Form in Flexion: Exercise Number One
Les Vogt’s first lesson is to teach the horse how to flex its neck with a soft request and to teach the rider how to teach the horse. Sounded easy enough.
The exercise: walk the horse in about a 10 foot circle asking him to bend his nose toward the inside, which flex’s his neck (flexion).
Rules for the horse: (1) ears remain level (the horse’s) as he flex’s, meaning he can’t just tip up his nose, (2) should respond to the lightest request, (3) should bend his body as well as he walks the circle
Rules for the rider: (1) no pulling on the bit and holding (request, release, request, release), (2) no touching the outside shoulder with the outside rein , (3) use inside leg to request the horse to bend his body
So there I am again, the big weirdo in the center of the arena with one arm stiff and stuck out so I don’t touch the outside shoulder, the other arm asking Leo to be bendy, and English riders circling me in perfect posting formation.
The outcome: Well, I’m pretty sure that I still don’t have control of my body. I think I was actually riding with a bend in it, the same bend I was hoping Leo would make. He would give in to bending his neck pretty easily, but then he would break out of the circle by just giving to my inside leg as well and doing a lovely two track. So then I’d try a little outside leg, which made him think I wanted him to do turn-arounds. Ugh! I know it’s all me. We’re getting better at it, but still have some weeks to go I think.
Questions: I’m not sure how far his neck should flex. I don’t see how he could trot and canter with the same kind of flexion he has at a walk. And how big should the circle be at a canter? Not 10 feet surely?
I realized recently, and this is the neatest thing, that Leo, the angry horse, has started to listen. He seems less intent on getting rid of me and getting done, and more intent on listening. A friend of mine rode him the other day and remarked on it, “he’s sure listening.”
