Applying the leg in dressage can cue many things ranging from asking the horse to lengthen the stride, collect or move off the leg. Moving off the inside leg is pivotal for lateral flexion, or bending the horse’s body to the inside. To accomplish a true bend, we use the inside leg squeezing at the girth, riding into the outside rein supporting steady, and can open or play the inside rein.

The age old adage, ‘ride inside leg to outside rein,’ is the prescription for a proper bend. How do we identify a proper bend? Generally, we want our horse to be bent in the direction of travel- if we are tracking left, we need a left bend, tracking right, we need a right bend. A true bend is not just a bend in the neck but an even bend through the entire body of the horse. We use the inside leg to achieve a true bend, helping the horse ‘bend at his ribcage’ instead of just using our inside rein to pull the head around. For correct flexion, you should be able to see just the corner of the inside eye when bending on a 20 meter circle. If you can see more of your horse’s eye, that is too much flexion. If you can see his eye on the outside, you need more inside leg and inside flexion. In addition to the neck flexion, the bend or arc in horse’s entire topline should match the arc of the circle you are traveling on.

The inside leg is the main aid used in asking the horse to bend his body in that arc to the inside. Instead of thinking about using the inside rein to create bend, think about making the inside leg do the work. You should be able to close your inside leg at the girth and have your horse step away from the pressure. However, you do not want the horse to just step sideways stiffly, you want him to go forward into a good connection as well as a little sideways and move with his body in a soft arc, not as a straight stick.

Maintaining a supportive connection with the outside rein plays a vital role in helping the horse bend through his whole body. If we just apply our inside leg and rein, the horse will likely fall out onto his outside shoulder. We must keep our outside hand in a solid position to give the horse consistent connection and help him balance properly. Try creating an imaginary box for that outside hand to stay in: always just on its side of the crest of the neck, off the shoulder, and never opening outwards. Pay close attention to what your outside hand is doing. If it has the tendency to want to pull to the inside, crossing over the crest of the neck, it shows that the horse is ‘bulging,’ falling on the outside shoulder. In this case you need more consistent, firm contact on the outside (perhaps a counter bend for just a few steps) to improve the balance. If the outside hand has the tendency to open out away from the neck, it shows that the horse is ‘cutting in,’ falling to the inside and needs more inside leg applied at the girth.

The inside hand too plays a role, but its job is to simply help soften and lightly flex the horse. The outside hand must stay solid in its position, but the inside hand has a range of acceptable movement. In bending, we can use the inside rein as an indirect rein- opening out away from the horse’s neck, perhaps a little bit back towards your leg. This essentially show your horse’s head where to go in the bend but again, does not accomplish anything in terms of balance without the inside leg, outside rein connection. The inside hand can also be used to play the rein- squeezing the rein in the palm of your hand, gently working that side of your horse’s mouth message-like to ask him to soften and give on the inside. The inside hand can open away from the neck or squeeze the rein a little, but if you feel that you are pulling the rein or contact is getting heavier, it shows that you need to be using more inside leg into the outside rein for the desired outcome of creating bend.

You can use the exercise of leg yielding on a circle to help you bend the horse around your inside leg. Track on a 10 meter circle at X, and ask your horse to move off your inside leg into your outside rein. Flex your horse to the inside with your inside hand, but focus on your inside leg doing most of the work. Leg yield out on the circle, pushing him sideways but also forward on your circle line, maintain the bend. Make the circle bigger with the leg yield taking it from a 10 meter circle to a 15 or 20 meter circle. As you leg yield out, you should feel that your horse softens to your inside hand, yields and moves off your inside leg and is balanced in your outside rein. You should feel that the amount of pressure actually increases in the outside rein as you step the horse over. It does not feel heavy as if your horse were to pull down (and can easily be distinguished because the feel increases on the outside, slightly softens on the inside) and it feels very elastic. Start again with a new small circle if need be. When your horse is giving on the inside and freely stepping off the leg, then change directions at X into a 10 meter circle the other direction and repeat the exercise.

Another good exercise to get the horse off the inside leg and into the outside rein is to leg yield a few steps and then go forward a few steps. Start by turning down the quarter line and ask the horse to leg yield towards the rail, maintaining the inside bend. After a few good steps sideways, catch the energy with the outside rein, straighten, and apply both legs to ask the horse to go forward parallel to the rail. Once he moves straight for a few steps, you can create the inside bend again and ask him to move off the leg once more, stepping sideways and forward towards the rail. In doing this exercise you can feel how that outside rein really plays a role in balancing the horse and how the inside leg creates the true bend. Without a true bend around the inside leg, the horse will move sideways straight and stiff and will not cross his legs and round his back fully.

When you apply the inside leg, outside rein to bend, you will find that your horse will flex at the poll and start to give and soften the inside of his body. This is the basis for further ‘throughness’ or roundness through the back. Not until the horse is balanced can he start to use his back optimally. Thus, we balance him on the inside by applying the inside leg and not letting him lean into the turns and stay connected with our outside rein to prevent a loss of balance falling out. We can also use the inside hand a little to assist in creating softness by ‘playing’ the rein. When your horse is off the inside leg and bending properly, you will find all movements easier to execute and riding in this harmonious balance delightful.

Danica Yates is a sporthorse trainer in the Portland, Oregon area. FEI and European experience, four years private training with Olympian Debbie McDonald. Training, lessons and board are available. Call (503)278-1112 or visit www.danicayates.com for more information.