An Exercise to Help Your Lengthenings Last the Full Diagonal

Description

Do you find that you often start off with a good trot lengthening, but by the end of the long diagonal things have deteriorated a bit, with your horse rushing and losing his balance and rhythm? This scenario is quite common, and is caused from the "spring" of the horse's hind legs becoming uncoiled. Meaning that the horse has lost the engagement of the hind legs, and is now falling on the forehand. Here is an exercise to help you keep your horse's hind legs truly engaged, so that you can maintain the quality of the lengthening for the full diagonal: