Zen Horse

Training Tip of the Week:
Lateral flexion is the key to
Vertical flexion.
By Clinton Anderson

Everybody wants their horse to be soft in their hands and tuck his nose in vertically. I know I do more than anybody. But before you can ask your horse to soften vertically using both reins, you have to teach him to soften laterally using one rein at a time. Think of it this way: if there’s ten pounds of pressure when you pull on the right rein and ten pounds of pressure when you pull on the left rein, there will be twenty pounds of pressure when you pull on both reins. Whenever I start training a new horse, whether it’s a colt or an older problem horse, I don’t even think about pulling on two reins for at least ten days to two weeks, or in other words, until I’ve gotten him extremely soft laterally. I should be able to flex his head from side to side using just 2 fingers on the reins and be able to do a one rein stop at the walk, trot, and canter by just picking up on the rein with the lightest touc! h. Once the horse is this soft laterally, he will catch on to vertical flexion easily.

Happy Trails,

Danna