07/07/2026
Great article.
On the forehand - a commonly used phrase but what does it actually mean and, more importantly, what to do about it. 👇
On the forehand means the horse is out of balance. Picture your horse's body in two halves. The front half — including that big head and neck, swinging like a pendulum — naturally carries around 60% of his body weight. That's just anatomy.
Our job in training is to shift that balance so he's carrying closer to 50/50, front and back. When he does, we call it engagement.
Why does it matter?
The hindquarters are the engine. They're where impulsion comes from. When a horse is on the forehand:
🔸 The power from behind is seriously reduced — he can end up looking like he's traveling downhill
🔸 More concussion goes through the front legs, raising the risk of lameness
🔸 He becomes harder to collect
🔸 Paces lose their freedom
None of that is where we want to be.
How do we fix it?
The key is engagement — asking the hind legs to step further under the body, flexing through the hock, stifle, hip, and lumbar-sacral joint. This lightens the front end and unlocks bigger, more expressive movement.
It also relies on positive tension through the extensor chain of muscles — hamstrings, glutes, and topline — which helps raise the forehand from behind, not by pulling the front end up with the reins!
This all takes time. The hindquarter muscles need to be conditioned gradually and correctly, there's no shortcut.
Don't forget the front end: the thoracic sling
Here's something a lot of riders don't know — the forelimbs aren't attached to the rest of the skeleton by bone at all. Instead, they're held on by a network of muscles, ligaments, and tendons called the thoracic sling.
Key muscles here include the cervical and ventral serratus, the transverse pectoral, and the subclavian. When these muscles tone up and contract, they actually help lift and lighten the withers up between the forelimbs. This is often why a horse coming into regular work seems to grow taller at the withers — it's not growth, it's muscle development!
Exercises to help:
✅ Longitudinal work — collecting and lengthening the frame and stride
✅ Lateral work — builds suppleness through the neck and back
Together, these build a straighter, more balanced, more obedient horse.
Try hillwork — it's a game changer
Downhill work is one of the most effective ways to engage the thoracic sling and hindquarters, because the horse has to actively balance and slow himself rather than fall onto the forehand.
A few tips to get it right:
🔹 Best done in walk for optimal benefit
🔹 Make sure he's in self-carriage before you start
🔹 Add downward transitions — start simple with walk-halt
🔹 On gentler slopes, try walk-trot and trot-halt transitions — a great test of true balance and self-carriage
🔹 Rein back going uphill
Lightness in front doesn't come from the front end at all — it comes from the hind end doing its job. Build the engine, and the balance follows.
What exercises do you use to encourage your horse to lighten the forehand? Let us know in the comments below.
