The ESSENTIAL Dressage Exercise That Nobody Uses -The Turn on the Forehand

One of the very BEST dressage exercises, hands down, is the turn on the forehand. Why is it the best? We will dig into that below. But the crazy question is, why is nobody doing it on a regular basis, or even ever???

Honestly, I have no idea because the turn on the forehand is KING. It is a dressage exercise that will undoubtably improve ALL other movements, ALL fundamentals, and, well, just EVERYTHING!

Have You Been Doing Turn on the Forehands?

Have you even heard of the turn on the forehand? Don’t feel weird if you haven’t. Most riders, and even some trainers, have no idea what it is.

Why? Well, it is a boring dressage exercise for some people. It’s performed at the walk, and lets face it, we all want to move on to more exciting things. No one wants to mope around at the walk, especially when you are finally progressing onto bigger things, such as flying changes or FEI.

But, you see, the turn on the forehand is a dressage exercise precisely for the FEI stuff, and flying changes, … and shoulder-ins, and connection, and leg yields, and suppleness, and … EVERYTHING!

Maybe some trainers don’t teach it because they don’t want to bore their students who pay for fun and productive lessons. It is a hard thing to advocate for. It’s boring, it’s a walk exercise, and you won’t always see immediate results. A trainer can’t really justify the importance of it when most riders love to see quick results and keep paying for just that.

I will ALWAYS teach turn on the forehand, whether my students like it or not. But, I do try really hard to explain the importance behind it. I will take the time to clarify exactly why I’m boring them to death. I tell them what the future benefits are since they might not quickly understand it or see results.

How to Ride a Turn on the Forehand

The turn on the forehand, in simple terms, is basically a maneuvering of the hind end around the forehand. The pattern creates an inner circle with the footsteps of the front legs, and an outer circle with the footfalls of the hind legs.

It is performed at the walk with the horse slightly bent away from the direction of travel. Like this:

To start, walk forward and apply your inside leg behind the girth. Catch the momentum with your outside rein. You’ll need enough pressure with your inside leg to send the horse’s hind end sideways with the inside hind crossing under the body. And you’ll need enough outside rein to stop the outside shoulder from following the momentum of the hind end.

The outside rein is essentially stopping the front end and turning it onto the inner circle. If you don’t have enough outside rein you’ll end up leg yielding instead. The combination of stopping the front end outside shoulder as you are pushing the hind end over from your inside leg is what creates the first step of the turn on the forehand.

It will turn the horse’s forehand and nose to the inside. And the haunches will follow from your cue with your inside leg. Then keep repeating everything to move the horse fully around and around. Below is a pattern for a half turn on the forehand. The inner little circle should be where the horse’s nose points, and where the forehand steps, as the rest of the body follows in a larger radius and is slightly bent away from the direction of travel:

The KING of Dressage Exercises – The Turn on the Forehand

So let’s dive into the reasons this dressage exercise is so amazing. The turn on the forehand will improve so much of your riding. I literally cannot list everything without writing a book, so I will go over the the main points.

The turn on the forehand dressage exercise teaches a horse to:

Move off of the inside leg (a very crucial component of good riding)
Move into the outside rein (another very crucial part of good riding)
Understand the concept of inside leg to outside rein (putting the two together is a holy grail)
Understand the concept of moving forward and sideways at the same time (as in all laterals)
Take weight onto the inside hind leg (yet another crucial ingredient in EVERYTHING)
Be supple
Be responsive to the aids
AND SO MUCH MORE!

After the horse has been taught all of the above, via the fancy dressage exercise called the turn on the forehand, the horse will more easily, and sometimes effortlessly, be able to:

Work correctly on the bit
Relax
Work correctly from the hind end and over the back
Go around in shourlder-fore
Do a leg yield easily
Do a shoulder-in easily
Bend easily
Go forward more easily
Be connected with good contact
Have engagement and impulsion
AND SO MUCH MORE!

Are you seeing the pattern here? You see, the turn on the forehand is at the root of EVERYTHING ELSE! If you want to see great things blossom in the near and far future, you have to start by planting a good seed. That seed is the turn on the forehand!

The First Dressage Exercise a Horse Learns Should be the Turn on the Forehand

Most top trainers will incorporate the turn on the forehand very early. If you’ve paid attention, you can probably see why.

If the turn on the forehand teaches a horse so many things, and makes so many things so much easier for the horse to do, why wouldn’t you start with it before anything else?

Good trainers KNOW and USE this dressage exercise

It’s Not Too Late to Start!

If you’ve been in the dark regarding this special dressage exercise, don’t worry. You can certainly polish up your ride with it in no time at all. You just need to start using it now.

One of the most amazing transformations that I often see is when I teach a rider, who already knows the leg yield and shoulder in, how to do the turn on the forehand.

We start by doing a leg yield and/or the shoulder-in, just as they always have done it. Sometimes it’s OK, or maybe a little off for a few strides, and then the rider corrects it wonderfully. Or sometimes the movements are performed dead straight, but they are a little forced.

Then I teach the the rider the turn on the forehand. After they have it mastered, I immediately have them go back to the leg yield or shoulder-in.

Guess what always happens? (usually)

PERFECTION. And not just perfection, but EASY PERFECTION

Doing turn on the forehands will set a horse up for a perfect leg yield or shoulder-in. Even if the horse is newer at the movement and even if the rider is too.

And that’s just one example. Wonderful things happen when you do your turn on the forehands.

So? Do You want to improve basically everything with your ride and the way your horse performs?

Of course you do! So my best recommendation to all riders alike, beginners through advanced, is to use this dressage exercise as a tool regularly and diligently. The turn on the forehand is at the root of everything.

Keep Riding, Keep Refining

The Refined Rider