Do you have a gaited horse that’s heavy on the forehand and leans on the bit? I found balance and lightness through counter bend exercises.

Counter Bend Balance and Lightness for the Naturally Gaited Horse

By Jennifer Klitzke

For years I rode true bends along the arc of on a circle as I trained my non gaited and gaited horses. While the true bend helps the horse strengthen the inside hind leg as it steps under its body mass, it wasn’t helping my naturally gaited horse find balance and lightness through the shoulders.

Why? Because my horses were on the forehand and I needed to teach a shoulder moving exercise before introducing true bend exercises. It wasn’t until I learned a simple but effective exercise called the counter bend neck rein turn that we found lightness, straightness and balance in the shoulders.

What is a Counter Bend Neck Rein Turn?

Introduced to me during a French dressage clinic, the counter bend neck rein turn became a game-changer on our journey towards balance. This exercise shifts the horse’s balance from the outside shoulder to the inside shoulder. The horse’s 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 help the horse find shoulder balance, straightness, and lightness.

How Counter Bends are True

After this clinic I began applying counter bend neck rein turns with my naturally gaited horses. This exercise began at a slow walk before increasing the tempo to a slow smooth gait. We did counter bend turns in a variety of patterns such as serpentines, squares, figure eights, circles and random turns any time we needed to regain balance and lightness in the shoulders.

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

Steps to the Counter Bend Neck Rein Turn:

1. With an equal light contact with both reins riding in a snaffle bit, I position the horse just enough to see the outside eye while keeping the neck straight.
2. To turn, I draw both hands toward the inside of the circle (opposite side of the bend) with gentle nudges in timing with the inside shoulder as it begins to lift forward. This encourages the inside leg to move forward and slightly into the circle. The outside leg continues straight and forward. The front legs do not cross over the inside leg for the counter bend turn.
3. Important tip: This is a shoulder moving exercise, not a hindquarter moving exercise. The rider uses the reins to move the shoulders, not the legs. The rider only uses the legs to cue the horse forward as needed, not to activate an outside hind leg or inside hind leg.
4. I like to start the counter bend exercises at a SLOW walk until I am organized with my aids in timing with my horse’s shoulder steps and that my horse understands the concept of the exercise before we progress to more tempo at a walk or smooth gait.
5. Counter Bend Applications: Counter bend neck rein turns can be applied on a serpentine by changing the counter bend at each turn, on a figure eight and changing the counter bend in the center, on a square by applying a counter bend neck rein turn at each corner, on a circle by maintaining a counter bend, or a random counter bend turn any time I feel the need to rebalance and straighten the shoulders.

What a Counter Bend Turn is NOT

Counter bend turns have helped my naturally gaited horses became lighter on the forehand, lighter in the bridle, more balanced in the shoulders. Then I began to re-introduce true bends, shoulder-in and shoulder-fore exercises as long as Lady remained light in the shoulders. I began to notice improvement in engagement and lifting her back to a neutral position.

Together the counter bend and true bend exercises have improved bit acceptance, balance, engagement from behind, activating the abdominal muscles to lift the back, and lifting the chest and shoulders, plus Lady’s naturally smooth fox trot is getting faster without breaking into a hard trot!

Counter bend neck rein turns have helped us find lightness and balance in the shoulders and now I can apply shoulder in and haunches in with greater balance and effectiveness!

Have you used counter bends with your naturally gaited horse? How have they helped your balance and lightness?

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