Do you ever feel like you're constantly reacting to your horse, rather than proactively guiding it? A key to keeping your horse consistently "on the aids" – responsive to your cues and moving with balance and engagement – lies in intentional riding. This month's tip focuses on a simple yet powerful exercise: riding a circle with purpose.

The "Four-Point Circle" Exercise

1. Instead of just drifting around a circle, let's break it down into manageable segments. Imagine your circle has four distinct points:

   • Point 1 & 3: Where your circle briefly touches the arena wall.

   • Point 2 & 4: Where your circle crosses the centerline.

   As you approach each of these four points, and then ride away from them, your focus and aids will shift. This exercise helps you develop a more nuanced feel and proactive approach to your riding.

   

   Approaching Each Point: Focus on Bend & Flexion

   1. As you near each of your four imagined points on the circle, your attention should turn to:

      • Inside Leg: Your primary tool for creating bend. Think about your inside leg as a post, encouraging your horse's barrel to curve around it, gently pushing them outwards towards the arc of the circle.

      • Inside Rein: This rein's role is to maintain lateral flexion at the poll. It should be light and encouraging, asking your horse to soften and look subtly to the inside without pulling them off balance.

      This combination sets your horse up for the turn, ensuring they are bending correctly through their body and softly flexing at the poll.

      

      Riding Away from Each Point: Focus on Energy & Regulation

      1. Once you've passed a point and are riding away from it, your focus shifts to:

         • Outside Leg: This is your energizer and framer. Apply your outside leg slightly behind the girth to encourage your horse's outside hind leg to step further under and engage, creating more impulsion and energy. It also helps to "frame" your horse, keeping them straight on the line of the circle.

         • Outside Rein: This rein acts as a governor, regulating the degree of bend and ready to half-halt and rebalance as needed. It should be a supporting rein, preventing your horse from over-bending to the inside and ensuring their outside shoulder stays aligned.

         By actively thinking about and applying these aids at each stage of your circle, you'll find yourself riding with more intention and your horse will become more consistently on the aids. This isn't about micro-managing every stride, but rather developing a heightened awareness and precise application of your aids.

Each month, we will be sharing a tack-room tip from someone who submitted a question via email or Facebook. This month's question was asking, "How do I approach a new training horse for the first time?"

If you are interested in submitting your question, message me at feneuco@aol.com or on Facebook