WHEN GOING ‘WITH’ GETS YOU GOING

If you wish to give a very special Christmas present to your horses, and improve their ‘acceptance’ of you as their rider, then I have the perfect answer for you.

Even if you are not a high level rider it is possible to make huge improvement with the level of acceptance by going more WITH your horse. As soon as you go more with the movement you will find immediate gains and a happier horse. I talk about going ‘with’ the movement rather than ‘following’ the movement because by definition to follow is to go behind, and when you think of it as going ‘with’ you will find it will make a real difference, especially to your rein contact.

THE VALUE OF ‘ALLOWING’

Having taken up a rein contact your hands need to go with the movement of the horse’s mouth…and only then can you start giving effective aids. I call it an ‘allowing’ hand, and please be reassured, an allowing hand and small rein aids are what you will be using for the majority of time, even with an advanced horse. Too many use a rein of opposition and fight the horse before they have learnt how to truly go with the movement. So give it a go, starting in walk, and see if you can even improve your ‘allowing’ by 1% and be prepared to be amazed by the results. Of course in walk the head should move forward twice every stride as each hind leg moves forward, so it is a great way to begin the process of getting your arms moving.

A great idea is to close your eyes while you are doing this, in order to isolate the feel in the rein. Tell yourself that the reins belong to the horse and not to you and keep a bend in your elbows so that you can more quickly go with the movement by using both the elbow and shoulder joints. Another good idea is to get a friend to sit down opposite you with a pair of reins and to practise going with the movement as one of you moves the reins like a horse and you take it in turns to be the rider.

ALLOWING AND THE RISING TROT

Of course your legs must also go with the movement of your horse’s sides and the seat with the movement of your horse’s back. But this is where so many riders struggle and as a result their horse’s struggle. Too many riders try to do sitting trot before they or their horse is ready, with the result that both horse and rider stiffen and are uncomfortable. In the process they also tend to neglect the rising/posting trot and are out of balance.

A good rising trot is simply fantastic to open the door to your horse using the back and then, surprise, surprise, the sitting trot is suddenly so much easier. However a good rising trot requires that you keep the majority of the weight through the leg and that you just ‘kiss’ the saddle as you lower the seat. The upper body has to be slightly inclined forward otherwise it is not possible to keep a consistent balance with the leg in the normal position.

HOW TO CHECK YOUR BALANCE

To check your balance change the diagonal by staying ‘up’ out of the saddle an extra beat, rather than sitting for the extra beat. If you can do this easily with no real effort or movement then you are probably well balanced, but otherwise you need to make a change. The tendency is to put too much weight in the saddle on the down beat, and increase the leg contact at the same time, followed by taking the leg away as the seat rises. This constant changing of weight means that the rider is not going with the horse and does not have the easy balance from which to have a good ‘allowing’ rein contact.

So get in balance and keep your weight the same in both when rising and lowering the seat. The seat will then move forward towards the front arch of the saddle during the rising phase. With the right ingredients you can then put any horse between the aids in rising trot and it is a win win situation. Happy days and Happy Christmas for rider and horse. William

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