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The Third Easy Piece

by Suzanne Drnec as told by Les Vogt

Please review the Introduction: The Five Easy Pieces, The First Easy Piece, and Second Easy Piece for best results, then read on about our third exercise...

The third exercise, or Third Easy Piece, is simply to sidepass your horse to the right and left on an imaginary line perpendicular to his body. It's similar to exercise two, but instead of leading off with his shoulder, you want your horse's body to stay straight. Like the shoulder exercise, you'll use hand and leg aids to guide your horse's momentum, but try pressing your leg further towards zone four, your horse's hindquarters, to move his body at a ninety degree angle- exactly sideways. Try to keep his body straight (imagine a bird's eye view with his spine straight, not curving) and use your right hand and left leg to guide him to the right and to keep him positioned.

Remember that your hands guide the energy of zones one and two, and your legs control the energy of zones three and four. If your horse starts to sidepass crooked, think about how to correct the problem: if his front end is leading, you need less hand and more leg, and if zone four, the hip, is in the lead, you need to use more hand and less leg power to restore your straight line. Don't worry about what your horse's feet are doing, simply concentrate on moving him sideways with all the zones lined up straight.

Keep practicing this Third Easy Piece, then advance to Easy Piece Number Four & Five.

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