Any tips for bending at corners?

[DorsetMartin]

My teacher said today that next week she wants me to work on bending the horse at corners. If you have any tips I'd be very grateful.
Martin

[lisaa]

U could try acting as if u were doing a circle. Coming in2 the corner keep your inside leg on the girth and the horse should bend around your leg. This worked with my young horse. Dont let him drift of the track tho keep contact with the insde rein

[DragonsMagic]

My old hunter trainer use to say "look, leg, then turn". She wanted me looking in the direction I was turning, then applying a little inside leg pressure to get the inside bent, and then asking for the turn, but all this needs to take place within about 15 ft.

[virtuallyhorses]

Remember to push forward with your legs and seat - corners are easy to get stuck in (lose impulsion in) because we're so busy concentrating on our track\bending\not losing contact\not popping the shoulder etc etc .

But bend is much easier to achieve if you push your horse through those corners almost as if the pair of corners (and there's usually at least a pair) are the bottom of a dip. The first is the downhill that you need to woosh down in order to build speed for the next corner which is 'uphill' - and as you come out of that you want to be at the same speed and tempo as you entered the corners in - rather than the common fault of pelting down the long sides and then dribbling and wiggling across the short sides :)

Thinking of them as downhill helps you to sit tall (I won't say back) too - its common to see people lean forward a little in a corner - which makes the 'slow down' even worse ....