I figure proper collection begins with proper engagement - the horse rounds it's back and engages the hind end to reach under and locomote ahead. From there, you can choose to gather the horse into the bridle and use body weight to slow/shorten the horses strides. You also need proper engagement when extending gaits - a good way to know whether or not the horse is engaged properly is to compare the angle of the forward moving leg front and back - they should be equal.

@Eliza Lane it sounds like we are on two separate topics... when I work my horse in the round pen, I AM the pressure but when they're loose in their paddocks for example, they come to me and stay with me if there is an outside pressure situation or scary thing. I am not the pressure when they are free but I am when we work. Another example would be when I was walking my stallion at a new showground a mare got loose and was making a beeline for him. He wasn't *working working* but I was leading him so he has to behave but I wasn't putting any pressure on him... He was excited by the mare but still walked with me and loaded in the trailer as quickly as possible. That was a scary/new/exciting pressure situation but he looked to me for direction and since I was calm, so was he. Had I been harried or rushing and my heart rate was up then he would have reacted in kind. I'm in the US so we may say things differently... To me, liberty is the ability to control my horse without a tether walk, trot, canter, halt around me along with a few tricks, like bowing. I exert pressure from a distance and they respond to my body language and position. I think you're talking about liberty when not working? Anyhow here are a couple pics of my young stallion, practicing bowing at Liberty (loose in paddock) and trotting poles at Liberty while at work - I was guiding him around a pole & cavaletti course from a distance. He wears a bridle minimum when we are working - that's his cue that it's time to listen.

@Eliza Lane thank you! Still a work in progress but I'm very pleased with all my horses progress so far! I learned that talking about horses online to people all over the country and world can be dangerous because people use different terminology for the same things and the same terminology for completely different things! You had me scratching my head - but now I get it! Thanks for entertaining my exhausted confusion.. getting ready for winter never ends!

How do you recommend we ask our horses to bend? And how can we tell if they are bending properly from up top?

I started teaching my stallion how to ground tie by first teaching "stand" on a line, walking him at first and then on a lunge line. Once he understood that "stand" meant to stay put even if I am walking away or doing cartwheels it was fairly easy to begin ground tying. I let the lead rope go and walked away, just a short distance at first because you want to set them up for success by making the task easy at first - then praised him. I also walked from side to side, building up slowly until I could walk all the way around him. Praise each time and slowly make the ground tying lesson last longer and get further and further away. Voilá - a horse that ground ties. It starts with a good "Stand"