Foundations - Circles and Corners

Riding good circles achieves many things; stretching and strengthening the horse on both sides; starting to engage their inside hind leg; placing them round the rider’s inside leg; developing balance, suppleness and strength. Good trainers never underestimate the importance of riding correct circles.
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Nuno Oliveira always rode a few circles on each rein at the start of a training session regardless of the level of the horse, and the always had to be

“a correct geometric circle, not a potato or a egg.”

​Different trainers use slightly differing aids for circles, but some general points to consider are:

• Advancing your outside shoulder helps to bring the horse round the circle. If you find that this makes your inside seat bone moves and is no longer centered, it may help to bring your inside seat bone slightly forward.
• The size of the circle is controlled by moving your outside rein towards your horse’s neck.
• Your inside rein should remain light. If you pull the inside rein, you will block your horse’s inside hind leg from engaging.
• Your horse should release their ribs from a light touch of your inside leg so they remain in balance on the circle. It is very common to see a horse who appears to be bent but who has braced his rib cage against the rider’s leg.
• To go straight, sit straight. Trying to straighten your horse with the reins often bends then to the outside and puts your horse onto their inside shoulder.
• Each corner is ¼ of a circle and you need to ride it like a circle, although you only have 2 or 3 steps. Riding the corners will bring your horse to the straight side in balance. Often, riders forget the corners, leaving the fence to turn the horse and so the horse arrives at the start of the long side out of balance.

 
Start with some basic exercises, beginning with some circles on each rein. Make them small enough so that your horse makes a little more effort, but not so small that he loses his balance.
Then come into the middle of the school and ride some changes of bend from one circle to another. Try to feel how your horse copes with the changes and adjust the size of the circle accordingly. Keep the changes of bend in balance; have a few steps straight before asking for the new bend.

​Throughout the session, use circles to help re-balance and engage your horse to set them up for the next exercise.
 

In the pictures below, the chestnut horse on the left is correctly positioned round the rider’s inside leg and is bending though his body to create a balanced circle. In the picture on the right, the rider has pulled the inside rein back, blocking the horse’s inside hind from coming though and pushing the horse onto their outside shoulder with braced ribs.

©Training Riders, Transforming Horses