Lifting the belly

Wolfie asked in the comments about how I lift Lucas' belly when working him. And there are a couple of different ways and a couple of different exercises that I use.

When he's on the lunge it mostly consists of transitions to keep him off his front end, and driving him from behind with the whip to encourage him to step underneath himself. (And I dont mean just whipping in general, the whip is as much a tool as spurs or a dressage whip are when you are riding!) You should be using short quick flicks to encourage impulsion and drive while not allowing him to speed out of the trot and into the canter.

The side reins encourage him to not avoid the bit, and to carry himself properly. Because Lucas is built with a lower neck, set mine are attached to my English girth right where it splits into the two elastics. Hes also on the longest setting because he has a long neck. You can do this without the side reins and in fact should always be encouraging the horse to lift and drive, but Lucas needs to be reminded that lunging should be work sometimes not just play.

Im very lucky in that Ive always been able to wrap my legs around a horse to physically encourage them to lift. You want to visualize that you are lifting the horses belly into your seat (sometimes if you have a horse that is a bit stiff or rest ant, rise the trot or think about tightening up your bum and allow your self to bounce slightly and let the horses back move as well. Sometimes sitting the trot improperly can cause a horse to resist using there back correctly.)