There’s this moment in riding — and if you’ve felt it, you know exactly what I’m talking about — when your horse suddenly stops feeling like a 2x4 and starts feeling like a living, breathing, bending creature.
That moment usually involves the ribcage.
If your horse feels tight through the middle, resistant to your inside leg, or like they’re just going through the motions without actually bending, I want to introduce you to my favorite exercise: the spiral in and out.
Why the Ribcage Matters
Here’s the thing most people miss: bend doesn’t come from the neck. A horse can have their head cranked to the inside and still be completely straight — or even counter-bent — through the body.
True bend happens when the ribcage yields around your inside leg. When those intercostal muscles (the muscles between the ribs) learn to stretch and release, you get a horse who can actually wrap around a circle instead of motorcycling through it.
The ribcage is also directly connected to the horse’s ability to step under with the inside hind leg. If the barrel is locked, the hind leg can’t reach. It’s biomechanics, not disobedience.
The Exercise: Spiral In, Leg Yield Out
Start on a 20-meter circle at the walk. Yes, the walk. I know it’s not glamorous, but this is where you build feel without creating tension.
Step 1: Spiral In
Using your inside leg at the girth (not behind it), ask your horse to step incrementally onto a smaller circle. Think 20 meters to 15 to 10. Don’t rush it — each smaller spiral should take 2-3 rotations of the circle.
What you’re looking for: the horse yielding their ribcage away from your inside leg while maintaining the same bend. Their body should curve around your leg like water flowing around a rock.
What to avoid: the horse just falling in through the shoulder. If the inside shoulder drops and the neck over-bends, you’ve lost the ribcage. Use your inside rein to lift and redirect, and ask again with your leg.
Step 2: The Pause
When you reach about 10 meters, hold there for a full circle. This is where the magic happens. The smaller circle asks the inside hind to step further under the body, and the sustained bend requires the ribcage to stay soft.
Take a breath. Feel your horse’s response to your inside leg. Is the ribcage yielding or bracing?
Step 3: Spiral Out with Leg Yield
This is the part most people skip — and it’s actually the most important piece.
From your small circle, begin to spiral back out, but treat it as a leg yield. Push the horse out from your inside leg, asking them to step sideways and forward simultaneously. The hind end should hit each new circle track before the shoulders.
This phase activates the inside hind in a new way. Instead of just stepping under (spiral in), now the horse has to push off and reach (spiral out). You’re building both the loading and the thrust capacity of that hind leg.
Common Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
Rushing through it. The spiral is not a race. If your horse speeds up as the circle gets smaller, they’re avoiding the work. Half-halt, bring them back to a thinking rhythm, and try again.
Over-bending the neck. If you’re pulling on the inside rein to create bend, you’re actually blocking the ribcage. The neck should have a soft curve that matches the body — no more, no less. Think about your outside rein as the container.
Forgetting to breathe. Your ribcage affects your horse’s ribcage. If you’re tight through your middle, they will be too. Exhale as you spiral in. It sounds simple, but it works.
Skipping the walk. I get it — walk work feels boring. But the walk is where your horse learns to yield without adrenaline. Once they understand the exercise at walk, you can bring it to trot. Canter spirals come much later.
When to Use This Exercise
I do some version of spiral work almost every ride. It’s part of my warm-up, my check-in, my reset button.
It’s especially useful when:
- Your horse feels locked or resistant one direction
- You’re struggling to get true bend on circles
- Your lateral work (leg yields, shoulder-in) feels forced
- Your horse is heavy on one rein
- You need to reconnect the inside leg to the outside rein
This isn’t a fancy exercise. It’s not flashy. But the spiraling circle is one of the most effective tools you have for unlocking a tight horse — and it costs nothing but patience.
The Real Goal
Suppleness isn’t about forcing your horse into shapes. It’s about creating a body that can move freely in any direction. The ribcage is the key to that freedom.
When your horse learns to yield through the middle, everything else gets easier. Transitions flow. Lateral work makes sense. Collection becomes possible instead of confrontational.
And it starts with a circle that gets smaller, then bigger, while you sit there and breathe.
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