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This is a continuation of a series of Articles.
Horse Training - Communication
By Beverly Whittington
|The Hands as a Form of Communication
The main thing that differentiates the skilled rider and the novice
is the ability to use their hands correctly. The hands must be independent
of the body, while working in unison with the body. Almost sounds like
a contradiction, doesn't it? You can add to this the additional irony
that when the complete rider/horse team is formed, the most skilled riders
communicate with their hands as a secondary means of communication, for
it is through balance, seat and leg cues that the rider communicates most
efficiently with the horse. This is a very confusing concept to a lot of
How are YOUR hands?
First you need to consider where you are at this point in your communication
with your hands.
All horses (including both hard and soft-mouthed ones) must be taught to work on the bit, in order to do this your horse must be accepting and trusting of your hands. Horses with hard mouths can indeed be a challenge to cause them to become responsive to a light touch on the reins. However the alternative of resorting to a harsher bit or yanking on the bit or engaging in an eternal tug of war with your horse will only cause their mouths to become even tougher. The hard mouthed horse cannot be “fixed” with a harsher bit, for it is often a one way street with a domino effect. The horse will never improve in his mouth until he becomes responsive and supple. The key to this type of horse is to slowly introduce the concepts of suppling and yielding to rein and bit pressure, with patience, most hard mouthed horses eventually becomes an enjoyable horse to ride.
I used to have an instructor, many years ago that said, “There are no harsh bits, only cruel hands.” I think it is also a true statement that there are no mild bits when used by a rider with heavy or harsh hands.
A rider must be supple through the hands, wrist and arms. Ok so exactly
what is meant by supple? Elastic, Pliant, Giving, Flexible these are all
other ways of describing the Supple contact of good hands. This is not
to say that the rider should throw away all contact with the bit. The reins
should feel alive, with even the tiniest movement of the horses mouth or
tongue instantly felt by the rider.
Try an experiment;
Take both reins in your hands as you would normally. Now have an assistant be the horse by taking up the “bit side” of the reins. As you hold the reins, shut your eyes and have the assistant move their hands. Ask them to make the movement as light and as imperceptible to the eye as they can. You will be surprised just how “Light” a vibration in the rein you can feel. Now think about this. Do you really think that your horse can't feel that with his MOUTH? Of course the horses mouth is capable of sensitivity far beyond what most people are able to feel with their hands! It is simply a matter of enabling the horse to RESPOND to these lighter cues.
If you feel that your hands are not light enough, work with a slight amount (1-2 inches) of slack in the reins. You can always take up the slack should the need arise, and it will allow the horse a respite from constant pressure, he cannot become more responsive to a lighter contact unless you allow him to experience it! Remember that you need to be balanced in your seat, not using the reins for balance.
Stopping without the use of reins.
How do you normally ask your horse to stop? Most people will simply respond "by pulling on the reins". Remember that when ever possible you do not want to PULL on the reins. Why? Well anyone can see that a horses can out pull you in a tug of war, it does take TWO for this to ever even begin. If you do NOT pull, he cannot pull either... So how do you stop your horse without pulling? Begin by breaking the stop down to steps. From a walk;
Ask for backwards with your seat.
One way to both improve your hands and the horse's lightness in his
response to rein pressure is to work on a back with little or no rein contact.
You will be using your seat to push (driving) toward the rear of the horse.
Your hands will simply be there to block any motion forward with a firm
contact that is instantly relaxed when the horse ceases forward movement.
In this means the horse will, by process of elimination , figure out that
you want him to BACK! You are communicating with your BODY, backing it
up with rein cues. So how do you “drive with your seat”? You remember how
to "hula hoop"? Visualizing the use of a hula hoop, or actually getting
one out and using it will help you to figure out how to use your pelvis
and seat to drive the horse forward and back. Driving your pelvis forward
you ask for forward motion, backwards should ask for backward motion. So
you simply apply how you would ask the horse to go forward, and do the
opposite of that! This is not something that will be instantaneous in either
your getting it correct or the horse responding correctly when you do,
so be patient. Your approach should be trying to make the horse think he's
teaching you to stop driving with your seat by his stepping backwards.
It is therefore imperative in the initial sessions, that The INSTANT he
rocks or attempts to take a step backwards, you stop the driving aids and
reward the horse with PRAISE REINFORCEMENT
to establish the cue for this behavior pattern. The release of the driving
aids is a Primary reinforcement (a.k.a. negative
reinforcement), and it acts on the instincts of the horse (what works FOR
the horse). Vocal praise ('good boy') or a rub on the neck
(rub, don't pat!) are Secondary reinforcements
(a.k.a. positive reinforcements, what works WITH the horse) and have no
power if your primary reinforcement is not used properly and at the correct
time. Ask for a only little movement at first, rewarding even the
slightest tries. This exercise can serve several purposes, you can initiate
the use of the seat driving aids, teach the horse the proper method to
back, work on the first stages of shifting the horses weight to the rear
(important in getting the horse to engage his hindquarters) and begin lightening
the horse's response to rein stimuli while lightening your hands at the
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