Find solution
What does is mean to have soft flex and hard flex?

What exactly does it mean for a horse to bend and flex?

  • and what do you do as a rider to get them to do that? leg pressure? leaning? nothing?

  • Answer:

    Horses like humans get stiff when not using certain muscles, a horse who is not stiff necked can move much better and turns better with out complications. While sitting in the saddle teach your horse to turn their head to your knee on both sides, if they can do this they are bending in the middle, if they can not do it they need help in doing it because if their neck is to stiff they will just turn the body when you ask for them to bend their necks. When I start to teach the one rein stop I want a horse to turn his head to my knee with out any problems, some horses refuse, those horses I will put in the round pen and tie their a short rope in their tail and hook it to the halter, it does not hurt them but you must be careful not to pull the head to far around at first, do this on both sides, pretty soon the horse will turn the head ,more to take pressure off the tail and head, this teaches them to both bend and flex.

NUUY6TL2V2OMVJJUDJBC2PSHWI at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Bending is a term to describe the range of motion and resistance in the muscles of the horse. Bending your horse is an easy exercise with huge benefits that you begin to see almost instantly. Bending is one of those things that you could do every day for an hour with your horse and you would never overdo it. There are entire books written on this subject. To get a horse that is soft, supple, and carries itself with collection the horse needs to bend correctly. You need to be able to bend your horse in many different ways, these are the basics: Bend at the poll (the atlas joint that connects the last vertebrae to the skull) Bend at the neck to the left and right. Bend through the body to the left and right. A horse is going to bend naturally, but the "average" horse is going to need some help to realize their potential. Horses are athletes, think about world class runners – they stretch before they exercise to loosen muscles and increase range of motion. This concept carries over to the horse too. If you were satisfied with limited range of motion and the resistance in your horse, you wouldn’t be reading this, you’d go to the beach and rent a horse for an hour. A horse is going to bend better to one side than the other. The left side of the horse is usually the "easy" side. You’ll notice that when you ask for a bend in the horse, it will probably brace itself and resist. Your responsibility is to work through this resistance until the horse bends softly. This may not happen overnight, but with consistent work you will get results. Before you can begin side passes, leg yielding, or asking you horse to carry itself with collection you need to have a horse that can bend softly without resistance. These exercises can help get you there. Don’t start out by asking your horse too much. Start small and work your way up. Begin with 5 seconds and work your way up to 30 seconds. Bend at the poll Bend the neck to the left Bend the neck to the right Bend the body to the left Bend the body to the right. Horses that have suffered injuries often have difficulty bending. If you suspect an injury, don’t force your horse to bend – it may be resistant due to the injury.

PonyLover

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.