Does your naturally gaited horse lean on the bit? Have you tried just about everything to help your horse be lighter in your hands? It might not be the relationship with the bit.
The Missing Link to Lightness
By Jennifer Klitzke
Since 1988, I have been a dedicated and passionate student of dressage. I was aware that horses were born on the forehand. It was my job to teach my horse to travel less on the forehand to be lighter. Which body parts are actually responsible for lightness and how to achieve it have been a journey. Here’s my story and break through to lightness with my naturally gaited horses.
Are True Bends True?
The first 20 years of my dressage journey taught me to ride on a true bend. This meant directing my horse to form its body to the same arc of the circle or corner we are traveling—which technically isn’t physically possible for the horse’s back to do. Nevertheless, we rode true bends because that’s what was required in dressage tests: through the corners, serpentines, circles and half circles.
To shift my horse’s balance to the hindquarters, I rode true bend circles by driving my horse forward from behind. I believed that the hindquarters were solely responsible for carrying more of the weight, so I rode lots and lots of true circles. I used my inside calf along the girth to encourage my horse to step deeper under the body and then captured a connection with the outside rein. This is called riding with the inside leg to outside rein.
Hindsight is 20/20
Back then, I had no awareness of the role the shoulders play in lightness and that my horse could be traveling on the shoulders which caused the heaviness in my hands.
Lightness, yes. Was it true? No. True bends had produced forwardness onto the shoulders, into a closed hand which caused my horse to dip behind the vertical where the poll was not the highest point. My horse was light, because my horse was evading my closed hand and dipping behind the bit.
A New Approach to Lightness
Fast forward to 2013. That’s when I began studying French dressage. It opened my eyes to the importance of relaxation of the tongue, lower jaw and poll and its effect on the entire body. I began to learn how to help my horse accept and follow a light contact with a gentle snaffle bit beginning with in-hand exercises. These exercises help the horse find balance at a halt to carry its own head and neck. This means the horse stands in a way that lifts its chest and the horse finds posture while relaxing its lower jaw, tasting the snaffle bit, and following an even steady light contact with my hands.
Watch: Introducing Contact In Hand and In Saddle
Then the same exercises are done in saddle at a halt and then at a slow walk where I follow my horse’s natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms and hands.
If my horse leans on my hands, I apply a cue called “demi arret” which is an upward motion with the reins that make contact with the less sensitive corners of the horse’s lips. The contact communicates with my horse to stop leaning on the bit. It is the horse’s responsibility to carry its head and neck.
I worked with my naturally gaited horses in hand and then in saddle at a halt and slow walk. This has progressed well.
Why isn’t the Demi Arret Working at Faster Tempos?
When I moved from a slow walk into the smooth gait or canter, I began to encounter heaviness in my hands with both of my naturally gaited horses. I was following their natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms and hands, yet they were leaning on the bit each time we advanced to more tempo. Hmmmm.
The demi arret has been effective in hand, at a halt and slow walk. I couldn’t understand why the demi arret didn’t seem to be working at a gait or canter. I had to transition down to a slow walk to re-establish balance for lightness and try again.
Unveiling the Missing Link to Lightness
In October 2019, I attended my first Ecole de Legerete clinic with Master Instructor Bertrand Ravoux. There were many take aways from Bertrand’s clinic. Among them were two missing links to lightness I had been searching for in smooth gait and canter. No, it wasn’t a different bit. No, it wasn’t adding a gadget.
The first is a simple exercise that teaches the horse lightness and balance by activating the shoulders through counter bend neck rein turns. For me, this was a mind-blowing reversal in my dressage riding. I had been so engrained to ride true bend circles, that I couldn’t see the purpose for counter bends.
Why train counter bends if true bends are required in dressage tests?!
What is a Counter Bend Neck Rein Turn?
The counter bend neck rein turn is an exercise that shifts the horse’s balance from the outside shoulder to the inside shoulder. The outside foreleg steps forward while the inside foreleg steps into the circle as if the horse is extending sideways. It is a terrific exercise to activate the horse’s shoulders to create balance and lightness.
The purpose of the counter bend neck rein turn is to move the balance from the outside shoulder to the inside shoulder. This will help the naturally gaited horse find lightness in their smooth gait.
Steps to Counter Bend Neck Rein Turns:
- The rider positions the horse’s head and neck slightly to the outside bend enough to see the horse’s outside eye
- To Turn: The rider draws both hands to the opposite side and motions gentle sideway nudges with the reins at the timing of the front leg in motion
- Important: This is a shoulder moving exercise, not a hindquarter moving exercise; do not use one leg to activate an outside hind or inside hind leg, however, both legs can be used to move the horse forward
Counter bend neck rein turns can be done in serpentines, squares, figure eights, circles and random turns as needed for lightness
Think about it: if the horse is turning through the shoulders, they cannot be on the forehand or leaning on the bit, right?
What a Counter Bend Turn is NOT
How Counter Bends are True
After this clinic I began applying counter bend neck rein turns with my naturally gaited horses. We did serpentines, squares, figure eights, circles and random turns as needed for lightness. These exercises began at a slow walk, to a slow gait, and then we increased the tempo.
To my amazement, the counter bend neck rein turns have freed up my horses’ shoulders. My naturally gaited horses have become lighter in my hands because they are less on the forehand and more balanced overall.
Counter bends eventually improved the quality of our true bends—which actually are straightening around circles and corners since horse’s spines don’t actually bend. Horses’ spines move side-to-side with each step. How can the spine remain at an arc when it is in motion? It can’t.
The Source of Heaviness and the Missing Link to Lightness
Getting back to why the demi arret wasn’t working at faster tempos.
Effective use and timing of aids: First, I need to apply the proper timing of the demi arret with an immediate release (descent des mains) as my horse responds to the demi arret. The proper timing to apply the demi arret is at the moment the head nod is coming up at the flat walk, fox trot or canter.
Awareness of balance: Secondly, rebalancing. Previous to the counter bend neck rein turns, my horses were traveling on their shoulders. The counter bend neck rein exercise has freed up the shoulders and rebalance my horses and now demi arret works in the smooth gait and canter.
Any time demi arret doesn’t lighten my horse, I move the shoulders through counter bend neck rein turns until the balance returns and we proceed.
Counter bend neck rein turns have been my missing link to lightness and balance!
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