Today's Lesson: putting the horse on the bit, confused!

Hi, today was my weekly lesson. My instructor spent the entire lesson trying to show me how to put the horse on the bit. She had shown me a little before but this time she spent the whole lesson. She said this is a really critical stage of my riding development and that before I go into bending and transitions I should know how to put the horse on the bit. I am a little intimidated and wary of this putting on the bit thing.

She spent a long time going over it with me. Many times when I hear my instructor talk I feel like I am underwater and her words need a long time to reach my brain...like someone talking in a different language that I know a little of. I think it's because I'm very new so I'm not used to discussing horsey terminology.

Anyway I want to list the steps in putting a horse on the bit so you can help me out and correct me if I'm wrong.

1. The horse must be moving forward actively
2. The hands are steady and the seat is braced against both reins
3. When the horse dips her head into the correct position I loosen the inside rein by giving with my hand (NOT lengthening the rein), and I keep steady contact with the outside rein
4. At all times my elbows should be bent and my arms should never stretch out
5. To help the horse dip her head I can "massage" the inside rein, sort of like squeezing the water out of a sponge.

That's what I can remember...it sounds really hard right now!! By the end of the lesson she actually did get on the bit ..though I was so surprised that I immediately lengthened the reins LOL.

One thing I am confused about is, if the horse raises her head, does the distance from her bit to my hands shorten? And thus the reins become looser? Because when I ride that's how it feels like. My instructor kept saying I was lengthening them when she raised her head. But to me it felt like the reins just naturally became looser, so in that case, I should shorten them if she raises her head??

Do you have any advice for me? I don't think I have ever faced such a complicated task in riding. Even cantering is easier!

Thanks!!

I am getting the hang of this too... but never ever ever ever ever ever brace your seat! EVER!

If you brace, your horse cannot move forward in a free manner. It becomes harder. You need to be loose, but not throw your hands away (which may be why your instructor said to brace??)

Instead of bracing your seat, engage your core (those ab muscles) When you contract them, you keep your reins. If you sit up and engage them, your seat stop swinging along with your horse and that tells them to slow down or stop. But that's not helpful for putting them on the bit.. lol you want forward not slow or stop :P

This is how I'm doing it (figuring it out on my own since my instructor put me in a contraption.... grr)

1. Forward rhythmic walk
2. My elbows open and close, following the horse's rhythm. The way I think about it is "the bit belongs to the horse, my hands follow the bit" So we kind of do this see-saw motion of back and fourth. When my horse's head bobs upward, I close my elbows, when the horse bob's down, I open them. We are always connected. At least that's the plan!
3. I apply leg, using my outside leg to hold the hind end door shut (so the horse doesn't swing out) and my inside leg on to ask for more forward.
4. A split second after I apply leg, I hold the outside rein and gently play/vibrate/sponge the inside rein with my fingers (not pulling back!) encouraging the horse to soften. Sometimes I don't always do it this way.. I kind of get a feel for it, what my horse needs.

If I do it correctly, we're connected, his back is up, and his neck is soft and reaching for the bit. Now, the reins aren't TIGHT, they aren't super loose at the buckle either. They're long enough for him to move freely with me staying with him.

Tinyliny explained it to me really well once. You kind of "hold" the bit out infront of them, and push them towards it. Then you soften your hands and encourage them to reach for it.

You'll get it, for me it's hard to keep it once I have it since I'm still all over the place being a beginner myself.. but you'll get it! :)

That's interesting Sky, yeah I did think, if I brace my seat, aren't I telling her to slow down or stop? Using the abs makes more sense.
Same with locking the elbows. It didn't make sense that my elbows stay rigidly in a 90 degree fixed position.
Thanks for your advice. Heh heh so I'm not the only one finding it daunting!

My instructor said to never practice without her. I have a half-lease. She said I could get into trouble if I practice by myself. So I have to wait for my next lesson to practice...it seemed strange that she said that. I have a feeling she meant I'll get into trouble with the barn owner more than "get into trouble by getting hurt".

Yeah I don't see how asking a horse on the bit is going to be dangerous.. maybe if you ask at the canter and the horse has no clue what you're doing... then maybe that could be a little dangerous.

Well I hope you get it :) it'll just take some time. And I wish others would contribute so you have different ways of thinking about it. My way isn't the only way haha

It might be easier to understand if you took a few ballroom dance lessons. One place locally offers an initial 6 intro lessons, and I suggest you do a search to see if you have a place close by that does this, too.
It doesn't matter if you are a man or woman--it the connection between who leads and who follows that is important. Your body must be supple, but not loose and floppy. When a woman's arms are too loose they call that "noodle arms" and you cannot take the cue.
With the horse the connection is similar. You have to follow the head by soft contact with the reins going through to the bit. In order to halt or half halt you stop following. Your arms work independant of your torso and they both work independant of your legs.
As a novice rider you are not ready for subtle cues. When I taught English I had many students who had started somewhere else and had hard, uneducated hands. They could not follow softly. I gave them a 2nd set of reins, attached at the bit and run around the pinkies, made of baling twine. It would dig in every time they didn't give to the bit.
PERHAPS, you could benefit from working on a lunge, or a substitute, for awhile and learning to work your legs and weight BEFORE you add the reining.

Corporal, not all beginners are the same.

And horses are very forgiving. She's gotta learn some day. In fact being on the bit and having the horse round (through their spine) is better in the long run than having a horse hollow or flat.

But I do like your analogy with ballroom dancing.

I don't think there is a special formula to get your horse working on the bit. Some horses are much willing to do it than others. You have good concepts, like making sure your horse is forward and pushing and moving off your leg (i think this is the most important key) only after you get the forward from your horse, then you try to get them working of a steady outside rein and inside leg, and then start to 'play' with the inside rein...but make sure you always have your horse working off your leg, I think the legs are more important, I tend to start to block my horse with my hands too much, always remember your legs, it is very important that the horse is steping underneath themselves...im not a pro, I still have a lot to improve, but that's the way I have been taught... have fun!

Thanks guys for the support. My instructor emailed me today and said she will give me extra lessons to help me out. I will re-read this thread before my next lesson!

Hi guys, so I had my lesson today and yesterday.
I did better. Yesterday was actually a great lesson. Most of the time the horse was on the bit and I even trotted in that position. I was on cloud nine all day :).
Today was harder, for some reason. Maybe because there were other riders in the arena.
I found out why the instructor doesn't want me practicing alone. She said I could pick up bad habits and teach the horse to rear inadvertently, which made sense.

Also, yesterday and today my instructor rode her own mount next to me. She said it helped her see what I was doing and I could hear her better. To my surprise it worked out pretty well even though her horse is a young, green one.

The other riders in the arena (they had their own lessons) had training forks or side reins. My instructor said she would never let me use those because they're not allowed in dressage and I would have to learn anyway without them.

The toughest thing is bracing with my abdominals. I kept telling myself, brace with the abdominals! Abdominals! At the same time my instructor would be saying, brace with your back! Your back! So I kept getting mixed up and trying to brace correctly. It IS true, if I brace with my back the horse just slows down and stops. Then I tap her with the whip to make her move forward and I just feel bad because she's getting mixed signals.

Smart lady.. training fork is a TERRIBLE idea. And side reins, well I use those and they've helped so I can't say much there. She doesn't like gadgets which makes sense.

Practice off of the horse until you can do it on the horse. It takes practice!