To flex or not to flex......

During the beginning stages of ground work with my "cutest little gelding in the whole world," I have been puzzled as to whether or not teach him to flex. Flexing is the action of the horse bringing his head around to touch his side without moving his feet- much like us turning our heads without moving our bodies. I've heard and seen two schools of thought. Many trainers teach that flexing is absolutely necessary, but I have not heard them explain a good application for the future. Other trainers disagree, not wanting the horse to ever move his head without the feet following in motion. My choice was the latter, to NOT teach Tex to flex (ha, that rhymes). I taught Tex that when I pull his rein to the side, his feet always move at the same time.

However, when I mounted the little guy for the first time last week and attempted to turn him, he braced against the bosal (a piece of equipment that goes around the horse's nose with reins attached, the predecessor to the bit). It was quite difficult to turn him from the saddle! Husband said that once you mount your horse, everything starts over again with his training. But the difficulty with turning made me think twice about my flexing training decision. I do want to be able to turn him with very little effort, and I want his nose to turn and then his body to follow. Additionally, husband informed me that a well-trained cutting horse (which is one of the things I hope to make Tex) needs to be able to walk forward or backward WHILE flexing its neck to watch the cow.

For further research, I found a video videos on YouTube to see the effect of flexing on a young cutting horse. Check it out, and notice how the trainer is continually turning the horse's head sideways WHILE the horse moves straight back or forward.

I have since decided that teaching Tex to flex could actually be in my best interest for the disciplines (cutting, working cow horse, penning, ranch horse versatility) that I want him to excel in. I will be teaching flexing from the ground for the next few lessons, and then work on it while sitting still in the saddle. TM