Things You'll Need:
- A horse
- Patience
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Step 1
As you approach the corner, try to visualize your horse’s body curving under you. The spine should make a gentle arc under the saddle.
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Step 2
As you are preparing to ask your horse to bend keep your chin lifted. Your eyes should be looking up and around the corner, not down at your horse. Rely on your sense of feel to determine if your horse is bending around your inside leg.
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Step 3
When the horses nose reaches the corner slowly increase the pressure on the inside rein. As you increase the pressure on the inside rein soften the pressure on the outside rein, your horse will not be able to bend if you don’t remember to soften the outside rein. One of the things you have to be careful about is to not just throw your outside rein away, to much give on the outside and your horse will over bend which is a type of evasion.
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Step 4
Place, don’t slide, your outside leg behind the girth. Your outside leg is going to prevent your horse from swinging their haunches to the outside, and simply pivoting around its front end. Your inside leg should stay in its proper position at the girth.
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Step 5
While keeping your shoulders square, weight your inside seat bone.
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Step 6
When your horse has completed the corner remember to straighten it head and allow it continue to travel forward. When you are trying to hone your bending skills there are a couple of things you have to remember. The first thing you have to keep in mind is that your horse’s tempo should never change. The other thing you have to remember is that your horse’s degree of bend should match the arc of the circle. When you are performing a dressage test the amount of bend when you are riding around corners should match the smallest circle you will be asked to perform during the test.
