I was recently watching a video where a trainer was discussing and demonstrating the importance of lateral bend in a horse. The trainer emphasized that bending a horse with an inside rein helped relax the horse and gain control of the feet.

I am a huge fan of teaching a horse to follow the feel of the inside rein and offer a lateral bend through its whole body. One of my most regular Ross-isms at clinics is “The bend is your friend.”

I don’t want to go into detail about the advantages of a lateral bend because it would be a lengthy treatise. However, I do want to point out that just bending a horse laterally is not the magic potion that people often claim it is.

You see it is not the bend itself that is important. It is possible, and even common, that a horse can physically bend to the inside and receive no advantage or benefit. The important bit is what happens before the horse bends laterally.

When I apply a feel with the inside rein I want my horse to register the rein asking it a question, “Can your focus and thought go with the feel of the inside rein?”

If the answer is “NO”, the horse and rider are in an argument. With a little insistence, the rider can still make the horse’s body bend laterally and even drive the feet to follow the bend. But there will be trouble - sometimes a little trouble and sometimes a lot - depending on how strongly the horse thinks to avoid going with the feel of the inside rein.

However, if the answer is “YES”, there is no debate, and there is no argument. The horse and rider are going together and calm descends across the universe. The birds sing, the sun shines and everyone is happy - including the horse.

It is only when the horse says “YES” when asked to follow the feel of the inside rein with its thought that the bend is an effective tool for building teamwork and correctness. It is not the bend of the body that makes this happen. It is yielding to an idea that occurs first and makes a soft and accurate bend possible. Without the change of thought bending exercises are just exercises with little to no benefit.