Increasing engagement

There are many ways to encourage your horse to engage his hind legs. One of my favourites it to leg yield with the horse along the wall, pushing his hind end toward the inside and leaving the front end on the rail. You must do this in walk and then in a fast posting trot. Do not sit down as you post! You’ll go straight into what Mary Wanless calls “the man trap” and I call “the pocket.” It’s the hole the horse makes for you in his back when it is down. The back goes down when the hind legs don’t work properly under the horse. To get it up, don’t sit on it! Don’t believe that you must touch the saddle at every posting stride. You can ALMOST touch it. This quick posting and going at a 35 degree angle sideways helps tremendously to quicken the hinds legs.