Light Hands

[Stella2]

I have not been riding very long and I'm keen to develop a light seat and hands. I have been told by a dressage instructor and judge who briefly watched me ride recently that i'm developing this well. I try to ride with quiet hands, but often feel uncertain about the correct use of hands. It seems there is plenty of information in books about correct leg aids etc, but little about hands other than where they should be positioned. I have learned to squeeze the rein rather than pull back at all when steering and my mare responds to this. However, I tend to bring my arm back a little when turning her head away from a spooky object etc, since if she is taking a keen interest in something, I sense that she would not respond to light squeezes.

I would value views about whether this is correct and also on the proper rein aids for cantering around a bend. I have been told to use a half halt on the outside rein just before the bend and canter depart, yet I also need to ask her to turn to the inside. It seems to me that half halt and rythmic squeezing are very much the same thing. I wonder if I'm half halting on the outside rein, followed by rythmic squeezing on the inside rein, will my mare make sense of it - i'm not sure I do ! :)

I also often come across advice to use the seat to halt a horse, but I am not clear about this either.

Any tips gratefully received.

Ann

[Wally]

Having ridden Heather's horses I hadn't appreciated just how much collection comes from the seat.

Light, steady hands come from the seat as do still quiet legs. If the seat ain't right nothing else will be.

I have used much more seat after riding Heather's horses and IT WORKS!!

It is the poise and uplifting of the torso, coupled with the clenching of your big muscles in your backside and upper thighs that does the collection. Relaxing these muscles and allowing the horse to move again away with you makes the horse move forward again. Iacs has got the plot to such an extreme not I can collect him on a loose rein, using only the power of backside. ( mind you with a backside the size of mine it's difficult to ignore)

Lifting the hand on the side of the turn is better than pulling back. I use a fairly high hand carriage, but Heather had me lifting my hands higher than I had ever been taught. For a brief few minutes I got a fleeting feeling of how I should be doing things. But I need to do so much more!

[Equitating]

I don't have the experience of Wally but I know what works for me. Ever since I bought Heather's book I have been trying to follow her advice and it worked from the very start.

Like Wally said, to turn left: slightly lift your left hand and advance your left hipbone. I don't squeeze unless she ignores me and I don't pull back unless it is an emergency! (hope not to have any more of those!) Try this at a walk, zig-zagging your way down the arena...it's fun.

To use the seat for stopping/slowing: again, try at a walk first. Make sure you are "following" the movement of the walk and are not sitting stiffly. To stop, clench your upper thigh and rear end muscles and stop the following motion with your hands. At first you may need to close your fingers on the reins but don't pull back. It works, and with practice it gets easier and can be used for subtle slowing and collection.

Hope it works for you!

[maverick927]

I really need help to sort my hands. Lessons helped a bit, but I really need a good qualified instructor and there are none in my area. Grr!

[virtuallyhorses]

Hi Ann, try to get a hold of "The Complete training of Horse and Rider" by Colonel Alois Podhajsky or "Dressage in Harmony" by Walter Zettl - they're both fairly old books (the best) and go into great detail on what a light, elastic contact is. They're also very good books to have on hand to guide you with all sorts of riding and very sympathetic toward the horse.

:)

[Stella2]

thanks, I'll try to find them

Ann

[insatiable]

hi i might be competly wrong but in my exerince canter around bends i myself half halt with the inside rein this keeps her balance and i keep my inside leg back a bit and the outside let to pick up the correct lead


i may be comptly wrong but thought couldnt hurt to try1

ellie :D

[Shady_Indigo]

Ever since i was a horse mad little kid i used to run around my backyard pretending i was on a pony doing dressage and i used to hold my hands like i was holding reins and this helped me keep them real still when i actually got to ride... Always get 'nice quiet hands' comments on my tests.. pretty much the only good comment on them though...my horse gets sooo bored!

[Tumbleweed]

The first thing you do to go round a corner is to look, you head is quite heavy and the horse can feel every movement of it so when you turn your head to look the way you are going, your horse then knows that you are going to go that way.

For my hands, depending on the stage the horse is at, I sometimes use the open rein. With this when the horse turns his head and neck, he doesn't feel the rein on his neck, which can stop a horse from turning. The outside rein I lower to support the neck and stop the shoulder from falling out. I can still use my hand to half halt or squeeze.

I move my inside hip forward which allows my outside hip and leg to go backward putting my leg in the right place to stop the quarters from swinging out.

To slow a horse down or stop, I stop the movement of my body and squeeze with the muscles in my bottom and thighs and the upper part of my lower leg. Then if necessary, I just put enough pressure on the bit to stop the forward motion. I block with my hands, not stop.

How I worked towards getting the feeling of this squeezing was to sit on a chair, stool etc, sit so that your bottom covered as much of the seat as possible (which is a lot with me), then sqeeeze your bottom and see how high you can get it off the seat, not pushing with your legs.