(NOTE: This Click ‘n Learn replaces the sliding stop one referred to at the end of the Clinton article in the May ’09 issue.)
In the April ’09 issue of Horse & Rider, clinician and Team H&R member Clinton Anderson demonstrates how to teach your horse to execute a counterbend circle. (It’s Part 4 of our “Do-It-Yourself Train-Along” series.) Clinton shows you how to bend your horse in one direction as you circle him in the opposite direction. Your horse is thus “leading with his shoulders” as he sort of crab-walks around in a circle, with one front leg crossing over the other.
Counterbending is important because it helps you gain control of your horse’s shoulders, and his shoulders are often a key problem area as you progress to more challenging training. Shoulder control makes it easier for you to keep your horse straight and properly aligned during more advanced maneuvers, including sliding stops and, as you’ll see here, turnarounds.
Use our Click ‘n Learn stop-action sequence to see how the shoulder control of counterbend circles makes it easy for Clinton to guide his horse through a dramatic turnaround.
Press the button on the left to play the sequence automatically all the way through at a speed you prefer, or use the individual buttons on the right to proceed one image at a time.
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TURNAROUND
Clinton Anderson
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— Photos by