Most people who do any type of exercising know the importance of a warm-up. When riding, including a warm-up helps the horse loosen and limber up his muscles after standing in the stall or pasture. It prepares his mind and body for the work you will be asking him to do whether it be schooling, trail riding, pleasure riding, or showing.

We’ve reviewed what the term “aids communication” means and why it is so important to success in communicating with our horses. In the next few articles I am going to share training techniques built on the use of the rider’s natural aids, meaning her seat, legs, and hands—not artificial training aids or gimmicks! You will learn how to teach your horse to respond more willingly, without using force.

To review, we have discussed important steps to prepare for training on the trail, including reading the horse to recognize his inner energy level and working with him to release it, preparing the rider through warm up and stretching exercises, and building safety and confidence on the trail.  I’ve also covered training tips for dealing with the horse who wants to always be in the lead. 

I have been reflecting on the importance of the turning aids compared to the bending aids a rider uses. This issue is so important, I would like to revisit our discussion of these aids and add some clarification.
To review, the turning aids are the outside leg and outside indirect rein, supported by the inside leg and inside rein.

Bending is when the horse arcs his body, from the poll (top of the head), through his spine, to the dock (top of the tail). The bending aids are inside leg and inside open rein, supported by the outside leg and outside rein

I am going to discuss one of the rider’s most important, yet often, overlooked aids. Can you guess which one it is? If you said the rider’s SEAT, you’re right!

I will explain how the rider uses her seat by using the example of upward and downward transitions. As the rider puts weight in the saddle, the rotation and movement of her hips gives the horse the indication to go forward.

We’ve been discussing tips (and in the next part of this series) for teaching your horse three in-hand maneuvers that are extremely important for the horse’s future from beginning work under saddle to advanced training. They are the forehand turn, turn on the haunches, and yielding.

I want to explain the importance of the turning aids and give you some exercises to practice to more effectively use them. This information may be a revelation. It will help improve your transitions and may change your riding forever!

It is back to the circle pattern we used in the last article about  “Falling Out” to learn how to identify, anticipate, and correct the second of two common problems that can occur when turning — when I explained how to properly use the bending and turning aids to correct the problem know as falling out.

I’m going to give you an exercise to practice that uses both the turning and bending aids.  The pattern for this exercise is what I call a “training figure 8.” It is important to understand the difference between this training pattern, as opposed to what could be called a “show ring” or “competition figure 8” pattern.