Contact

[carthorse]

Who would you say takes it & chooses the weight, you or the horse? I'm talking about schooling in an arena, not hacking.

I was taught, largely by a horse I must admit, that rider gives a rein length & makes the hand acceptable but it's the horse that takes up the contact & has the most say in it's weight. I certainly find this gives a more forward feeling contact & a more relaxed & supple horse, but I know there is a school of thought that says the rider takes up the contact & it's up to the horse to accept it.

Views?

 

[orbvalley]

Ooooh complicated question open to numerous answers ! will watch with interest

 

[Jessey]

I'm with you, but also the horse often reflects how 'hard' the hands are, by that I guess I mean if you set the hand and aren't forgiving to the movement then they tend to set back against you giving more weight to the contact. Reading back maybe we're talking about the same thing when you say making the hand acceptable?

 

[carthorse]

By making the hand acceptable I mean it should be elastic to follow the movement but there if the horse wants it if that makes sense? Hard to explain! I know what you mean about a set hand often producing a heavy contact, but I've found there's also a difference in what contact each horse seems to want & that can also vary according to the work. Jim was light in the hand, sometimes to the extent that a new rider (on the odd occasion I let someone on him) could find it unnerving, but sometimes if I was teaching something new he'd take a slightly stronger contact until he'd got it & then go back to his normal one. If I didn't accept the slightly stronger contact then he'd be unhappy & less willing to try what was asked, if I didn't allow him to lighten it once he was secure in the new movement then he'd make his feelings clear lol.

When I was a child I remember a teacher saying "your hands belong to the horse", does that sum it up better?

 

[MrC]

I was taught soft hands soft mouth but again depends on the horse. Kia leans, goes over bent as soon as you take a contact other than washing lines, took me ages to get him to relax and lift therefore I was able to use softer hands as he wasn't sitting on them forcing me to have no contact at all.

The youngster at the moment is rushing, you have no contact he's off, he prefers canter to every other gait and takes every chance to go into it. So at the most moment we are playing with that contact and letting him realise that the looser contact doesn't mean he can Sod off in canter nor that a tighter contact means he must slow down as he sets against it. We are re teaching him seat and weight aids which he was taught when he was backed but seems to have forgotten.

He is intelligent but a chancer to get what he wants lol. He will get there

 

[Bodshi]

Interesting. My RI likes me to ride in what I feel is a very firm contact. Contrary to my expectations Raf actually actually moves forward into the contact much better when the contact is strong. Because Raf is easily distracted and takes every opportunity to look at anything slightly interesting, which could well result in a 'diversionary tactic' spook, I have to keep my outside rein firm and at the wither in order to stop him bending his neck about and play with the inside rein. He does go much better like this and is more likely to keep a consistent contact and work properly from behind.

If I don't do this I really struggle to maintain a contact, as he will raise his head, lower his head, look left, right etc and is really quite idle.

I don't think he 'prefers' the stronger contact as he often gets quite cross about having to work so hard, but he does definitely go better in it.

Towards the end of the lesson we play at lengthening the reins and encouraging him to take up the contact for himself, but it's not something we're very good at yet.

 

[orbvalley]

'diversionary tactic' spook,

Nearly spat my tea out! good description