SO true! Just yesterday, I was doing shoulder-ins on a trail ride with my horse, switching directions every few meters. I kept apologizing to him as I realized I was awkward switching to the left, and had to make sure my cues and balance were correct.
So my running chatter went, “Good boy!” … “Oops, sorry buddy, it’s my fault!” … “Now I have it… Good Boy!”
Yes, just start thinking about developing the stretch/pushing out towards the bit about 5 strides before it’s shown. Might need to ride a little SF feeling to loosen the poll and have the horse ready to stretch as you turn off the rail. At least it works for my mare, might take some experimentation with another horse.
training trick i learned yesterday…
my mare gets envious!
someone else was training in a nearby ring and that person did these BIG slaps on her horse’s neck. My mare looked over to see what was going on (-why is she hitting him mom?) and moved on along with our thing… BUT when that trainer LOUDLY said GOOD BOY!!! i noticed my mare noticed …so i looked for a reason to reward her loudly and emphatically so all horses around knew the SHE was GOOD…found one and gave her a loud verbal and she dropped her nose, curled her neck and shook her head. LOL…so funny that girl.
i had a dog like that once, the most important thing to him was to be complimented in the vicinity of his pack. If i wanted peak performance out of him, it was not enough to praise him…the praise went a lot further if it was a) around other dogs and b) loud enough for them to hear how good he was lol.
Change bend back and forth for straightness. I have nerve damage so I can’t feel straightness. However, bending back and forth puts me centered in the saddle and riding straight, therefore making my mare also straighter.
The breakthrough with Sim was the day I said Good boy out loud. I did it all the time lunging him but not so much riding him. I put that back in and he was so much happier. I have to keep telling hubby to tell him out loud.
Not useful in a test situation, but an exercise at home to help the horse to follow the connection down is to alternate stretch and picking back up. Somewhere around 6-10 strides each doing 2-3 steps at the end of that stretch or sit. Encourage stretch for the 6-10 without concerning yourself with how far the horse goes. Then gently shorten the reins and bring the horse into a more upright balance, asking the hind legs to step under the body. Repeat a bunch of times.
How much sit/upright posture you ask for depends on your horse’s current training and that day’s conditions. You’re not trying to get the maximum sit or stretch, just to get the response to the aids. As the exercise repeats the horse will stretch further and sit more. They might need more than 6-10 strides at first, perhaps half a 20m circle. That’s okay too. As they repeat the exercise and understand what you’re asking they’ll respond more quickly without tension.
As the horse stretches more and sits more you can do a few more steps at each end of the stretch/sit without asking for more before going back to the other extreme.
Don’t forget about high value rewards for high efforts. Recently brought mints back into work time. Made a difference. Apparently, thought and intellectual digestion happen while standing crunching a reward 
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