[SteadyOn]

I'm a minimalist when it comes to aids, which for so many reasons, is how I think good riders should ride, and good horse handlers should, well, horse handle. Do as little as needed, as consistently as possible, and both you and you horse will stay soft and light and communicate better.

So when it comes to using legs in a ride, I think of them in the same way I think of rein contact. My legs are "on" enough to be ready to communicate, but I'm not in a constant state of squeezing. I don't use my legs like a pressed-down gas pedal, where I keep them ON like I do at the start of an aid for the entirety of the time I'm in a certain gait. I don't grip with my lower leg -- or any part of my leg for that matter -- to clamp myself into the saddle. I use my seat and the backs of my thighs as my base of support, and try to keep a stable but supple lower leg that I can use effectively and independently so that the pressure always MEANS something.

My regular coach is also a horse trainer, and all her horses are trained to rate themselves. Once you get them going at the pace you'd like, it takes minimal adjustment to keep them there. It means not having to constantly have noise from either the legs to bump them up, or the reins to slow them down. Aids don't get worn out and constantly have to escalate to be applied effectively. One of her main school horses used to need CONSTANT inside leg to maintain the canter, and we've been successfully training that out of her over the past year and a half so that she'll maintain her canter with minimal "nagging."

This past week, I had a guest lesson while I was out of town with a different instructor, different horse. I had gone to this instructor a couple of times last winter when I was visiting family and had some good lessons with her. This time, however, she put me on a big draft cross I hadn't ridden in those lessons, and handed me the world's tiniest jumping bat, and took me out to a big field to work on flat work.

Slowest. Horse. Of. My. Life.

He blew off my leg aids to pick up any pace -- even at the walk. It was a bit absurd to have to try to reach way back with an 11" stick to try to pop him (in)effectively. Eventually he very grudgingly gave me the saddest trot in the world after a bunch of squeezing, kicking, nagging, and a few pops. To even reach canter was, without exaggeration, a twenty minute exercise in futility. Just "slow trot slow trot slow trot" ignoring all attempts. (I do know my canter aids; he was just blowing me off.) Until finally I guess he decided this would never be over with until he gave me a bit of what I was looking for.

When I did get any speed, he'd drop out of it the second I subtracted any leg whatsoever, which this instructor got after me for. Stop taking your leg off! I've always had a pressure-and-release approach to horse training. What is this horse's incentive to keep going if he gets no release for giving the rider what they want? Is this why he's so absolutely dead to the leg? My leg was at no point really "off," but I did decrease it when I got the answer I was looking for. (Incidentally, with this horse, keeping my leg ON ON ON didn't actually make a difference anyhow, ha.) And I don't normally have problems getting and keeping a horse at the speed I want. So, the experience had me wondering what other people's approaches are.

How much leg do you, personally, apply? Do you back it off once you're where you want to be, and how much do you back it off? Or do you keep a certain amount of pressure on at certain gaits? What is your reasoning for your approach? And is it unusual to want a horse to, ideally, not need constant pressure to maintain their speed?

 

[Kaifyre]

I'm with you SteadyOn. When I want to move faster, I squeeze with my calves until the desired speed is attained, then the leg comes off (Of course I'll escalate if necessary by clucking or spanking but I usually only have to squeeze). I ride with completely loose reins - when I point my horse down a trail, or ask him to follow a fence, it's his responsibility to follow the trail or fence at the speed I've specified, until I say otherwise. If a horse slows down, I will add leg. If he speeds up, I will pick up on my reins. Once the desired speed and direction are reached, all aids off. I find that this creates a very light, responsive horse that realizes, as you said earlier, that every time I apply pressure it means something.

I've got a colt I'm working on now that is ridiculously light in the mouth. I can have a drape in my reins that hangs to his knees, and if I raise my hand one inch he'll soften vertically and drop his nose. SUPER light. Likewise, I can squeeze with one leg or both and he'll speed up or sidepass or turn or yield his hindquarters/shoulders or .... It's glorious. I tell his owner it's like driving a Ferrari. I have cultivated this lightness by never using the reins or legs, unless I want him to do something. : )

The one exception I've made to my "no aids" rule is the TWH I'm retraining for a friend of mine. She was never trained to respond to any leg pressure whatsoever so the merest brush of your pants on her side makes her GO. So with her for the first two months of riding I was constantly squeezing and bumping with my legs to desensitize her to leg pressure, before I started actually using my leg aids to train her. Before I could build, I had to first destroy. ; )

-- Kai

 

[yeswaitnosorry]

Great post SteadyOn. I don't want to micromanage my horse the whole ride either.
Although at this stage with a young Clydie X I do have to keep asking for any speed to be maintained. He's very happy to drop back into a walk. 😄

 

[Kaiit]

I also follow your method. Not because I was taught that way, but because I read about it and it makes sense to me. So that's the way I've trained my horse. Perhaps I shouldn't admit to messing around while riding, but the other day I cued him into canter and pretended to shoot my sister with an invisible bow and arrow at every pass, much to her amusement. Leg for turning was all I needed.

In the riding school we were taught that you need to constantly "talk" to the horse with your legs - so when in walk you bump-bump-bump to keep them going. To me, that just trains a horse dead to the leg, which these school horses were. Especially true of the bigger horses, which could take a considerable amount of pressure before they responded at all. I don't particularly like using a whip, but riding those horses seemed to be a test in how efficiently you could use it.

 

[Reiningcatsanddogs]

I ride western so yep, pretty much ride as you describe.

I ride a certain way and have my personal horse trained so you just have to touch as if you were laying your hand on a friend’s arm in comfort and that is a cue to him otherwise keep your legs off. No whip needed. A "correction" to him is just a strong leg.

Ride him with constant leg pressure and he becomes agitated and confused because he thinks he is doing something wrong, he has to have that release as you stated. He also responds quite nicely to "lift" rather than direct mouth pressure against the reins...again, a western trained horse.

 

[AnitaAnne]

Riding with a release of contact is not an "western" or "English" style, it is the basics of horse training.

I personally use the lightest touch needed and release once I have the correct response. I also use my voice to cue at times, so can ride without very much leg or rein at all. I used to get marked off at shows for having my reins too loose (Dressage shows) so had to have more contact than I really like to use, but stiff reins help with that too.

The aid I use the most is my seat aid :smile:

With a very slow, dead to the aids horse; I would use a very light aid, then a STRONG aid. For instance for an upward transition to trot, I would use a tiny bump of my heels, if no response I would use a big pop of the whip immediately. No in between of kicking harder and harder; I want a horse to give me the right answer the first time I ask.

Even if a horse seems dead to the aids, they can still feel a fly land on them. They have been conditioned to need a strong leg aid; it doesn't mean they can't feel you tap them. This my sound harsh, but I have found the horse quickly wakes up and starts paying attention to me when they are immediately corrected firmly. The horse will start paying attention and do what is asked the first time.

I'm not going to wear myself out with constant kicking a horse, and it reinforces the incorrect response.

 

[seabiscuit91]

I'm with you.

I definitely apply as needed, as whatever you ask the horse whether it be w/t/c they should do said gait until asked to stop.
At least that's how I like it, and how trainers I know train. IMO you shouldn't need to continually ask to 'keep' trotting etc. I use leg to push into the bridle, soften, collect, round, steer, everything except 'go' really :lol:

 

[Foxhunter]

I too am with you.
I like a horse to 'carry itself'

A horse like this I will wear spurs and carry one or even two dressage whips.

I will ask nicely, if it doesn't move I will use the spurs and failing anprompt move off spurs and whips so that it jumps forward. Then ride to a halt and ask again. It doesn't take them long to catch on and far better than nagging them.

 

[jaydee]

If your legs are constantly on the horse then it becomes so familiar too them that they don't notice them any more. That's why so many riding school horses and horses hired out for trail/trekking rides are dull to the leg - they get a lot of riders who grip with their lower legs to stay on.
You ask the horse to do something or you correct it and then you expect it to keep doing the right thing until asked to do something else
Horses that are dead to the leg respond better to a sharp kick with your heels or a bump with spurs to keep them going. Failing that carry a whip(s) and use as needed

 

[beau159]

I ride the same way you ride, but of course, realize that not all horses are trained that way. I like to give my horses a cue to do something, and I want them to continue to do it until I give them instructions otherwise. I don't want to have to be constantly nagging them -- that's too much work for me.

On a lazy horse, it is usually pretty easy to teach them NOT to be lazy with a good smack with the whip. Give soft leg aid .... no response and they get the whip. Let them surge forward a couple strides, pull up, and try again. Give soft leg aid .... if they respond correctly and briskly, let them carry on. If not, they get the whip again. Rinse and repeat until you do not need the whip. If done correctly, this really should only take a couple times with a whip. And then stay consistent.

Of course, there are some horses out there that simply are trained to respond to constant leg and constant cues. Now, I don't ride "real" Western Pleasure horses myself, but I believe a lot of those are ridden that way, because I see riders constantly cueing the horse (lightly) with their spurs on each stride at all gaits. But I suppose as along as you are happy with your horse and how you ride, more power to ya.

But I am a minimalist as well.

 

[DanteDressageNerd]

A horse needs to be able to tolerate leg pressure but it shouldn't depend on it. I've ridden horses (retrained saddle seat horses) that is took a lot for them to take leg at all which was necessary to bring their back up and collect in a dressage sense. Saddle seat horses are difficult to re-train in dressage because the expectation of each discipline is quite different.

It also depends on the horse, if I'm riding something really-really hot I tend to use more leg (to guide and focus their energy by managing it elsewhere) then I do on something dull and dead. I strongly prefer a hot horse over a dull one. If they're dull, I tend to use whip to enforce my idea of "forward" but theyre harder IMO to create expression on. If on a spanish horse, they're deceptively sensitive. They will seem really dull so a lot of people "scream" their aids but they just shut down from loud aids, they do better with a "mindful" approach and a consistent expectation. For a better reaction, you can't get stronger but clearer with mindful riding. They like a portrait painted for them vs a demand. People get upset because they can be slow to react, so they get more intense with the aids and the horse then shuts down rather then responding. I've ridden a halflinger pony and drafts like that as well. A lot of drafts DO NOT have the sensitivity of say a tb, wb or arab but they can be trained to be more sensitive-responsive, it just wont happen in a day if his whole life he's been taught to be a kick along. Pressure should never be constant or becomes meaningless, the aid and then release is what offers meaning. Horses don't speak human.

A lot of horses, especially lesson horses tune out aids to protect themselves from conflicting aids from green riders. Riding them can be quite difficult to get them to LET a rider ride them and to trust a rider enough to look after them. A lot of them feel leg or different "cues" and think the rider just doesn't know what they're doing and will try to look after them, so they need help to understand the expectations. Horses are often a product of their situation. It's all just a part of learning to read horses and improving as a rider, figuring out what each individual horse needs and how to get the best response from them by helping them to understand.

 

[BzooZu]

When I started riding after long years off, the lesson horse I learned on was a big snail. At that moment I didnt mind much. He wont go? Well ok, we worked on something else. Slowest trot possible? Good for me, I can work on my rhythm or sitting trot or breathing exercises or ....
The only think that kept that horse in speed I wanted him in was if I carried a whip (no need to use it) or if he was nervous. It was all fine by me until I was good at the things he didnt mind doing. I am a slow learner so it took longer but once Ive figured out that I pretty much needed to apply leg aids every other stride or so just to keep him going properly it became a battle of frustration. To my trainers credit, she didnt want me to keep poking him, but at that time I didnt know any other ways of making him go.

Nowadays I ride a pony who is trained well, not bored to death by lessons yet and if you watch yourself (your seat is ok, youre balanced, breathing regularly....) you just need to apply the leg once.

 

[jpenguin]

A lot of horses, especially lesson horses tune out aids to protect themselves from conflicting aids from green riders.

My instruter has an appalosa mare that does that with almost everyone.... but responds to me perfectly.. I rarely use audible commands

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