A concept for advanced Level 3’s and Level 4’s to consider is that of NaturalFlexion. Back in an earlier article, we discussed soft feel and what it means and how itdiffers from vertical flexion.

To understand truly what engagement means - why it is a desirable thing to have and what itenables us to do - we must also understand that unless we can cause the horse to wish tooffer it to us, unless it is his suggestion to power up and become soft in a positive way,then it will remain forced, heavy and mechanical in movement.

We have all seen horses at play; seen what they can do and the beauty, grace and elegancewith which they do it ... naturally. Doesn’t it make sense then that they should still lookthis good and perform this well when we are on their backs also? Isn’t this our goal?

Flexion can be obtained naturally. True softness and vertical flexion should be obtainednaturally. Anything else will limit the horse’s movement and prevent him from achieving hisfull potential. If you can achieve softness, vertical flexion will come with confidence. Ifyou just go for the vertical; tie it in and down, or use some kind of mechanical means orforce to make it happen, you will get vertical ... maybe, however there will be no truesoftness and lightness.

It is imperative at this point that we remember to reward the slightest try, to rememberthat horses learn by comfort and that it is the release that counts. Your lateral movementsare where this will show up the most obviously. If you are still pushing your horsesideways, you will probably find that your horse will improve to a point and then not reallyget any better and maybe even become duller. His body will flex in the direction you arecoming from rather than the direction you are going to. When it comes to asking your horseto trot or canter sideways it will be difficult at best as you are pushing against eachother and you may find yourself having to use your stick or leg a lot more than you’d careto.

However, if you have been teaching your horse and yourself to go toward comfort - that is,to look for an open door - when you open up your direct rein your horse will step straightinto it and not wait for the pressure to come from the outside. If you have been faithfullydoing this, your lateral moves, including your collected flying lead changes, will be easy,light and soft ... your horse will put effort into doing them this way. If you get allexcited when it comes to doing your changes and you start trying to make your horse do themby pushing him from side to side, they probably will not happen, or if they do it’ll be withsome resistance like a tail swish or loss of flexion. You will either get resistance, adisunited change or a buck in your change. All of these signs are your horse trying to tellyou to back off and ask nicely!

So what is Natural Flexion? This is the simple concept that horses flex naturally, so thereis absolutely no need for force or make of any kind. All we have to do is set it up so thatthe horse offers flexion to us. When going backward, a horse will often put himself inflexion because it is easier for him to pick himself up to get his feet moving underneathhim is this way. If he is long and flat, his nose will poke out and his feet will drag. Ifhis feet are dragging and you try to make him go back more quickly, his feet will just dragall the more and you will probably cause more opposition reflex.

The same can be said of sideways. Your horse knows that to go easily and smoothly in both ofthese directions, he needs to get his feet underneath him. To do this, he has to pickhimself up (through the wither) and elevate – hence offer soft feel. When a horse lifts upthrough the wither, he softens his neck and brings his nose in ... he’ll also get his backfeet underneath himself and collect ... naturally! Just watch any Level 1 Primary groupdoing their groundwork for the first time to see just how natural it is for a horse to offersoft feel. I guarantee you will find at least a couple of horses putting themselves intofull flexion without their owners even realizing.

Some of you may have recognized this happening when you went to your longer lines in Level2. As you started to pick up the pace a bit and your horse had to put more effort in, hewill have done one of two things. Either he will have dragged his feet more in which caseyou had to work hard to get the backwards and sideways yields, or he will have softened andloosened up, elevated and offered soft feel. If your horse was a bit worried about theseyields he may have been impulsive at first, however he will have softened as his confidencegrew.

If we can learn to cause our horses to make the suggestion of soft feel,vertical flexion and collection, all we then have to do is close our fingers on the reinswhen he gives it. Throughout the previous Lessons, we have put a lot of time and effort intocreating a partnership through rapport. If you have been successful in this, when you make asuggestion of a particular task, your horse may well offer flexion because it’s easier forhim and he will help you out. It makes sense to your horse.

If you have to go looking for flexion, if you have to make him give it to you, chances areit will not be with true softness. This is just you impressing your ideas upon your horse.At some point your horse will get heavy and start pushing on the bit. There should be noneed to teach our horses to ‘move within a frame’; vertical flexion is something they havedone in play and fight all their lives. Hopefully we have done a good job of building theirconfidence with us on their backs so that they do not feel threatened when exposing thedeath spot to us in flexion.*

Natural Flexion is something your horse will offer willingly to you; if you have set him upto find it, built his confidence and trust in you and done your homework.

*see earlier article 2.34. Soft Feel Vs Vertical Flexion

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