Does your naturally gaited horse lean on the bit? Have you tried just about everything to help your horse be lighter in your hands? It might not be your horse’s relationship with the bit.

The Missing Link to Lightness

By Jennifer Klitzke

Since 1988, I have been a dedicated and passionate student of dressage. Early on I was taught that horses were born on the forehand. It was my job to teach my horse to travel less on the forehand to be lighter. Which body parts are actually responsible for lightness? How do we achieve lightness? This has been a journey. Here’s our story and breakthrough to lightness with my naturally gaited horses.

Are True Bends True?

The first 20 years of my dressage education taught true bend exercises. This means directing my horse’s body bend to the arc of the circle or corner we are riding. I rode my horse from my inside leg to my outside rein to encourage my horse to step the inside hind leg under its belly and maintain forward motion back to front to the bit without popping through the shoulder. We practiced true bends because dressage tests required true bends through the corners and shapes as serpentines, circles and half circles.

To help my horse find balance, I believed I needed to transfer more of my horse’s weight from the forehand to the hindquarters through driving my horse forward using true bend circles. I rode lots and lots of true circles.

Hindsight is 20/20

Back then, I had no awareness of the role the shoulders and chest play in lightness. Although my horse was moving forward from behind and stepping under his body with the hind leg, I was unaware that he was still on the shoulders.

Lightness, yes, he felt light in my hands. Was it true lightness? In hindsight, no. True bends had produced forward movement onto the shoulders into a closed hand. I believed this was a light contact. In fact, I was proud to ride him in mild hollow mouthed double-jointed snaffle! What actually happened was my horse positioned his nose behind the vertical to avoid my hands. His poll was not the highest point. Instead, the highest point was his neck. My horse was light, because he was evading the contact.

A New Approach to Lightness

Fast forward to 2014. That’s when I began studying French dressage. It opened my eyes to the importance of relaxation of the tongue, lower jaw and poll and its effect on the entire body. I began to learn how to help my horse accept and follow a light contact with a gentle snaffle bit beginning with in-hand exercises. These exercises help the horse find balance at a halt to carry its own head and neck. This means the horse stands in a way that lifts its chest and the horse finds posture while relaxing its lower jaw, tasting the snaffle bit, and following an even steady light contact with my hands.

Watch: Introducing Contact In Hand and In Saddle

Then the same exercises are done in saddle at a halt and then at a slow walk where I follow my horse’s natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms and hands.

If my horse leans on my hands, I apply a cue called “demi arret” which is an upward motion with the reins that make contact with the less sensitive corners of the horse’s lips. The contact communicates with my horse to stop leaning on the bit. It is the horse’s responsibility to carry its head and neck.

I worked with my naturally gaited horses in-hand and then from the saddle at a halt and then at a slow walk. This has progressed well.

Why isn’t the Demi Arret Working at Faster Tempos?

When I moved from a slow walk into the smooth gait or canter, I began to encounter heaviness in my hands with both of my naturally gaited horses. I was following their natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms and hands, yet they were leaning on the bit each time we advanced to more tempo. Hmmmm.

The demi arret has been effective in-hand and from the saddle at a halt and slow walk. I couldn’t understand why the demi arret didn’t seem to be working at a smooth gait or canter. Each time my horse grew heavy, I transitioned down to a slow walk to re-establish a relaxed and light balance and resume the smooth gait or canter.

Unveiling the Missing Link to Lightness

In October 2019, I attended my first Ecole de Legerete clinic with Master Instructor Bertrand Ravoux. There were many take aways from this clinic. Among them were two missing links to lightness I had been searching for in smooth gait and canter. No, it wasn’t a different bit. No, it wasn’t adding a gadget.

The first is a simple exercise that teaches the horse lightness and balance by activating the shoulders through counter bend neck rein turns. For me, this was a mind-blowing reversal in my dressage riding. True bend exercises had been so engrained in my riding that I couldn’t see the purpose for counter bends.

I thought, why train counter bends if true bends are required in dressage tests?!

What is a Counter Bend Neck Rein Turn?

The counter bend neck rein turn is an exercise that shifts the horse’s balance from the outside shoulder to the inside shoulder. The outside foreleg steps forward while the inside foreleg steps into the circle as if the horse is extending sideways. It is a terrific exercise to activate the horse’s shoulders to create balance and lightness.

Steps to Counter Bend Neck Rein Turns:

• The rider positions the horse’s head and neck slightly to the outside bend enough to see the horse’s outside eye
• To Turn: The rider draws both hands to the opposite side and motions gentle sideway nudges with the reins at the timing of the front leg in motion
• Important: This is a shoulder moving exercise, not a hindquarter moving exercise; do not use one leg to activate an outside hind or inside hind leg, however, both legs can be used to move the horse forward

Counter bend neck rein turns can be done in serpentines, squares, figure eights, circles and random turns as needed for lightness

Think about it: if the horse is turning through the shoulders, they cannot be on the forehand or leaning on the bit, right?

What a Counter Bend Turn is NOT

How Counter Bends are True

After this clinic I began applying counter bend neck rein turns with my naturally gaited horses. We did serpentines, squares, figure eights, circles and random turns as needed for lightness. These exercises began at a slow walk, to a slow gait, and then we increased the tempo.

To my amazement, the counter bend neck rein turns have freed up my horses’ shoulders. My naturally gaited horses have become lighter in my hands because they are less on the forehand and more balanced overall.

Counter bends eventually improved the quality of our true bends—which actually are straightening around circles and corners since horse’s spines don’t actually bend. Horses’ spines move side-to-side with each step. How can the spine remain at an arc when it is in motion? It can’t.

The Source of Heaviness and the Missing Link to Lightness

Getting back to why the demi arret wasn’t working at faster tempos.

Effective use and timing of aids

First, I need to apply the proper timing of the demi arret with an immediate release (descent des mains) as my horse responds to the demi arret. The proper timing to apply the demi arret is at the moment the head nod is coming up at the flat walk, fox trot or canter.

Awareness of balance

Secondly, rebalancing. Previous to the counter bend neck rein turns, my horses were traveling on their shoulders. The counter bend neck rein exercise has freed up the shoulders and rebalance my horses and now demi arret works in the smooth gait and canter.

Any time demi arret doesn’t lighten my horse, I move the shoulders through counter bend neck rein turns until the balance returns and we proceed.

Counter bend neck rein turns have been my missing link to lightness and balance!

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