Spiral Exercises – support balance & suppleness in the horse
The Spiral Exercise, done correctly on the longe line or under saddle, has the potential to teach softness and create better balance in the horse. It must be built up in intensity over a gradual period since the movement itself requires strength and lateral stepping that is both tiring and stretches the musculature deeply.
On the longe, your horse needs to have the basic discipline of circling you at even paces, remaining at a set distance from you on a consistently round circle. To spiral in, you drive for a bit more energy by stepping slightly toward his haunches as you shorten the line just a bit – asking him to make a smaller, concentric circle just inside the base circle by stepping half his energy forward, half his energy sideways.
Do this in stages at first, maintaining the next size circle once around, then ask for a bit smaller bend – until you have brought the horse to a smaller, but not tight circle (the tighter the circle, the more stress there is on joints, especially the stifle – so build up gradually to condition the horse). Then spiral out by feeding a little line as you lean toward his middle to encourage the horse’s whole body to step outward, creating the next concentric circle, and so on…
For the longe work, you can place cones to mark the circles (small, medium, large circles) that you direct the horse through by placing him between cones that establish the desired size circle.
These exercises (on the longe and when ridden) should be schooled well at the walk before trot and schooled well at the trot before canter.
To spiral under saddle, establish your base circle at the walk. Ask the horse to move in gradually with your weight on your inside sitting bone, active outside leg pressure just behind the girth (to maintain bend and keep the haunches from swinging) and an active, spongy inside rein; stretched, supporting outside rein. Your horse should “half-pass” in – maintaining the inside bend that increases as the circle becomes smaller. Driving aids are needed (encouragement!) because the tighter bends require more energy. Think of half his energy going forward, half his energy going sideways. Imagine that a man is standing at the center of your circle with a rope tied around your waist and is slowly pulling you and your horse inward from your center.
Spiral out by shifting your weight to the outside sitting bone, inside leg becomes active, inside rein actively maintains bend and the outside rein is stretched to regulate the horse’s forward motion. You do a “leg yield” out. Imagine the man in the center of your circle now has a pole and he is pushing you and the horse outward from your hip.
Do these exercises equally in each direction (to the left and to the right on the circle), even if your horse is stiff to one side. Doing them equally each way really will even him up over time because the exercise stretches the outside of his body, contracts the inside of his body and weights the “power leg” (the inside hind leg) and doing this evenly will help his stiff side. Working a stiff side “extra” to develop it can actually make the horse even more stiff in that direction.
A great spiral exercise to use after the horse is going well and he seems supple and content is to spiral in at the trot to a medium size circle (15 meters or about 45 feet diameter), ask for a canter depart and then spiral out at canter; return to trot on the large, base circle.
When you feel that your horse understands the spiraling and he is enjoying the process, you can move on to other lateral exercises and his balance will be really great!
We recommend longeing with a Boundary Halter – its ability to squeeze the horse’s head if he pulls or bolts; but release the moment he yields can help you stay at the center of the circle without being jerked or pulled around.
