Part 2 – Contact
Next we disgusted contact.
To me, contact is the soft, steady, accepting connection
between the riders hand and the horse’s mouth, created from the energy of the horses’
hind leg flowing through the horses’ body, up into a lifting shoulder and thus
allowing the poll to be the highest point. It should not be achieved through a
backwards hand but should follow the natural motion of the horses head. The
frame should be neither behind the vertical nor too much in front of the
vertical allowing the bit to sit comfortably and in an accepting way in the
corner of the horse’s mouth, with the rein extending in a straight line past
the riders hand to the elbow. The pressure on the horse’s mouth should be as
soft as possible, with the horse working in self carriage, whilst with enough security
of connection to direct and support the horse as much as required through the
movements.
Wow – the amount of words required to accurately explain
contact makes you realise how complex and delicate a thing it is. Like most
things, most riders spend their lives trying to achieve the perfect balance
between either not enough or too much. Not enough and the horse cannot be
directed sufficiently and will lack ‘attention’ and ‘confidence’, too much and
the horse will appear resistant, without ‘submission’ and ‘harmony’. It is only
with time and practise can we as riders develop the refinement and feel to
create such a perfect balance and only when the training, strength and physical
development of the horse allows it. Thus most of us will spend the rest of our
riding lives refining and further refining it as our level subtlety and intricacy
of communication develops. Because of this I always ensure I am not critical of
a rider who has not got close to this balance yet, but instead I will gently
ensure the rider can feel the direction in which further refinement is
required.
So where do you start with a 13 year old? As a human, we can
only learn effectively if we concentrate on one area at a time. First we begin
by visualising the shape. Neither behind nor too above the vertical. So how do
you teach a horse to do this? Ryan already knows that reins aren’t for steering
or stopping (except in emergencies!) but he has never used them for ‘shaping’
before.
How to ask a horse a question (pressure and release)
In the halt, we ask Puzzle a question. This might sound like
a strange thing to say, but horses don’t speak English (although of course they
recognise tone/ energy/emotion). Ryan visualises the picture he wants to create
whilst asking Puzzle a question. We always ask horses questions by applying
some sort of pressure e.g a touch of the leg or even a pressure with our eyes
but none the less a pressure of sorts. This doesn’t mean the horses instantly
knows what we are asking him/her to do, but they know we are asking them to do
something and thus the horse tries to work out the answer to the question
through trial and error. I ask Ryan to lift his inside hand to apply a pressure
on the corner of Puzzles mouth (the nicest place to place a pressure on the
horses’ mouth) whilst keeping a contact in his outside rein so as to keep the
pressure even in both reins. A very light pressure at first and then we wait.
Puzzle does not seem to realise we are asking her a question and is quite
comfortable and unaware what we are asking her. So I tell Ryan to increase the
pressure gently to a level where she will understand that we are asking her to
do something different. Puzzle realised something has changed and then begins
to work out what she should do with this pressure. First she leans on the bit
and pulls at the rein, but Ryan maintains the same amount pressure. Then she
throws her head upwards but Ryan maintains the pressure. Then she softens a
little by lowering her head a little and stretching her frame in to a vertical
shape. This is the most crucial part of training any horse – the release of the
pressure. Only when the pressure is released can a horse comprehend that they
have answered the question correctly. This applies to any pressure; a leg aid
to trot on, a ‘soften the rib cage’ aid in a leg yield, a canter aid. The
pressure is the question and the release of the pressure signals the correct
answer (or in the beginning an answer going in the correct direction). When you
stop and think about, why else would a horse want to do what we ask? No horse
should ever be discouraged for getting the wrong answer as it is only through
trial and error these amazing creatures manage to fathom what on earth it is we
want, but by the same token, the pressure must be maintained until the answer
were looking for is given otherwise we just create greater confusion. Over
time, with repetition and practise, a horse can learn what our different aids
are asking for.
We may have only touched on the very beginning of contact by
achieving a few moments of softness and shape in the halt and walk but learning
is best absorbed in small manageable chunks.
Ryan was thrilled and had enough to work on between now and
his next lesson without feeling overburdened with too much new information.
This is such an important part of being a coach, being challenging enough that
the rider can progress whilst always making it as easy as possible for both
horse and rider to understand and succeed.
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