"So is it necessary to have pressure, however light, for it to actually be considered 'contact'?"

"So is it necessary to have pressure, however

light, for it to actually be considered 'contact'?"



I think that contact is not "pressure"

(unless emergency very short time).



But when all is well, in training (SRS methods)

the horse takes the contact, choose how much

support or not at all is needed. The reins will

"look filled", but they are filled with energy,

Not by the rider "taking" anything back.



It is the energy traversing the reins that fill them,

Not the rider's ego and controlling mind.

This form or feel comes from the rider's back,

Whole body (rider's back, the lower legs,

the seatbones, the rider's neck,

The rider's arms, elbows, wrists and hands).



Not an easy thing to learn and this is why we

See so much bad "German" style around..



This is the whole misunderstanding about contact,

To the point that it is maybe quasi-impossible to talk

About what means "true" contact in writing without

Being in front of a horse.