The Swinging Back

One of Germany’s best riders explains the importance of a supple, submissive horse.

- Helen Langehanenberg with Beth Baumert

When my horse’s back is swinging, it is supple and loose and he carries me into his gaits with a swinging rhythm. I’m not sitting on my horse; rather, he allows me to sit into him and into his rhythm.When a horse’s back is not yet supple and loose, the rider feels that she’s being thrown out of the saddle. It’s difficult to sit and the rider can’t swing in the rhythm of the horse. In that case, the hind legs work separately from the middle of the horse and the contact. Sometimes I ride a horse who isn’t using his back and hasn’t had correct basics. Then I must work the hind legs to send the energy through his back to the bit. In that way, the horse’s back becomes the connection between his hind legs and his mouth. I must always feel that connection.

Working with a Swinging Back is Easier

When the horse works from the hind legs through his back to the bit, he uses his whole body. So each individual part of the horse has less work to do, which makes the job much easier. On the other hand, when the horse’s legs are working under a stiff back,that back cannot take work from the legs, so the legs must work harder. The more the horse is supple and loose, the more he can use his whole body. And the more he uses his whole body, the easier the work.

Developing the swinging back begins with submission. Without submission you will not have a situation in which the whole horse moves together. The submissive horse is supple inside and outside. The horse’s body parts all work together and his mind is supple as well.