Bend

[ClaireBear_nz]

My horse, a Welsh X seems to have issues with bend. He does have arthritis in both hocks, worse in the right, so I've found he's worse on the left rein (possibly not assisted by me being right handed) in trot, but better on the left in canter, brilliant on the right in trot but horrible in canter.

Any excercises to help him bend around my inside leg? He's doing some lateral work at the moment, shoulder-in and lateral work and lots of circles and serpentines...someone suggested spiral circles, how do they work?

(Yes, he does need to loose some weight!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/ClaireBear_nz/iceblocktallysparky19-11-07032.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/ClaireBear_nz/V220071118_5486.jpg

[x.fat-pony.x]

A good one that's always worked for me is using 4 poles on the ground like:

(diagram too embarrasing to show, edited it out! :o)

Haha, how pathetic was that!

Basically a square, and get the horse to go around the poles etc, then try and go round the inside

:)

[coss]

spirals are one of my fav exercises :D start on a 15m circle and gradually ask for more bend which will decrease the size of circle. it is a brilliant warm up exercise done in walk. once you are on the smallest circle you can manage then you should leg yield out. it really helps suppleness and generally improves the canter :)

[eventerbabe]

spirals are excellent, but you've got to make sure you aren't blocking him with your body. my RI starts me on a 20m circle, we spiral in to a 10m circle then leg yield out. You MUST make sure you have weight into your inside seatbone and that you have sufficient 'turn' (for want of a better word :p) in your shoulders. look round at your horses tail over your inside shoulder. THAT'S how much bend you should have in your shoulders. Make sure your inside leg is down and round so your horse actually has something to wrap around.

[Jane.A]

You really do need to be sensitive to your horse's problems given his arthritis. He is bound to have issues with canter as on the right rein it will be under his body and if he is not that balanced the laws of physics means centrifugal force will be putting more weight on his bad joint. On the left rein his right hind is the strike off leg (remember canter o/s hind, diag pair inside fore) so he can choose how far to place it under him to strike off. You don't say if he's on any joint supplements, I would only work him within his comfort zone and would certainly not school on tight spirals or circles every day as his joints will need time to recover. I too have arthritis and know how it feels! He is a lovely handsome chap but you don't say what age he is. There are also some hock injections that are available and may make him more comfortable in his work, or even a course of adequan injections, but you would need to consult your vet on that. I would just try to be very aware that tho you can gently try to increase his lateral suppleness any resistance you might meet could be due to discomfort rather than obstinacy or lack of understanding as his condition will also prevent him from stepping under and sideways too.