30/ OCTOBER 2022 THE RIDER


The Science of how Horses Think & Learn Developing “feel”- riding with light hands. Part 1


By Lindsay Grice. Equestrian Canada coach, horse show judge, specialist in equine behaviour.


like shopping mall music – background noise drowning out signals you’re trying to send to your horse. At best, the horse can ignore the noise, becoming desensi- tized to it. Equine behaviourists call this habituation. The goal of the training process is for our horses to become ha- bituated to clippers, traffic or horse show applause, while remaining sensi- tive to our subtle leg and rein aids. At worst, erratic hands will scare your horse. He’ll learn to preserve himself by avoiding the bit pressure in some way. Gaping mouths, elevated heads, hollow backs and choppy gaits are common evasions. Before opting to solve those


A rider’s unsteady hands can be


The more we try to force our hands down, the stiffer and more jarring they be- came. Instead, still hands come from elastic arms.


problems with band aid solutions such as nosebands, let’s go to the root of the problem – developing elastic, independ- ent hands.


Are you and your horse communicat- ing?


down to a system of signals and re- sponses. Or pressures and releases. Your hands telegraph signals such as slow,


Riding effectively can be boiled The Ancaster Ag Society invites you to the


Thursday, Sept, 22 - Sunday Sept. 25 172nd Annual Ancaster Fair


Musical Entertainment: Tebey - Friday, Sept. 23 Matt Mays - Saturday, Sept. 24


Terra Lightfoot - Saturday, Sept. 24


turn and flex. As the horse responds to your specific request, you respond with a reward, releasing the pressure and pro- viding freedom. If he responds nega- tively, you keep the pressure steady or even increase it. It’s like a conversation with your horse. By trial and error he learns that a certain response yields con- sistent release. Unsteady hands interfere with the clarity of your message, like static interfering with a radio station. The important infor- mation is hard to dis- cern.


Keep your hands still! I can still hear my


early riding instruc- tors barking at me. Like any novice, while I focused on


Tense hands can desensitize a horse at best. Or scare him, at worst.


keeping my horse going or identifying the right diagonal, my hands would ele- vate and bounce around. The more I tried to force them down, the stiffer and more jarring they became. I eventually learned that still hands come from elas- tic arms. I have my students imagine holding a cup of coffee and driving over a speed bump. Shock absorbing elastic- ity keeps you from spilling coffee on your lap. Sally Swift used the analogy of


holding baby birds in your hands to il- lustrate the difference between holding the reins and gripping the reins. Grip too tightly and you’ll crush those birds. Hold them too loosely and they’ll fly away.


It starts in the seat. If your seat is bouncing in the sad-


dle, you won’t be able to keep your hands from bouncing, either. Learning to follow, not brace against, your horse’s motion builds the secure foundation for soft hands. If you’re unbalanced in your position, you’ll resort to your reins for stability. Clinging on with your thighs will only push you up out of the saddle.


Gripping locks your lower back, with the jarring effect of a hay wagon vs a Cadillac ride.


The hip bone is connected to the back bone


Effective riders have the ability to use their aids independently. Cues delivered with their legs and seat bones aren’t mir- rored in their arms. I use this drill with my students:


…is connected to the arm bone.


post trot with your fingers touching the mane, saddle pad or swells of a western saddle (whatever you can reach comfort- ably). With your hands in one place, you’ll have to open and close your elbow as you rise up and down. Your upper arm and shoulder will feel fluid. Now try to recreate that closing and un- folding feeling without touching. Arm flexibility helps you follow the motion of the horse’s neck at the canter or over a jump. In the next issue we’ll look at 3


typical ways your horse deals with noisy hands. And we’ll talk about “contact”.


About Lindsay Grice. A horse show judge and certified riding coach with a special interest in equine behaviour.


After 25 years as a competitor and horse trainer, Lindsay enjoys teaching clinics and travelling to Ontario farms as a freelance instructor. She’s taught the science of equine behaviour and learning for horse associations, courses for University of Guelph and therapeutic riding facilities. Lindsay judges many disciplines and breeds and serves on an EC judging committee


Why do horses do what they do? “In the horse world, our traditions and evidence sometimes collide – I love to help riders solve their horse puzzles with logic, patience and equitation science.” www/lindsaygriceridingcoach.com


NASHHCS Sunday,


September 25th


3 Nights of Demo Derby on Thurs. Fri. & Sat. • Minis • Haflingers • Hunters • Heavy Horses • Roadsters • Jumpers • Pony


Prices: Adult $15 • Senior $10 • K-Gr. 8 $5 • Younger FREE Pre-sale available Ancaster Fair 2022 - September 22 - 25, 2022 (ticketscene.ca)


www.ancasterfair.ca


Horse Listening Continued From Page 29


trot before the next turn, so that you can trot again into the straight line.


The Final Picture I mean, this is an easy pat-


tern, no? (Joke!) All you are doing is a trot


figure eight with diagonal lines, and cantering from X to the end of the half-circle. At least, the idea is to make


it look easy after you've got a good handle on all the parts.


Work on developing ever


smoother transitions, both up and down. Figure out where you need to do the half-halts to contain en- ergy, and where you need addi- tional leg to maintain energy. Where does your horse have a tendency to lean in? Which lead departure is the more difficult one? Through repetition, you can improve the weakest parts, then the next weakest, and so on. Changing sides and gaits in


this way creates quite a workout for you and your horse, teaches straight lines as well as bends, and gives you opportunity to de- velop the timing of your own aids


as you fine tune the details. Have fun!


Bio: Kathy Farrokhzad is an EC coach and author of the Horse Listening book collection, Goal Setting For The Equestrian: A Personal Workbook, and the cre- ator of the Practice Sessions on- line program. If you like this sort of pattern work, take a look at her Practice Sessions Premium - On- line. The Practice Sessions are a complete program beginning with exercises like the one above, designed to improve specific as- pects of the horse and rider.


For subscription or advertising information please


contact (905) 387-1900 or email barry@therider.com Visit our website at www.therider.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44