09/22/2026
Leave it to my dog to set up his spot right in front of the camera 🤦♀️
If you want a good, challenging, excellent exercise to work on with your horse try the triangle! I learned this exercise many years ago from Brandi Lyons. If you put your cones in a triangle, the goal is to *engage* (not disengage) the horses hip at each cone. The end goal would be to have your horse move their inside hind leg up and over the outside hind as they turn the corner, sort of like a car drifting, to achieve a straighter and more balanced turn.
When starting out, you are going to have to use a lot of aids. Your inside leg should go back a tad to signal the inside hind leg to step up and over. Your outside rein will be the primary rain pulling back to your pelvis, stopping that outside shoulder from moving too much. But you will also likely have to use your inside rein opening wide to help your horse make that turn until they get used to that inside leg connecting to that outside rein.
It is an absolutely excellent exercise to help your horse connect inside leg to outside rein. It is great for strengthening the hind end as it forces your horse to put weight on the back end and elevate the front end. It’s great for your horse getting used to your aids and good for overall softening and strengthening in the body.
We do not want a stop and pivot. We want the horse to continue moving all 4 feet throughout that turn. After a couple of days of your horse working at it at a walk, try it at a trot! Most of the time it is very difficult for your horse to keep the trot through the turn but keep at it! They will get stronger and stronger. This is River‘s fourth day working at this exercise, second time doing it at a trot.
