The day I decided to stop steering with my legs

Slightly controversially, I believe all basic steering of the green horse should be done with the reins. I clearly remember the day I came to this conclusion.

I was working for a very famous event rider. Her horses were very large, very fit and very well schooled. I was not especially fit, having had some time away from horses, but was (and am) a pretty long-legged, muscular rider. But I was struggling.

The arena we rode in was un-fenced and dug out of the side of a hill. I was riding a truly enormous TBx who was 17.2hh at least and broad with it. He was working at Medium level, apparently, but the most basic of movements was eluding me for one reason. I just didn't have the leg strength to shove him around the arena!

I remember the horse falling out of a 15m trot circle and actually starting to go up the side of the 'cliff' as my outside leg (WITH SPUR!) pushed and pushed against his 700 or so kilograms. He went through the aid as though I wasn't there and I thought, "There has to be a better way!"

I think the better way is to make sure the horse knows about a blocking outside rein. Opening the reins to move the shoulders is EASY and it refines down to the point you can hardly see the movements. It is POWERFUL - a horse going through an outside blocking rein can be given a clear inside opening rein to direct the shoulders back to where they need to be. Moving the forelegs with the reins gives the rider precise control over the placement, which, as I've blogged about before, is a powerful leadership tool that riders can harness. It also tunes-in the horse to feel and follow the position of the rider's shoulders, which is very helpful at Elementary level when shoulder-in, travers and renvers are introduced.

Careful use of opening and blocking reins teach the horse that "his nose is not connected to his forefeet" which can be the case in some green horses who struggle to move in counter-flexion and who habitually need to be pulled back to the outside track with a backwards-acting outside rein; this is seen all too often with riding school and pony club ponies. Horses who are too green, too desensitised, too hot or too pushy to go sensibly off an inside leg cue can do a credible Preliminary test all by steering the shoulders with the reins. After all, 20m circles barely require any bend at all!

It's only after the precise control of the shoulders is well established by horse and rider that I start to introduce bend around the inside leg. And I never (or very rarely) talk about a "blocking" outside leg. How can the horse differentiate between a leg aid that means 'go laterally away from this pressure' and 'continue on the line you are on without moving your hindquarters'? Seems counter intuitive to me!

More on bend in later posts, I think!