APRIL 2006 • VOLUME 8 • ©HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

On Quiet Legs!

The Walk

Harmonized Horses Riding is all about riding first and foremost “WITH” the horse.

What exactly does this mean? It means that even before we try and/or learn to tell the horse what to do, first our entire body - hands, legs, hips and back must be moving in such a way that we are moving in tandem with the horse, to the extent that the horse doesn’t even notice physically that we are there. If and when a rider is able to do this, then and only then, will you be able to ride the horse without interfering with his movement or possibly even putting the horse in pain from your restrictions.

When we are completely moving with the horse, then and only then do we "appear” to be a quiet rider.

It is a sad state of affairs that so many riders and instructors totally misinterpret the entire concept of a quiet rider. And sad when the rider tries so hard, over and over again, to maintain a quiet seat, hand and legs to no avail. What happens???

The poor rider, with no other explanation, decides that a quiet seat, hand and leg, is a still seat, hand and leg. And the harder they try to keep still, the more they move. Frustrated, blaming themselves, thinking they will never become a good rider, their self esteem suffers another blow. And the unfortunate by-product of trying to hold themselves still, is that they are stiff, causing the horse discomfort, an unwillingness to go forward, which often is blamed on the horse and corrected with stronger leg aids, whips and spurs.

Now if the horse never moved a muscle, it would make sense for the rider to not ever move a muscle. As soon as you are on anything that moves, even when you begin to walk, joints have to bend and straighten, muscles have to contract and de-contract. When the horse moves, you have to move. What moves depends on how and what the horse is doing. As soon as you begin moving completely with the horse you will “look” still. Stillness is in fact an illusion.

There are lots of different things you can do at each gait to be moving completely with your horse. A good instructor should be able to explain how you should move in order to move with the horse.

One thing that I frequently see riders miss in moving with the horse at a walk, is how to keep their legs on the horse. Usually what you see, if you focus on one leg of the rider as the horse walks, is the leg coming on the barrel and then you will see about four to five inches of air space between the rider’s leg and the horse’s barrel.

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