing him to stretch further and become even more supple.

There are a number of exercises that can help strengthen the muscles that support the stifle these include rein-back, hill work and lateral movements.

A quality rein-back that is slow and precise will build strength in the hind end. A few even steps backwards during regular sessions will improve muscle tone in the horse’s haunches and hind legs. This exercise can be done under saddle or in-hand. However it is important that you avoid pulling on the reins to back your horse, as this will causes him to raise his head and hollow his back which in turn will restrict the hind end. Either gently raise each rein individually, or use a rope around the base of his neck to help him move more correctly. If working on the ground you can use a whip to lightly tap against his chest. A rein-back in a straight line will work on both hind legs equally whilst a rein-back on a curved line will work on the inside hind more.

Working over raised poles (cavaletti) either under saddle or in-hand is also great for weak stifles or hocks. The slow action of lifting the hind legs up and over the pole will strengthen the abdominal muscles and pelvis as well as the Tensor muscle and Long Digital Extensor which are responsible for the stability of the stifle.

Other exercises that work really well are enlarging a circle whilst retaining bend and turn on the forehand in motion.

Whether we are talking about humans or horses a strong and supple core is required to support the spine and reduce wear and tear on the joints. For riders a strong core is essential, as an engaged core holds us in lateral and longitudinal balance and gives our seat stability.

Pilates, yoga and Swiss Ball exercises all increase our core stability, strength and body awareness and help redress imbalances so that our body can become more symmetrical.  Core stability and suppleness are as important to our horses as they are to us. Developing our horse’s posture and balance not only improves performance but can also help reduce the risk of injury.

Stimulating and strengthening the core muscles of our horse is possible through groundwork and skillful use of ridden movements such as using arena patterns and targeting muscle groups with certain exercises. By performing specific exercises, the core muscles that make for good posture, a strong back and assist in carrying the weight of the rider can be strengthened. These include the deep internal muscles of the abdomen, pelvis, thoracic sling, and back together with the more superficial muscles of the trunk.

The following ridden exercises, performed at a walk and repeated on a regular basis will help target and strengthen your horse’s shoulders, thoracic sling, abdominals and hips.

  1. Volte – mark out a 10m circle with so that you can be precise with your line. Riding a small circle has a suppling effect on your horse’s lateral abdominal muscles. Ride around the volte, encouraging your horse to step forward and under with his inside hind leg. Make sure you follow the movement of his back and don’t block him with a ‘driving’ seat. Use your inside hip to create the bend you need and be as precise as you can to maintain the correct line. Notice if your horse falls out or falls in. Repeat the pattern until your horse feels fluid and willingly stretches down and forward into the bend. Change the rein and repeat the exercise on the new rein.
  2. Leg Yield – Bending against the direction of movement. This stretched leg yield with bend encourages the hips to move freely and stretches the muscles on the outside of the bend. Flex your horse against the direction of travel and use your weight in the direction of travel. Ask for the inside hind leg to step forward and under when it is in the air. This movement can be conducted on the long side of the arena or as an enlargement of the circle at a specific gateway on the volte.
  3. Turn on the Forehand in Motion – Bending against the direction of travel. This exercise works on many levels and when perfected later on, the horse will work in a very fluid outline. It teaches the horse to move away from a light inside leg which is the basis of straightness control, lateral work and precise cornering later on. It also builds the lateral and rotational pelvic control muscles, as well as engaging the abdominals and simultaneously lifting the spine. This can be a really difficult move to start with so only look for one or two correct steps initially. Start the exercise approximately 5m away from a corner of an arena.The idea behind the exercise is that you will ask your horse to perform an arc through the corner of the arena with his hind legs describing a larger circle than his front legs. The horse must step under his body with the inside hind leg and his quarters must move more than his fore end.  Flex your horse against the direction of travel. Take your weight in the direction of travel and gently ask for a slight forward/sideways movement with your inside leg. Back up the inside leg aid with a gentle whip aid, if needed, to get the first steps and watch out for evasions such as stepping backwards and falling out on the outside shoulder.
  4. Turn on the Haunches in Motion – Bending in the direction of travel. This exercise supples the shoulders, develops range of motion in the thoracic sling and encourages the horse to raise his withers. Start the movement 5m after the corner of an arena. The idea behind the exercise is that the horse performs an arc through the corner with his forelegs describing a larger circle than his hind legs. Flex your horse towards the direction of travel. Take your weight in the direction of travel and gently ask for a slight forward/sideways movement with your outside leg. Your outside rein and outside knee can ask the horse’s shoulders to move across. Your outside calf asks for the outside hind leg to step forward and under. Back up the outside leg aid with a gentle whip aid if needed. Watch out for evasions such as stepping backwards, throwing the haunches out or pivoting on the inside hind leg. This movement is not only a great precursor to the half pass and pirouette, it can be used to improve canter transitions.

It is important that great care is taken when introducing these exercises to your horse. Remember to reward the slightest try and appreciate that a “NO” may mean a “I CAN’T”. If you experience any difficulty try the exercise on-line or in-hand first.








One of the biggest concerns many students seem to have after attending a lesson or a clinic, is how they can continue schooling by themselves. Of course, I understand it much easier to train if you have your trainer there watching you and offering helpful advice but the goal for every instructor should be to furnish the student with the information to continue to improve by his or herself. Now don’t get me wrong, we all need those eyes on the ground to see things we can’t see for ourselves, but we should be able to feel confident enough to continue our schooling between lessons.

So how can we set ourselves up so that we can continue to learn and improve between those lessons? Well the number one thing is you still have your best teacher with you – your horse. By learning to listen to him and what he says you will really be able to improve your own riding and help him gymnastically.

Treat every session as a 2-way conversation, between you and your horse. There is no such thing as you (or your horse) doing something wrong. What we have is our horse showing us signs of a blockage or weakness either in his own body or in ours. All we need to do is a) identify the problem, b) find a possible cause, c) decide on a possible solution (an adjustment in your position or an exercise for the horse) and d) test it out.

Let’s imagine you are riding a 20m circle and your horse raises his head and hollows his back.  Don’t panic it is not the end of the world, take a deep breath, calm yourself and remind yourself the head being raised is not a real problem, it is just a sign that the horse is using to communicate to you. Or you could say it is a symptom and not the cause. As your horse’s trainer you need to work out what your horse is telling you. Or in other words you need to look for the possible cause of the problem, so you can formulate a working hypothesis to solve the situation.

So as I mentioned you need to look for possible causes. In this instance it could be a) the way you are sitting, b) the way you are moving, c) a tight back or d) a hind leg not moving under sufficiently. Having decided what you think the cause is you can now design an exercise to address the cause or adjust your position to test the hypothesis. If your horse improves with the exercise or the adjustment of your position, you can be pretty sure your diagnosis was correct, if he gets worse or is no better then you were wrong and you need to come up with an alternative hypothesis.

The following questions may help you ascertain how your session with your horse is going and get to the root cause of any problems.

Where is my line of travel? What line am I trying to ride? Is it the whole school, a 20m circle or a diagonal?  You need to be precise with your line of travel for your horse to follow the line precisely.

Where are my horse’s feet? Are the feet following the line of travel or is a foot (or two or even more) next to the line of travel? This fundamental criteria is really important as it is only the correct placement of his feet that allows your horse to balance himself laterally (left/right). Are all the feet loosing the line of travel or is it only part of the horse. Most horses are more likely to lose the front foot (shoulder) on the stiffer side and the hind leg (haunches) on the hollow side. Knowing which foot your horse loses will help you recognize his stiffer side so you can help supple him.

Which leg of my horse is supporting the majority of his weight? Now this will vary depending on the movement you are asking your horse to do; so for example on a canter depart you would want the main weight bearing to be on the outside hind or for a corner, to be on the inside hind but you wouldn’t normally want the main weight to be on the front leg of the horse’s stiffer side. So you need to train yourself to see where the weight is so you can help the horse address the situation before it turns into a train smash.

Another question to ask is whether the tempo is steady. Some horses have a natural rhythm and others don’t. Those that don’t are normally more challenging to ride. Tempo is important as it helps your horse find his longitudinal balance between front and back. Horses that rush normally do so because they have lost their balance. Combine tempo with a precise line of travel and the two together help a horse find balance, straightness, relaxation and rhythm. Once your horse can keep the line of travel and tempo you will be able to develop collection. Another question to ask on the subject of tempo is whether the tempo that you are asking for (or being given) is appropriate for the horse you are riding. You need to find out what tempo is best for your horse. To do this you will need to experiment; try asking him to go a little faster or slower. Does he get better or worse? If he gets better, ask a little more – is it still better or worse? If he starts to get worse you have pushed too hard, so slow it down or speed it up and ask for a little less or more. As your horse develops gymnastically his natural tempo will change.

Is my horse’s energy level appropriate, or is it too high or too low? Does it feel as though you are riding a slug or a time bomb? On some horses you need to build the energy up and on others you need to slow them down. If you need to build the energy up do quick transitions between the gaits, do lots of changes of direction and plenty of turns. If you are able to, switch from one lateral movement to another – such as counter shoulder-in to travers, or shoulder-in to renvers. To relax your horse, spend time following his movement just walking 10m or 20m circles, if you are able to, ride long straight lines of shoulder-in or other lateral movements or if your horse really needs to move his feet, trot steady circles until he settles.

Another question to ask yourself is whether you can feel your horse’s hind legs in your seat and your hands. If you can’t feel anything in your seat it may be that you are sitting with either a hollow back or in a chair seat or are just too tense, so check out your own seat first. But if you are sitting well and still can’t feel the movement with your bottom or the pulse of the rein (assuming your reins are the correct length, neither too short or too long) then the chances are your horse isn’t moving his hind legs sufficiently underneath himself or they are being left too far behind. If that is the case then you need to do something about helping him bring his hind legs further under his point of weight which you can do with a number of lateral moves, such as leg yielding against the direction of travel, shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in and turns of the forehand.

The next question to ask is if your horse’s back is moving and if so, is it moving up and down, forward and backwards or side to side? Once you can feel the movement you can start to influence it. Ideally we want an upward movement, so feel it, support it and then influence it.

Next look at your rein contact and consider how it feels. Is it light, steady and even? The reins can tell us a lot about what the rest of the horse is doing. So we don’t want to ride around with our reins so long that we miss out on a lot of information that the horse is sharing with us. Equally we don’t want to ride around with our reins too short; cranking the head in, in a mistaken belief we are getting an outline but actually restricting our horse’s head movement and causing the hind legs to trail behind. Assuming our reins are the right length then let us look at what they are saying. If they are light, then the chances are our horse has self-carriage. If the rein contact is heavy, then our horse is on his forehand. If the reins are steady, then out horse has a steady tempo. If our reins go slack and then tighten, then there is something wrong with the rhythm and there is stiffness somewhere. If the reins are even it is a reflection on our horse’s straightness whilst if he is heavier on one rein then it tells us he is crooked.

Does your horse’s whole body feel supple? Check out his different body parts with different exercises. Can he move his poll and neck, can he move his shoulders, can he move his rib cage, can he move his hips, and can he flex a hind leg? You should be able to target each specific body part with an exercise to test its suppleness. All of the various body parts are connected, so a tightness or blockage in one muscle group will cause blockages or tension in another area of the body. Supplying of a stiff muscle will cause a release in other muscles and help to improve the movement.

Check out to see if your aids go through, can you ask your horse to side step with your calf, can you ask your horse to flex with a rein aid into a specific leg, or can you half halt into a specific leg? Observe if the aid goes through or if it doesn’t, where it blocks. Do you feel that your horse tries to yield but actually moves a different part of his body, such as you ask for flexion and he falls out on a shoulder? If you find a blockage deal with it, use exercises and arena patterns to help your horse improve gymnastically.

Finally make sure you have your timing right, your horse can only respond to you if you time your aid correctly. A leg can only be redirected when it is in the air or flexed when it is on the ground. Practice telling where your horse’s legs are. You can see the movement of the front legs by glancing down at his shoulders. When the shoulder blade moves forward the front leg on that side is in the air. When the horse’s hind leg touches down your hip on the same side rises slightly, which you may feel as a slight bump under your seat bone.

he most important thing is have fun and practice. If you have problems let me know, if you have successes let me know. If you want more information, feel free to contact me or come along for a private lesson or attend one of my clinics.

The ability of a horse to bend depends on his suppleness and flexibility.

Although we often think about a horse bending from poll to tail, this actually does not happen evenly along the horse’s spine as the neck bends more easily than the thoracic spine, where the apparent bend is actually caused by a slight rotation of the rib cage.

Bending our horse is of vital importance, as basically correct bending leads to straightness, impulsion and ultimately collection. Bending is the equivalent of a Pilates workout for your horse. It helps mobilize his ribcage and spine and improves suppleness in his shoulders, torso, hips and hind legs! It is really the first thing we should teach our horse. We can work on our horse’s bending on the lunge, with groundwork, either on-line or in-hand or under saddle.

To improve our horse’s bend we can work on curved lines (circles, voltes, figures of 8, loops and serpentines) and lateral movements. For the curved line to be beneficial to the horse, our horse needs to align himself on the curve. For example, if you were riding a 20m circle you need to be able to have a mental image of your horse’s spine conforming to the line of the circle.  This means we have to be particular as to where our horse places his feet, riding imprecise circles is of no gymnastic benefit to the horse.

If we are riding on a circle to our horse’s hollow side, the chances are our horse will either lose his outside front leg outwards or his haunches will fall in. In either case one of his legs leaves the line of the circle and it is our responsibility to be aware of this and bring the leg back in to line. If we are riding a circle to our horse’s stiffer side we will probably find that it is the inside front leg or the outside hind leg that we lose.

The better your horse can bend the better the quality of the circle is, but the more precisely you ride the circle the better your horse’s bend becomes. This is where marking out an arena with carefully measured gateways (cones) at each of the quadrants really works. You can use the gateways to check if you are on the correct line, or falling out or in.

To be able to bend properly your horse will need to bend and flex his inside hind leg under his centre of mass. If he cannot do this then he will become progressively more and more crooked, so you have to look at how you can help teach your horse to do this and this is where lateral work really helps.

The more easily your horse can bend, the easier he will find lateral movements. Equally lateral movements improve your horse’s bend, so introducing them fairly early on into your horse’s training makes sense.  If you only ever ride on a single track your horse will over time, become stiffer and stiffer.

Lateral movements can basically be divided into two categories, side stepping and bending against the direction of travel and side stepping and bending in the direction of travel. The former, is for most horses, the easier movement to begin with. But not all horses have read the manual – so if your horse finds side stepping and bending in the direction of travel easier, start with that.

Enlarging the circle, leg yield, turn on the forehand in motion, shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in and full pass against the direction of travel are all exercises that combine side stepping and bending against the movement of travel .

Haunches-in, renvers, half pass, turn on the haunches, passade, pirouettes and full pass with bend in the direction of travel are all exercises that combine side stepping and bending in the direction of travel.

The rein aid can also be used to check out any resistances or problems with your horse’s bend. The rein aid not only influences the poll, throat lash and neck but others parts of his body too. By timing the rein bending aid into a specific leg you can check out where a blockage is occurring. Try targeting the bending rein aid when the inside front leg is on the ground, link this with a stirrup step and analyse if there was any resistance. If there was, the problem could well be in the pectoral muscles or the shoulder. Next check out the inside hind leg by applying the bending rein aid and a stirrup step when the inside hind leg is on the ground. Any resistance here could be caused by a problem with the croup, hip or oblique muscles.

We all know that horses and humans are naturally asymmetrical – and our lifestyles and injuries exacerbate that asymmetry. Obviously we can ignore our (and our horse’s) asymmetry as many people do. But if we do so, it is at our peril. We (or our horse)) become progressively stiffer on one side, weight more on one leg etc. etc – which brings about joint and muscle pain and perhaps even worse.

Working on our own bodies is hard enough – but by actively participating in classes like Rider Fitness, Swiss Ball, Pilates or Yoga we create an awareness of our own bodies and can then start to target certain muscle groups to improve our symmetry and suppleness.

Working on horse’s body is much harder. Of course we ride our horses, but this doesn’t necessarily help with one-sidedness, indeed if we inadvertently sit with more weight to one side we can compound the problem and make it even worse. We may even sit in lateral (side to side) balance but if our horses consistently invert (hollow their backs) when we sit on them, this can lead to “Spinal Crowding Syndrome” which in turn, can lead to “Kissing Spine”.

When a horse carries a rider, the weight placed over the middle of his spinal column causes it to hollow, or dip slightly unless the horse engages his psoas and other core muscles. Depending on the severity of the hollowing it can be either extremely obvious or virtually invisible to the eye due to the presence of a saddle. If you aren’t sure if your horse hollows, check out the underside of his neck, if the muscles re well developed then the chances are your horse is hollowing.

The biggest problem with hollowing, is that this inverting closes the gaps between the vertical spinous processes of the horse’s thoracic vertebrae. To try and limit this discomfort the horse will tense his back muscles and ‘lock’ the area. As horses (like us) are creatures of habit, once this defense system begins it is likely to continue until we isolate and work with the appropriate muscles through specific exercises.

One sidedness (or stiffness on one side) of our horse can also cause all sorts of issue. It invariably causes a horse to fall in on a circle in one direction, and out on the other. It can cause the horse to brace on one rein, or have trouble moving his shoulders or his hips over.

Correcting our horse’s body can be done under saddle using arena patterns, but for most us it is much easier for us (and our horse) to start with either on-line or in-hand groundwork  to improve his core muscles and lateral and vertical flexion. Just as human body conditioning disciplines such as Rider Exercise classes, Swiss Ball, Yoga, and Pilates help work on our deep, stabilizing muscles and teach us body awareness so do ground work exercises for the horse.

Before we start training our horse we need to appreciate that all body parts are connected to each other and that a tightness or blockage in one muscle group can have a direct affect on a totally different part of the horse’s body. Supplying of a stiff muscle (or muscle group) can very often cause a release in another muscle as well. Sometimes a muscle is tight because another muscle hasn’t engaged sufficiently and it is working too hard to compensate for the muscle that isn’t working properly, so in order to help the horse release and relax the tense muscle we have to encourage him to engage the ‘partner’ muscle.

I have therefore listed the key body parts of the horse and how they correlate with each other.

  1. The Poll :- Stiffness or lack of flexion in the poll and throat lash area can affect the hip on the same side or the shoulders and base of the neck. A blocked poll can lead to evasion of a shoulder and over bending at the base of the neck.
  2. The Neck:- Lateral leverage of the neck affects the hindquarters laterally. If the neck is over bent to the right the hindquarters will fall out to the left or vice versa. Longitudinal leverage of the neck affects the hindquarters longitudinally. If the hind legs are able to flex at all 3 joints (stifle, hock, fetlock) then the sacrum of the horse can tuck backwards, which will raise the neck of the horse. Conversely the opposite does not hold true, if you raise the neck without the legs being able to flex under the horse the horse will hollow his back. However by releasing muscle blockages in the neck we can help encourage the back to lift and the hind legs to move more freely.
  3. The Shoulders:- Mobilising the shoulders can release muscle blockages in the neck and poll.
  4. The Abdominals:- The oblique and psoas muscles affect the hind legs. Tight muscles block the hind legs from being able to step forward and under the horse’s point of mass.
  5. The Back:- Tightness in the back affects bend, hind leg movement and the position of the neck.
  6. The Pelvis:- Pelvic position and hind leg confirmation affects the back. If the pelvis is rotated backwards the back rises, if the pelvis is rotated forwards the back hollows. When the pelvis is neutral the back is level.
  7. Hind Legs:- Longitudinal hind leg flexibility affects the ribcage and back as well as the position of the neck. The flexibility of the hind legs can also affect shoulder alignment and shoulder freedom.
  8. The Hip:- The hip affects the poll on the same side.

Before we start ground work exercises with our horse we need to find out where any blockages are and help our horse understand some fundamental instructions/movements. It is really important that you remember you are asking, not telling. Remember a “no”, may well mean a physical blockage or tightness not a “won’t”. If you are not sure how to do the following, ask someone who is experienced in groundwork.

I believe the questions we should ask our horse are:

Can you?

  1. Flex the poll and neck.
  2. Shift your weight from your right pair of legs to the left.
  3. Shift your weight from your left pair of legs to the right.
  4. Shift your weight from your front legs to your back legs.
  5. Move your shoulders to the left.
  6. Move your shoulders to the right.
  7. Shift your rib cage (rotation) to the left.
  8. Shift the rib cage (rotation) to the right.

There should be no make with any of these requests, at this moment in time all you wish to do is find out where any stiffness or blockages are.

Once you have a basic dialog in place you can then start to work on a series of exercises and patterns to help the horse. As the exercises are performed in partnership with you, they not only produce the physical conditioning and supplying that the horse needs but also dramatically develop the psychological and physical bond between the two of you.

One of the things I talk about at my clinics is how important awareness of our body’s posture is for both us and our horses. Whilst most people accept that their proprioceptive system may need some help, somehow it is much harder to realize that our horse may also need help in improving his awareness of his body and his alignment.

The main aim in improving our (and horse’s) posture is not just about looking good; it is about the body being in the best position it can be for our physical well being. This is because when we (or our horse) are in neutral or correct alignment our joints (or our horse’s) are in a position/state whereby there is minimal strain and misalignment.

Our first step in improving the horse’s posture, body awareness, coordination, and balance, is to teach the horse to distribute his weight more evenly, place his feet differently and to possibly use different muscle configurations than he has before. In other words do a Pilates workout with our horse.

To start with it is easier to teach our horse from the ground as this way your weight doesn’t influence your horse. Equally it is easier to see exactly where your horse is placing his feet and what is happening in his body. By working on the horse’s body alignment, positioning of feet and asymmetry we can improve his balance, and reduce posture-related pain. You can do this work on-line or in-hand.

You can train the horse’s body awareness through certain exercises by asking him to perform slow and large movements. Slow movements allow the horse to think while he is doing them, so he is aware of what he is doing rather than just letting his legs move mindlessly. All new movements are unfamiliar and strange to the horse at first. He therefore needs time to understand what it is you want him to do and how to do the movement without falling down or tripping over. You may well have to stop and give him a chance to process the last step or two before asking him to move on to next one. Remember too, the importance of positive reward, reward the slightest try lavishly and your horse will try harder and harder.

Large motor skill type movements are easier for both humans and horses. It therefore makes sense to start with large, slow movements and only get faster (and smaller) gradually.

I like using 90 degree turns on the forehand and on the haunches in both directions as well as a few steps of full pass in each direction to start getting the horse to think about his feet and weight distribution. We have no right to expect our horse to be able to move his hips or his shoulders one hoof breadth to the left or to the right in the trot and canter under saddle in order to become straighter if he isn’t able to do a turn on the forehand or a turn on the haunches without the weight of a rider!.

Before we start to do any of these movements , or I ask you to read any further, I think I should explain a little more about what is meant by the terminology “ sidestepping against the direction of travel” or “in the direction of travel” and why these movements are so beneficial to the horse.

When a horse side steps against the direction of travel, the horse is slightly turned away from the direction of movement (as in shoulder-in) and the movement helps bring  the inside hind leg forward and underneath the horse. In a side step in the direction of travel the horse bends toward the line of movement (as in half-pass) and the movement helps flex the inside hind leg so it carries more weight. It is important to note here that the term ‘inside’ refers to the inward curved side of the horse and not the arena. By teaching the horse to first of all step forward and under and then flex his hind legs we teach out horse how to shift his weight from his front legs toward the hind legs, which in turn will enable the horse to use his back more effectively under the saddle and find better balance.

In the turn on the forehand the hind legs move on a circle around the front legs. This draws the horse’s attention to his hind legs as to perform the movement the inside hind leg needs to cross in front of the outside one. In order for this to happen the outside leg needs to flex at the joints and take weight. The turn on the forehand in motion also mobilizes the hips as it supples the adductor and abductor muscles of the hind legs, and the oblique abdominal muscles. It is important that your horse ’thinks’ forwards as a common mistake is that the horse will try to evade the weight on his outside back leg by moving backwards. This movement is normally performed with the bend against the direction of travel.

In the turn on the haunches the front legs move in a circle around the hind legs. This draws the horse’s attention to his front legs. For the exercise to work well the inside hind leg needs to accept the weight and flex in its joints and the horse bends in the direction of travel.  To do the exercise correctly (in the Classical or English manner) the inside leg should maintain the movement of the gait and the horse should not pivot on the inside hind as in Western Riding and many of the Natural Horsemanship programmes as this looses the biomechanical advantages of the exercise. To help prevent this it is beneficial to start with a Turn on the Haunches in Motion  (Passade). The turn on the haunches mobilizes the shoulders of the horse as it supples the pectoral and shoulder muscles.

In the full pass the front and hind legs should move sideways simultaneously in equally large strides. So, the horse has to focus on both ends of his body at the same time and coordinate them with each other. You can bend your horse in the direction of travel or against it, although many horses find movements against the direction of travel easier to start with. The exercise only works properly gymnastically if the hind leg that’s located in the direction of travel accepts the weight and flexes its joints, so that the other hind leg is able to cross in front of it. The full pass also supples the hip and shoulder muscles. Common faults include over bending at the base of the neck and falling out over the outside shoulder, drifting out with the haunches or generally losing the line of travel.

The 90 degree turns in both directions require the horse to yield to the aids on one side of his body without ignoring and running over the aids on the other side. Instead, it should be possible for those aids to stop the horse and send him back in the opposite direction. This requires the horse to transfer weight from one side of his body to the other, which many horses find difficult at first. The same thing applies to the full pass, if you ask your horse to move 3-4 steps to the right and then the same to the left.

These three elementary movements form the seeds of all the lateral movements. You can combine these three elementary movements in any way you can think of, which creates many interesting exercises that improve the horse’s balance, coordination, and body awareness. And once you can perform these movements easily on the ground, you can try them mounted.