Ride Every Stride | Horsemanship And Personal Growth With Van Hargis

This week’s episode focuses on a topic some might find to be controversial. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we ask a lot of the horses we ride. Often times you’ll hear trainers yell to “bend” that horse or “flex” them. I had the opportunity to work alongside Jack Brainard years ago, who is a personal hero of mine. At one point I was telling some folks to bend their horse and flex them, and I caught a prying glance from Jack. I asked him if I’d done something wrong, but he said no, and that we’d talk about it later. Well, at supper that night Jack asked me why it is we bend and flex our horses. Of course, I gave all the typical responses, about how it keeps the horse more supple and softer in the face. But that’s not Jack wanted to know. When he pried deeper into the why he told me this, and at the time it went over my head, but I’m going to share with you depth behind his reasoning: We bend ‘em to keep ‘em straight. Key Takeaways The long-term goal of bending and flexing your horse is to keep them balanc