The rider’s aids are the tools with which the rider communicates with his/her horse. The “natural” aids the rider uses are the seat, the legs, and the hands. The rider’s legs and seat control the two-thirds of the horse’s body from the withers back. The rider’s hands control the forward one-third of the horse’s body including the shoulders, neck, and head. It is important to understand how each of these natural aids works.

The Seat

 

The rider’s seat works as an aid to help the horse go forward or slow down. The seat works by applying weight into the saddle on the horse’s back according to what response the rider wants. The rider uses more weight in her seat for more response and less weight for a lighter response. The weight that the rider applies through her seat has two functions. It indicates to the horse her desire to go forward or to slow down, and it helps the horse accomplish these actions.

The Legs

 

The rider’s legs work as an aid because the horse moves away from pressure. In moving away from the rider’s leg pressure, a horse can go forward, sideways, or backwards. The legs as an aid are used slightly behind the girth. When the rider applies her legs to communicate with the horse, it should always be first done with the lightest squeeze possible slightly behind the girth.

 

If the rider does not get a reaction when a leg aid is lightly applied behind the girth, the rider should then move her leg slightly further back on the horse’s barrel and reapply the leg aid. To do this properly, the rider should move her leg back from the hip and only slightly bend her knee to bring her lower leg further back. The heel should stay down. When the rider applies a leg aid further back from the girth, it always is a stronger request of the horse to move his body. When using this stronger aid, avoid the common error of bending the knee to lift the lower leg higher on the horse’s barrel. This brings the heel up high on the horse’s side which is not a good position for an effective leg aid.

 

If the horse does not respond to the rider bringing her leg slightly further back on his barrel, then the rider should use a vibrating leg pressure. Keeping the heel down, the rider should apply a rapid on-and-off pressure with the side of her lower leg behind the girth. A vibrating leg pressure is not the same as poking the horse with the heels! Poking and kicking will irritate the horse and eventually make him duller to the leg aids. A vibrating pressure should wake him up without a lot of excess squeezing.

 

If the horse still does not respond, use an abrupt action with the leg behind the girth. Again, it is done with the lower leg flat against his barrel and not with the heel. A quick, assertive bump behind the girth should get a reaction from the horse. When it does, go back to asking him with a light squeeze with the leg. A golden rule of aids communication is that no matter what level of communication you must use to get a response from your horse, always go back to the lightest aid possible.

The Hands

 

The rider’s hands control the reins. To give rein aids properly, the hands must be in the correct position in front of the saddle at all times. The rider uses the reins for two purposes-speed control and turning.

 

Speed control is achieved through the action of the rider’s fingers on the reins. With her hands holding the reins, the rider closes her fingers around the reins to ask her horse to slow down. When she wants her horse to go forward, she opens her fingers slightly to allow her horse the freedom to move forward.

 

The second use of the hands on the reins is to turn the horse. I like to use an “open rein” to direct the horse to turn. Starting with my hands in the correct position in front of the saddle, to turn the horse to the left, I move my left hand and left rein sideways and slightly away from the horse’s neck. I do this through the action of my elbow not my wrist and never by pulling back on the rein. Pulling back restricts the horse’s forward motion, and it is impossible to do a turn without forward motion!

 

When turning, the inside rein (rein on the side toward where you will be turning) is the positioning rein. Its job is to position or direct the horse in the direction you want to travel. The outside rein is the turning rein. The turning rein is held against the horse’s neck without the rider’s hand crossing over the horse’s neck. The horse moves away from the action or pressure of the outside turning rein lying against his neck. To turn left, I would lay the right rein against the horse’s neck, asking him to move away from the rein pressure and turn to the left. At the same time I would use my left rein to lightly position him for the turn.

 

If more turning action is needed, the rider should slightly raise the outside hand to move the turning rein further up the neck. If less turning action is desired or a lighter response is sought, the rider should keep the outside rein closer to the base of the horse’s shoulder.

 

Next month I will share with you some exercises to improve the use of your seat, leg, and hand aids. For more information about Palm Partnership Training™, our training materials and our courses, visit our website at www.lynnpalm.com or call 800-503-2824.