…And 4 Things You Should Be Doing Instead!
Hands! Hands! Mind your hands! It’s a touchy subject. Have you ever heard that you are NOT supposed to use your hands very much when riding? Like a million times. But for many beginner and intermediate riders, learning to manage and quiet their hands can be a difficult feat.
We all have a natural “need” to use our hands. And guess what? You CAN use your hands when riding! Its not bad to use your hands to help sculpt your ride. What matters most is HOW you use your hands!
4 Bad Things You Might be Doing With Your Hands:
Pulling
Ok, this is the most common way people misuse their hands. People pull to stop. People pull to balance. They even pull in order to get the horse’s head down into a “frame.” All of the above things can be cured with a good half halt! Learn how to ride a good half halt here!
You have to understand that when you start pulling on a horse’s mouth, he will pull back! So you pull harder, and then he pulls even harder in response. And when this happens, you have now begun a match of tug-o-war with you horse. And guess what? You WILL NOT WIN!
Horses learn during the moments where there is a release of pressure. So if you are pulling and just hanging on, the horse is in a state of resisting and not learning how to properly move. So he will develop a habit of pulling. The horse becomes dull and tolerant to the constant pulling, therefore, you need to pull even more each time to get a result.
Pulling too much can lead to several bad habits from the horse. He might just decide to lean into the pressure and haul off. Or he may just put all his weight onto his front end and let the rider carry it all! Overall, the pulling is what creates a horse who is always HEAVY.
It’s really hard for beginner riders to ride without pulling, so some slack must be given there. I sort of feel like there is a phase we riders all go through with our hands. It’s as if we learn over time and eventually learn to balance our own body and learn how to get better results using our body. But riders of al levels need to work on being mindful and try not to pull!
Carrying
The term “carrying” can be replaced with many other words, but the issue is that the rider is carrying a lot of the horse’s weight. Then horse is leaning on the riders hands and pulling himself along, rather than using his hind end to PUSH himself along.
So the rider is doing all the work! It may seem like the horse is fast, but it’s only because he is rushing. He is actually avoiding the work. So in this situation, the rider needs to get the horse moving from behind and stop being an enabler. Learn how to do this here!
Blocking
Pulling, carrying, and blocking are interrelated. Pulling and carrying are both, in essence, blocking. There is too much contact, therefore, the rider is shutting down the horse’s hind end, all with her hands!
To put it simply, the rider’s outside rein contact is indirectly connected to the horse’s outside hind leg. Same for the inside. Pulling on a either rein will tell the corresponding hind leg to brake. So the rider’s hand is blocking the hind leg from coming through.
When the horse’s hind legs are blocked, he cannot use them properly, which leads to other bad habits, such as leaning on the rider’s hands. See how all these elements are connected? Again, see my post about what to do when the horse is leaning on your hands!
Pulling is a form of blocking, which leads to leaning, which makes the rider carry…..Whew!
Dumping
Dumping might be a harsh term, but it is basically when the rider gives away the contact completely. Most riders have the mindset that contact must be as light as possible. Yes, but there still needs to be a contact that exists! So it is very possible that you are riding along thinking that you have a nice, light contact. But in fact, you don’t really have any contact.
Without contact, the horse is completely abandoned. But it is the rider’s job to establish a contact in order to develop the support that the horse needs. Most horses do not have the ability for self-carraige for any extended amount of time. So unless your horse can waltz around in perfect balance, you need a contact.
Contact is your way of holding hands and dancing in unison with your horse!
You need to establish as much contact that is needed, without pulling or carrying the horse. The reins must not have any slack, unless you are specifically releasing a particular rein for a reason. Other than that, the reins must be firm, not flapping. There are many more elements to contact, but just merely establishing it, and not dumping it, is the first step. (And horses can also avoid contact, which is a different post!)
And Now…4 Things You Should Do With Your Hands
Pushing
There are several instances when you would want to push your horse out to the bit. And While you’re lower body does most of the actual pushing, you’re hands also play a vital role. Pulling and blocking with your hands will not allow the horse to stretch out to the bit. Your hands must be pushing hands.
In the above photo, the horse is being pushed out to the bit in a manner of stretching. Like the beginning of a free walk or extended walk. In these cases, the rider pushes with the leg and seat and the hands will release or move slightly forward to allow for the pushing
It’s as if your legs and seat are pushing the horse forward and your hands need to go along. They need to allow for the space the horse needs to fill up, from the hind end, up and over the back to the bit.
This is essentially the beginning phase of the half halt.
Elevating
This technique is highly misunderstood, so please don’t attempt this without a trainer! This is by no means considered pulling your horse’s head up! Instead, it’s as if you are establishing the new place where you want the horse to carry himself. But it is up to the horse to propel himself there. You are just suggesting to him where to go.
You need to gently lift your hands slightly forward and up, while keeping the same contact. So you don’t pull up, you arc forward and up while keeping the same amount of tension in the feel of the reins. Then you open your hands a bit and “kick” the horse up to that new place. Not really kick, more like a gentle bump with your legs. The horse then comes up to meet your hands.
Think of it like this: Imagine the feeling when you are putting a sheet onto a bed. You flap open the sheet and hoist it into the air as it floats up and balloons out. Then it gently falls back into your hands. It’s the feeling in that moment when it floats up and just starts to come back down, but you catch it and gently guide it back down to it’s intended position on the bed. From the saddle, you obviously won’t catch the contact and guide it down to the ground as you would a sheet. But it’s that feeling of lifting the sheet with your hands, hoisting it up ( bumping the horse up with your leg), opening your hands slightly to allow it to float up, and catching it at the peak of its ballooning.
You can do this if the horse is curling behind the bit and avoiding contact. You are essentially kicking the horse up to the contact. (A gently bump) You would also do this to add a little morse “oomph” to the moment.
Receiving
This is that moment when you catch the sheet before it falls to the bed. It’s when you’ve given your aid in a clear and effective manner and the horse comes with energy from behind, up and over the back and into your receiving hands! It’s a beautiful feeling!
Remember that receiving hands are not pulling or blocking. And they certainly are not snatching! It’s as if your hands are just “there,” and your horse comes to them.
Learning how to receive a horse into your hands is sort of an art. The whole sport of dressage is art as well! But learning to receive has a lot more to it than the hands! The hands really don’t do anything at all. They just receive! It also has a lot to do with “feel,” which takes years to accumulate.
Giving (Releasing)
THIS! This is, in my opinion, the icing on the cake! This is not only a reward for the horse, it is also an extremely rewarding feeling for the rider.
During the “give,” you get your result. You get the release of the power that you created. You get the best steps from the horse. And you may get a surge of impulsion or an engaged loftiness. This is when you get your YES moments!
There are many different situations where you would give. The most common would be at the very end of a half halt. So when you give, you are releasing all that energy you just created with your leg. By pushing your hands slightly forward, you are giving the horse room to come through with that energy. (So you can now see how a set of blocking hands will stop a horse from coming through, which makes your half halt ineffective.)
So if you want throughness, remember to GIVE!
Be Mindful Of your Hands!
When we first learn to ride, it can be challenging to be mindful of our hands. It takes time in the saddle to really refine your hands. Don’t be afraid to use your hands, as they do play a vital role in the overall picture. But remember, they don’t really move a whole lot! They are just there, making really fine adjustments, sometimes just a centimeter forward or back. The hands never lash out into exuberant maneuvers! There is also much more to the hands than what’s discussed in this short article. For example, wrist and finger functions, which will be discussed in the future.
So if your horse isn’t moving right, think about what you might be doing with your hands that you shouldn’t be doing!
Keep Riding, Keep Refining
The Refined Rider
