Spiralling Exercise

This simple exercise provides many benefits for both horse and rider, creating more suppleness, starting to engage the inside hind, teaching the light connection to the outside rein and beginning to move away laterally from the rider's inside leg.

A basic spiral exercise can be started once your horse understands how to form a correct circle. The circles don’t need to be perfect, but the rider needs to be able to correct any mistakes well.
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1. Start on a large circle, ensuring the bend and balance are correct.
2. Gently use the outside aids to reduce the size of the circle to a smaller circle around the same centre point. Keep the inside rein light and the outside rein against your horse’s neck.
3. Judge the size of the small circle so your horse uses their inside hind a little more but doesn’t lose their balance.
4. Then spiral out, asking your horse to step a little sideways from your inside leg towards the outside rein. Take care that they don’t fall through the outside shoulder.

Variations

The variations for this exercise are many, and you can decide what to do during the exercise depending on how your horse feels. One thing that is important to remember is that if you have planned to do a specific series of movements, but your horse does not feel ready, change your plans for something easier. If your horse feels better than you expected, change your plans to something more advanced!
All variations improve the connection from inside leg to outside rein if ridden correctly.

• After spiralling out to the large circle, ride some small circles from the large circle, - helps develop suppleness and connection to the outside rein.
• Spiral out and make a transition to trot on the large circle this helps improve the walk to trot transition.
• Ride a spiral in trot and lengthen on the large circle to help with engagement and impulsion.
• Ride shoulder-in on the large circle, spiral down in a shallow shoulder-in to help with the suppleness and engagement.
• Ride a shallow travers on the small circle and spiral out in travers which can improve suppleness and engagement.
• Spiral down in trot, spiral out, and canter on the large circle to improve the canter transitions.
• Spiral down in trot, spiral out and do shoulder-in or travers on the long side – improves inside hind engagement.
• Spiral in and out in trot, change onto a circle in the other direction making a figure of 8 and then spiral back down again – develops suppleness and balance.
• Spiral down in trot, spiral out and canter 1/2 circle, then make a transition to trot and ride a small circle – improves the canter transition.

©Training Riders, Transforming Horses