Improving hand aids

What does over-riding with the hand mean - and how can you stop doing it?

Too much hand or too strong a contact is uncomfortable for your horse and makes it hard for him to balance himself. To help, try the following exercise that aims to lighten your hands and make your horse more receptive to your aids.

Raise his receptiveness

First of all, you need to correct your rein contact. Make sure your wrists are straight and flexible, allowing your hands to close into gentle fists. If you tend to grip the reins tightly, imagine that you're allowing more air into your gloves, which requires them to be loose and relaxed. This is a good way to soften your hands without loosening the contact.

1. Go large around your arena and perform a series of walk-trot transitions, always keeping that light contact on the rein. Repeat the transitions in both directions.
2. Next, try some trot-canter transitions. Think about what aids you are using to slow your horse down - pulling on his mouth isn't the answer. Instead, try a combination of seat, leg and voice aids and teach your horse to respond to those. 
3. Whenever your use your reins, your horse should be rewarded with a release and lightening of the contact. The same goes for your leg - use it to go forwards and, as soon as your horse reacts in the way you want him to, your leg aid should lighten again. 
4. Constantly nagging with your hands and/or your legs will make your horse too reliant on you - staying forward and remaining balanced after you have given the aid is his job. 

Don't pull! Remember, it's your horse's mouth at the end of the rein, so he'll much prefer a lighter contact to a stronger one. Use transitions to make him listen, while always remembering what you are trying to achieve and how, by remaining soft and kind in your aids.

Your contact on the reins should be light but supportive