Hand up or Hands Down?

[Gracie]

When training a young horse should your hands be down near the side of their necks? Or up? I'm so confused. My last coach told me to keep them up.... she kept telling me to raise them until they almost felt high!
But reading a book it said to keep them down! Any insight?

[virtuallyhorses]

Ha ha :D Its one of those delightful learning things ! I was going to add this to my website - in the beginning I was constantly being told to keep my hands down - now I'm chastised for having them too low!! :D :D

I guess the answer is - it depends! helpful huh?

on what? you may ask - on you, the horse, the movement, the bit, the required neck position etc etc

When learning you are asked to keep your hands down, to ensure that you learn the elbow - hands - bit alignment and learn to keep your hands still and not use them to 'hang on'. As you progress the temptation is to use them as low as the horses wither or shoulders - but this also destroys that alignment!

In short use your hands where they are effective, in general (95% of the time) you hands should remain in the elbow-hand-bit straight line alignment - therefore if your horse's head is very low (long and low) then you may need to bring your hands wide and low. If you are an advanced rider you may also break the alignment rule in order to teach the horse to carry its head\neck a particular way or to 'play' with that control, but be wary of having your body follow your hands - loading up the horse's forehand in order to 'force' it down is not the same as a nice long-low stretch...

sorry Gracie, perhaps not a very helpful answer - check the pictures in the book you are reading - you will probably find that when they say 'hands down' they are describing the same position as your coach - just that your hands were too far down ???

[Gracie]

Maybe!LOL! Its so frustrating because my first coach told me to keep the low too, this trianing book said to keep them low. But my last coach told me to keep them up!hehehe! Thanks VH for attempting to help me... what you said certainly makes sense!:)
I guess its just one of those things!

[Dressage_Luvr]

lol

i honestly cant help you at all!


how does she hold her head? lol, it depends on a lot of things!

i just know, the lower the head, the higher the hands . thats what iw as told.

but the horse wasnt a young'in, and hes trained in dressage.

just ask your coach, and ask why and stuff
good luck

[Gracie]

LOL shes not my coach anymore because my new barn does not allow outside coachs. So I can't really ask! GRRRrr! But she does carry her head fairly low!

[virtuallyhorses]

Hi again Gracie - here's a couple of good examples of hands-up hands-down with horses in almost identical poses.

http://www.rainbowequus.com/images/gotthard-dressage-b.jpg

Here the rider has his hands in the 'classic' elbow>hand>bit alignment

http://www.eoni.com/~mishamez/dressage.jpg

Here the rider has hands much lower, the body has also come forward and although the horse looks nice and round on first appearance it is also more on the forehand than the pic above.

[Gracie]

I personally think the hands high looks better.
But the hands low may be more effective?
hmmm...ohh the lovely world of training!hehe

[virtuallyhorses]

I guess the real question-answer should be - what are you worried about your hands for? All a young horse's training should be on going forward - and that comes from the seat and legs. You should simply be keeping a quiet, elastic contact and not fluffing about with hands too much on a young horse - just develop that 'forward and straight' quality first. :)

[Gracie]

True Enough! I guess I was worried about the hands because my second coach was so consistant about reminding me about my hands! I guess thats why I thought it was so important!:)

PS: Thanks for all your help VH!:)Especailly taking the time to attach those pics!

[Shady_Indigo]

Personally i think i like the front end of the second horse and the back end of the first horse.
The second horse isn't using its backend much, and is on the forehand. Where as the front end of the first horse looks all scruched up and not very flexible. Both nice horses though.
I haven't had much experience with youngsters but for general riding i was always taugh 3X3 that is 3 inches above the withers and 3 inches apart from each other.