"Jaw Flexions"
I recently posted about getting a horse started “ on the bit ,” but I probably should have started here, with the somewhat obscure concept of “jaw flexions.” I first got thinking about this after a great conversation started by smazourek over at Quarters For Me , and there's a great post on the subject that you should check out as well: Cession de machoire First off, let me start by saying that I dislike the term “jaw flexion,” as I think it’s something of a misnomer; I prefer the term “jaw releases” (and even that’s imperfect) if we have to refer to this process at all. So, what are the mysterious jaw flexions or releases? It is a concept and practice developed by Baucher in his Second Manner and over the years has been misunderstood and mangled by successive trainers and amateurs to the point of being nearly incomprehensible. For all I know, I may be about to add myself to that list, but here is my somewhat unorthodox take on this semi-arca