My horse does not want to do haunches-in what can I do?

Haunches-in, also called travers, is one of the more demanding lateral movements in the training scale and resistance to it is extremely common — even in horses that perform leg yield and shoulder-in willingly — because it asks the horse to do something that feels genuinely counterintuitive. In haunches-in the horse travels down the long side with his forehand on the track and his hindquarters brought in off the rail, bent in the direction of travel, with his inside hind leg stepping under his body and crossing in front of his outside hind. The first diagnostic question is whether your horse can perform a correct shoulder-in. Shoulder-in and haunches-in are mirror images of each other in terms of bend and positioning, and a horse that resists haunches-in but performs shoulder-in correctly is a horse whose body understands the bend but whose hindquarters have not yet learned to move laterally toward the inside while carrying weight. If the shoulder-in is not confirmed and correct, return to it and develop it fully before reintroducing haunches-in. Introduce haunches-in through the corner rather than asking for it on a straight long side. Ride a ten-meter circle in the corner, establish a correct bend, then as you come back to the long side keep your outside leg behind the girth to hold the hindquarters in off the rail and allow only the forehand to straighten onto the long side track. What you will feel is a few steps of haunches-in that emerged naturally from the circle geometry rather than being imposed on a resistant horse. The outside leg is the primary aid and must be clearly differentiated from the inside leg. Your outside leg behind the girth asks the hindquarters to step in and stay off the track. Your inside leg at the girth maintains the bend and forward impulsion — without it the horse loses the bend, the impulsion collapses, and the movement deteriorates. The inside rein is a common source of resistance when used too strongly — it should ask for just enough flexion that you can see the corner of the horse's inside eye, no more. Strength and suppleness are the physical foundation. Ask for a few correct strides, ride forward, and reward. Build the duration slowly as the horse's strength and understanding develop over weeks and months rather than sessions.