In this article, I will explain how the rider uses her seat, one of the rider’s most important yet often overlooked aids. I will explain this by using the examples of upward and downward transitions. As the rider puts weight in the saddle, the rotation and movement of her hips gives the horse the indication to go forward. When this rotation and movement decreases, it signals the horse to slow or to stop. The best way to show how this works is by using simple exercises that you can do at home to improve communication using your seat.
Walk-Trot Transitions Using the Seat
The goal of this exercise is to use your seat, rather than hand or leg aids, to signal requests for upward and downward transitions from walk to trot. Start by asking your horse to walk forward on a large circle. Gently follow his movement with your hips. Prepare for an upward transition to the trot using your seat as the main tool for communicating to the horse. Do this by first putting more weight in your seat. As you do, rotate your hips to follow the horse’s movement and to encourage him to increase his speed through the action of your seat. Support this action by lightly applying leg aids (if needed) and slightly releasing the reins to encourage his forward movement. If needed, reinforce your requests with a “cluck.” He should pick up the trot. Continue following his motion with your seat.
Trot a segment of the large circle, and then turn him to make a smaller circle within the large one. We will use the smaller circle to ask him for a downward transition back to the walk. Trot a portion of the small circle, and prepare for a downward transition using the seat. Once again, put weight in your seat, but this time decrease the movement and rotation of your hips with the horse’s movement. He should make a transition from trot to the walk in response to your seat aid. Praise him if he does. Do this exercise in both directions. As your practice this exercise, your seat aid will become more effective and your horse more responsive. You will notice that less leg and voice aids are necessary to achieve the transitions.
Trot to Canter Transition Using the Seat
When the horse is comfortable and understands the aids communication you are giving him for the walk to trot transition, it is time to try transitions from the trot to the canter. This exercise should be done in a large fenced paddock or pasture. Be sure the horse is warmed up before starting this exercise. Repeat the walk to trot transition exercise to reinforce the effectiveness of your seat, leg, and hand aids.
Start by trotting the horse on a large circle. The rider should post to the trot. Encourage the horse to depart into the canter by using the word command “canter.” (The horse already should have learned this voice command from ground training on the longe line or round pen or liberty work.) At the same time you give the voice command, use your seat and leg aids to encourage him to move forward into the canter. Keep a loose contact on the reins, lightly positioning him on the arc of the circle. Continue following his motion with your seat while posting as he increases his speed and makes a transition to the canter. At this point, it is important that he canters but not important which lead that he takes. When he begins cantering, sit and follow the rocking motion of the gait with your seat and hips to encourage him to continue cantering.
When a horse has a problem picking up the correct lead, the most common cause is that the rider is not maintaining the proper form and balance. The rider is not properly controlling his/her body position during the trot to canter transitions. To achieve this proper control, it requires an understanding of the rider’s turning aids. So, before we can go into more detail about perfecting transitions, we need to understand the importance of the rider’s turning aids and how they are used to position the horse.
The Turning Aids
Turning or “bending” aids include our hands, through the reins, and our legs. We use these aids to control the horse’s direction of travel and his body position. The term “bending” may be unfamiliar to some riders. When the bend through the horse’s side is correct, his body conforms to the arc of whatever curved line he is on. If a horse is bent properly on a circle, we say he is “straight” because he is properly following the arc of the circle. His hind feet follow in the tracks of the forelegs on a curve. To be able to do this, he must bend.
The primary aids to turn or bend a horse are the rider’s outside leg and outside rein. The outside is the side of the horse opposite from the direction of the turn. For example, if I want to turn my horse in a circle to the left, I turn him using my outside aids—the right leg and right rein. The job of my inside (left) leg is to keep the horse forward and out on the turn. My inside (left) rein is used to lightly position my horse’s head so that he is looking in the direction of the turn. Let us look at the function of each aid in turning or bending a horse:
The outside rein functions as the turning rein. It asks the horse to move his shoulders to follow the arc of the circle or turn. When using the outside rein, be careful not to move the outside hand over the crest of the horse’s neck.
The outside leg is positioned slightly behind the girth. It helps to bend the horse’s body around the inside leg and keeps his hindquarters from swinging out and off the arc of the circle or turn.
The inside rein lightly positions the horse’s head in the direction of the turn. Do this by slightly rotating the inside hand as if turning a key or opening a doorknob and slightly opening the rein in the direction of the turn to position the head.
The inside leg is positioned at the girth. It helps keep the forward momentum. Also, as my friend and Olympic rider, Jane Savoie, describes in her wonderful book CROSS TRAIN YOUR HORSE, “the inside leg serves as a pole for the horse to bend around.”
In the next article, I will give you some exercises to practice the turning aids and go over the bending aids and exercises for using them as well. In the meantime learn more about Palm Partnership Training™ by going to www.lynnpalm.com or by calling 800-503-2824.
