| Being a horse owner, you definitely want a supple | | | | vertically. Interestingly, vertical flexion kind of happens |
| horse. This means your horse bends and flexes | | | | from lateral flexion. Before you work on vertical flexion, |
| without resistance while he does his job. | | | | it's often good to make your horse supple laterally |
| Your horse becomes more and more supple as he | | | | because doing the reverse may create tight back |
| learns to give laterally (sideways), his neck and head, | | | | muscles, resistance, and other problems. |
| and his forequarters and hindquarters. You must | | | | Start teaching your horse suppleness by flexing the |
| remember you have to teach these one at a time. | | | | head and neck using a lead rope and bridle with bit or |
| You will break it down into small doses so he knows | | | | halter. Start gradually. As your horse gets good at it, |
| what you want and can later put them all together. | | | | start asking for more in gradations. Work your way up |
| When teaching him to flex laterally, you'll want to make | | | | to his nose touching his ribs. Make sure he does this |
| sure he responds to pressure of going forward and | | | | lightly before you work on his hindquarters. |
| backward because horses will sometimes react to | | | | Next, work on disengaging his hindquarters. This means |
| lateral pressure by moving forward or back. Why? | | | | you get him to move his hindquarters away from your |
| Because they're not sure what you want and they're | | | | leg pressure so you can control his movement. This will |
| searching for an answer to what you're asking. | | | | be critical in your ability to control him because you'll |
| As your horse becomes more supple, he becomes | | | | want to be able to shut down the engine and stop. |
| more loose. He becomes soft and can better flex | | | | |