Horse Training Under Saddle - Riding Squares

Riding Squares by moving the hindquarters
(And other pointy shapes!)

A great horse training exercise while riding is riding squares.
The square is made by riding straight lines on the sides of the square and the corners are made by first halting, asking for lateral flexion and then moving the hindquarters 90 degrees. Remember to release your leg pressure for every hindquarter step. It takes about two to three steps of moving the hindquarters to make the 90 degree corner.

Make sure that the hindquarters yield, don’t just wander through the corner.
Gradually progress to yielding the hindquarters with less and less lateral flexion, so that eventually the horse yields the hindquarters with an almost straight neck, purely in response to you sliding one leg back and applying light pressure.

Remember to ride the squares in both directions so that you work on both sides of the horse evenly.

When the horse can do the squares easily with the hindquarters you can also try riding squares by moving the shoulders through the corner. Ride a straight line, halt, ask the shoulders to yield 90 degrees, then ride on. Remember to release the pressure for every step that the shoulder yield.

Then try alternating between sometimes moving the hindquarters in the corner and other times moving the forequarters.

You could then progress to riding the squares without stopping.
Make sure that the horse still yields properly and doesn’t just walk around the corner.
You might need to go back to halting occasionally to ensure the horse yields its hindquarters or shoulders correctly.

Then try riding triangles... These require more steps in the corners.