Chewing the reins out of the hands

First, we asked the horse to flex at the poll with what is called direct flexion or just feeling the bit. If the horse doesn’t respond to that, then we move the bit a little bit to get the horse to chew the bit. Once the horse flexes at the poll then we open our fingers and allow them to stretch down. This is how we get the horses to chew the reins out of our hands. Once the horse knows how to chew the reins out of our hands and we allow it to stretch after it softens at the poll then we asked the horse to back off the bit. This is the hardest part to get the horse to first flex at the poll and then stay giving to the bit until we decide to open the fingers and let the reins slip through our hands.