When your horse engages his body for soft feel and vertical flexion, his wholetop-line shortens. That is; from the tip of his nose to the top of his tail, his bodycontracts as he engages his muscles. This causes his whole body to lift and elevate, pumpedup ready for action. Stand on your own two feet and let your body relax; arms and hands hanglow, back muscles soft. Now take a big deep breath and contract all of your muscles – canyou feel yourself lift and get strong? This is what happens to your horse when he becomesengaged.

When you engage your horse, primarily you are engaging his hindquarter. Remember, this isthe powerhouse, the motor if you like. His weight will come back to his hind and his frontend becomes very light and agile. Now he is set to perform some of the fancy moves you’veseen him do when he is playing with his paddock mates. Provided of course that you are notpulling on his head, making him heavy on the forehand and that you are sitting back on yourback pockets focusing up. With your reins this short, a tiny drop in focus can and usuallywill get you an entirely different result.

Now all of your preparation through Levels 1 and 2 come into play. You are sitting back,nice and deep in your saddle with your focus up. You will use your body from your waist downto guide and steer the back end of your horse and from your waist up to guide the front end.It will really help you if you can imagine that you are riding your horse’s hindquarter.Mentally put yourself back there like you were sitting in a big armchair. This will reallyhelp you feel what those feet are doing as it will put you in closer contact with the rhythmof your horse.

For those people who still ride the front end of their horses, who look at the front feet tosee what lead they are on or to pick a diagonal, the best they can expect is to get a horsein a ‘frame’ by artificial or mechanical means. By doing so, the Rider’s weight shiftsforward so of course the horse’s does too. His hindquarter will be strung out behind, notneatly underneath him and he will not be able to reach his full range of motion and movementwith his front end bogged into the ground. Both his movement and yours will emphasize thedown element of each step, instead of the elevation so you’re more likely to get a heavytread than a soft and light one.

Lateral movements, collected flying lead-changes, piaffe, passage andpirouette all require lightness and elevation. Remember, it’s the hindquarter that matters.If the back end is right, the front end will follow. However, the front end doing what youwant does not guarantee that the back end is cooperating. So sit back, feel for your horseand ride that hindquarter.

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