“On the Bit”—Next Phase
“ON THE BIT”—NEXT PHASE: BALANCING POINTS: · Balancing · Building · Rewarding In the previous stages, you worked on relaxing the frame, primarily by loosening the jaw, poll , and any bracing in the muscles of the neck . You should have found that this transfers its loosening effect all the way along the topline, through the shoulder and down into the hind legs, creating regularity and an easy, swinging in the gaits, as well as an overall lengthening of the horse’s outline. However, as noted before, using the inside “Direct (Leading) Rein” will have the effect of slightly loading the inside fore. This is not the great sin it is often made out to be, especially when the horse is relaxed (not rushing) and working at a natural pace (not pushed) on straight lines and gentle curves (not tight turns.) However, your goal in this next step is to shift that balance from inside to outside. You will do this by creating a subtle inside lateral flexi