Suppleness

    There are two types of suppleness in horses: lateral and longitudinal.  Lateral suppleness is found on the muscles of the horse's side, how easily they can bend from side to side.  Longitudinal suppleness is the ability to stretch down, round, go into a frame, round and use the back, as well as shorten and lengthen his frame.

    Lateral suppleness is worked on by changes of direction, circles, arcs, bending and counter bending.  Working on lateral suppleness also works on longitudinal suppleness, as the horse relaxes and stretches down as it laterally gets supple.

     A simple way to work on a horse's suppleness is to change direction, bend etc. in the warm up and schooling session of the ride.  Starting at the warm up walk once a forward, relaxed walk is established changing the direction and bend every few steps will loosen and supple a horse quickly and effectively creating a horse who is both mentally and physically prepared for training.

    At more advanced training, lateral work such as leg yielding, shoulder in and half pass, work on suppling, requiring the horse to shift his weight, bend and move forward and sideways at once.