Contact and connection. These two terms are heard regularly throughout the world of riding and are often used interchangeably. But did you know that contact and connect are not one in the same? The two terms are completely different. Once you learn to truly understand the meaning of each, your riding will soar to a whole new level.
Contact
Let’s start with contact. It is a simple term with a simple meaning. People often refer to contact when they mean to be discussing connection. You will often see contact listed as the third step on the dressage training scale. But really, it is connection that is the heart of the middle of that famous dressage training pyramid.
You can look up the definition of contact in any dictionary and apply it to riding in much of the same way. Connection, however, is more like a drawn out theory that requires a little study and imagination to fully understand.
Contact is simply a means to communicate or touch. That’s it. Simple.
So contact happens when you are in communication with your horse’s mouth. Plain and simple.
When you have a loose rein, there is no contact. When you pick up the reins so that you are touching the horse’s mouth, so to speak, there is now contact between your hands and the horse’s mouth.
Contact can be consistent or inconsistent. Soft or hard. Good or bad.
The key take-away is that good contact leads to connection.
Connection
Connection is where real riding begins. When you have good connection, things begin to sail smoothly. Connection happens when every part of you and your horse are working flawlessly and independently, yet all at once in conjunction.
Connection is a flow of energy that starts in the horse’s hind end. A perfect connection happens like this:
The horse engages the hind end and pushes his energy with the hind legs. That energy travels up over the horses back, through the neck and to the bit. Then the rider receives this awesome connection in their hands.
The key concept here is that the hind end is the engine. And it pushes everything else into that perfect connection. It’s almost like the hind end pushes, and the front end just sails…because it is connected to that engine in the back, and that engine is doing the pushing.
It’s like every single part of the horse is moving together because it is connected.
Connection is Like Riding a Bicycle
When you ride a bicycle, the first thing you do it press your foot onto the pedal. Think about what happens when you do that. As soon as your foot presses down, the ‘engine’ of the bicycle becomes engaged and is ready to send you and the front part of the bike forward.
The pedal is connected to the rear tire by means of the chain, by means of the sprocket. It’s all connected and ultimately makes the rear wheel work, which pushes the front wheel. The front wheel has no mechanism to move on it’s own. The frame of the bicycle connects the front wheel to the rear wheel. And that rear wheel is the powerhouse that moves everything together at once.
And Then…the Magic
So what happens after your foot presses onto the pedal and the bicycle starts moving? Well, your other foot comes into play and you use both feet to pedal the bike up into the speed that you choose. It may take 4 or 5 strong pushes on the pedals before you reach your desired speed. Then you have enough momentum built up in the bicycle that you can just sail off with less frequent, softer, pushes on the pedals. Assuming you are on level ground, this momentum lasts until you stop it. Somehow there is this ‘power’ that is in there somewhere and you just have to maintain it.
That is the magic of connection. It’s so hard to fully understand until you’ve felt it yourself. But once the horse is connected, you will have a powerhouse beneath you. You will have a newfound energy at your fingertips, an energy which can be directed as you please.
The Connected Horse
The horse is the same as the bicycle. The front end shouldn’t do any pulling. If the horse is pulling from the front end, it is essentially dragging the rear end.
With good connection, the horse’s rear end is pushing the front end, just like a bicycle’s rear wheel pushes the front wheel. It all starts with the hind legs, and then a whole series of reactions take place, just as the bicycle’s pedal sets off the chain of events, through the chain, by means of the sprocket, and to the rear tire, which sets the bike in motion.
The theme here is that there are many parts at play, but they all move as one because they are connected. And because they are connected, they have to move as one. Just like a train. There are many separate cargo containers, but they all move along the track at once because they are connected and linked together.
The Disconnected Horse
Now imagine that the chain on the bicycle is loose and stuck in some way, perhaps twisted or not laying correctly in the groves of the sprocket. When you put your foot on the pedal, the bicycle will usually still go forward, but it is not smooth.
The bicycle will feel ‘stuck,” which will make everything feel unsteady. And since you cannot go forward smoothly, the bike may wobble and you’ll need to jerk the steering wheel left and right to keep from falling over.
And this is how a disconnected horse feels, more or less. Even though you might be traveling forward in space to some degree, something in the chain of events is causing a snag. Perhaps its a hind leg swinging out, or maybe the rider is pulling relentlessly on one of the reins. Many things can cause a disruption in the flow of energy.
What Good Connection Feels Like
Imagine you are on your bicycle and all parts are working correctly. When you put your foot on the pedal, that instant when you press down to engage all the other components of the ‘engine,’ and the rear wheel starts to move you forward, that is connection.
With your hands on the handle bars, you feel the front of the bike being pushed freely forward into your hands, just from that simple press of the pedal. The entire connecting process happens in seconds, and soon you are sailing forward.
The same goes for the horse. You put your leg on to signal to the horse to start his engine. Then that energy that is created with the hind end will propel the horse upward and travel over his back, through the neck and to your hands. Then you just receive it and go along for the ride!
How to Get Connection
Unfortunately, connection is not so easy for many riders. It doesn’t just magically happen when you put your leg on. In order for the chain of energy to flow all the way through, without snags, to the bit and to you hands, there are a lot of things that must happen, and a ton of other things that cannot happen.
First and foremost, you need to get your horse to step correctly, with enough energy, using the hind legs. You have to help your horse to prepare by revving the engine. If your horse just simply goes forward on his own accord, lazily, there might not be enough energy to make it all the way through to your hands. The energy will die out mid way and your horse will fall onto his front legs and start pulling you along. And if he doesn’t step far enough under his body, he may not be able to carry his front end.
So you need to set your horse up to step correctly with sufficient energy by doing some exercises to engage the hind end. I have two very good exercises to engage the hind end. You can find them here and here.
Next, you need to make sure there is nothing blocking the flow of energy that your horse is creating with his hind end. There are a multitude of things that can block the horse’s energy. Some of them come from the horse, such as a stiff neck or sore back. But most of them originate from the rider. Some examples would be pulling on the reins, sitting crookedly, or gripping.
Once you have the horse creating enough energy that will not be blocked, the power is ready to travel through the horse and to you hands.
Where Contact Comes into Play
Once you are connected, the contact in your hands has to be just right or else the power that you hold in your hands will either be destroyed or fall out the front end.
If you have too much contact, you will destroy the energy. Your hands will ultimately shut down the hind end engine if you are pulling. Too much contact can also create a place for the horse to lean on. Then the hind end will no longer work to carry the front end because the horse will just lean his front end onto your hands.
If you don’t have enough contact, the energy will still go through the horse, but it will fall out the front end. So if you drop the contact, or give too much with your hands, the energy escapes. When the energy escapes out the front, you have to keep adding your leg again and again to keep re-creating the energy that keeps falling out the front again and again.
It is the connection that enables the energy to be recycled. The energy is not wasted, it is used in the most efficient way possible and then re-used or re-directed.
The goal is to capture the energy with your hands and just hold it steady, not letting it escape or die.
So long as the power is originating from the hind end, and finally reaches the hand unencumbered, that is when connection happens.
Connection Takes Time and Practice
It may take years of practice before you truly know how to get a horse connected. You might be riding along one day and suddenly you feel it. It feels like magic!
I think one of the easiest ways for someone to be able to feel connection for the first time would be to get on a horse who is well trained in the extended trot. Connection just sort of happens naturally with a horse who knows how to, and then willing goes into the extended trot.
As you turn the corner, the horse knows he’s about to go into the extended trot. And so he primes his engine. Then when you turn onto that diagonal, the horse shoots off into your hands. And that is when you might be able to feel it.
Real Riding Happens When You are Connected
Have you ever seen the victory lap of a horse and rider who have just won first place? They seem to float mightily along with that big blue ribbon hanging around the horse’s neck. They look so powerful, and most likely it’s because the horse is truly connected from back to front. And that’s also probably why they won first place!
So you need to work on connection, when you and your horse are ready. Once you master it, you may be riding some victory laps as well!
Keep Riding, Keep Refining
The Refined Rider
