Contact - A question

Pigeon

Pigeon

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 July 2012
Messages
3,789
Visit site
I know this is fairly subjective, but how much weight 'should' I have in the reins when I am working my horse?

I have a feeling that most of the time I take too little contact, and this is why I sometimes loose him in the transitions.

Tonight I was in the arena and there were about three others in there, including someone lunging (it's a 20m x 40m), it was dark and windy and raining and we kept getting cut up, and he was (understandably) getting a bit wound up. I had to take a bit of a hold in trot and canter to stop him getting too fast, and he was quite springy and contained and stayed in a correct outline - people said how good he looked, but it felt like he was leaning on my hands and the contact was a bit uncommunicative.

It wasn't like he was pulling my arms out, it was about the weight of a litre bottle of water (I think, I don't actually have one to hand to test :p) but when he's in a good mood I can take zero weight in the hand, just a feel on his mouth and it feels fab. Issue is if he's in a bad mood, or tense for any reason, it is very hard to get him to lighten. This isn't an issue I have with my other horses, because they are the same every day, whereas he often has personality transplants.

Dressage is hard! :o
 
My understanding is somewhere inbetween what you had today and what you have on a good day
No contact/weight at all too me is also an evasion
 
I like to feel that my horse is taking my hands towards his/her ears. I liken the weight to about a bag of sugar.

Many years I went to a lecture/demo Beatrice Ferrer Salat (sp? a Spanish dressage Olympian). All the riders commented on how much more weight in their hands she had them riding with and all the horses looked better for it.
 
I think about it as, what is the quality of the contact ,when the contact is good it feels secure but vibrant and sort of spongey
Contact improves and changes with the training and development of the both the horse and the rider.
Having a hardly there contact that is fixed so the contact is inconsistent is not going to be as productive as a good feel in the hand that makes it much easier for the rider to follow the horses mouth with soft and supple elbows .
 
Okay I thought it might be somewhere in between :) Thanks guys. It was a fairly decent (spongy) contact in the trot but a bit braced in canter though that's probably just me/the situation. It's one of those things that it's really hard to get a simple explanation of!

I have this abject fear of hanging on his mouth so tend to go a bit the other way! :p
 
I'd think it would vary slighting on each horse. It should feel enough that you can increase/decrease with ease. For example if you have too much, a half halt would seem like you really have to tug. Where as if you have to little there would be no weight in the reins.

I'd be hastened to say there is not an exact pounds of pressure you should have precisely, but to know what works with the individual horse.

This may sound daft but I liken it to holding a small child's hand. Ideally you keep the contact light soft and lovingly, but you are still there always to guide and re-assure. Too hard and the child gets upset, too soft and they have no re-assurance from you. If they try to run off you are there to give them a fair response of "no dont do that" and if they hug in too close and wont walk alone you encourage them to stretch out and walk by themselves but with you still reassuringly there.

(the holding a small bird in your hand anology never worked for me as A) ive never held a small bird! and B) that only helps with what you are doign with your hands, ive always felt contact is through your whole arm, shoulders, the works! Most of us have held hands with a small child, and how its more than just what our hand does that matters :) )
 
Last edited:
Pigeon said:
Okay I thought it might be somewhere in between :) Thanks guys. It was a fairly decent (spongy) contact in the trot but a bit braced in canter though that's probably just me/the situation. It's one of those things that it's really hard to get a simple explanation of!

I have this abject fear of hanging on his mouth so tend to go a bit the other way! :p
Click to expand...

I think many of us are guilty of giving the contact away when sometimes it would be better to keep it and try to improve the the quality of it.
 
I have had a couple of lessons recently with someone who has a very interesting and although I want to say 'radical' approach that isn't the right word, as a lot of the stuff he teaches is very basic and very simple, but different because a lot of us over complicate things and he strips it right back.

Anyway in the last lesson we were talking about how much contact you need. He was saying that the more collected and slow, the lighter the contact and vice versa. Light contact (in say collected trot) is about 'knicker elastic' strength. i.e. enough that it is there, but you don't notice it. And when you are doing the more forward/more lengthened work, it should be about elastic as a bicycle inner tube. i.e. there is still some give, but much less. I personally thought that was quite understandable. Hope it helps you. :) x
 
That's brilliant, and also exactly what I find with mine. I try to carry the light (halt) contact through to medium trot and that just doesn't work, this is really reassuring thanks :)
 
I am having a lesson on Monday for a second opinion on the last lesson I had, where I was urged to ride FORWARDS but into a very 'definite' contact. Horse looked amazing but didn't feel great to me on top. So this is all very interesting!
 
Yes that's it exactly!

I get confused because I get better marks for tests that felt tense and strong, and worse for ones that felt obedient, calm and flowing haha. I think it's about 'positive tension' and energy etc etc. I feel better knowing that a definite/firm contact isn't wrong :p
 
I don't think anyone who isn't riding your horse can really say, it's what you feel. If the horse looks good but isn't feeling good, something's probably wrong. The few times I've ridden something that actually goes nicely there was no weight in front at all, the haunches are under me the forehand is "up" and I feel as if I'm holding the horse on a gossamer thread. My dream is to get that feeling with my horse every time we ride :)
 
Ridefast, that's the feeling we can get if he's in a good mood. Which is unfortunately rare :p It's like he's very secure in the contact so I can really push him up into it without loosing the front end, even on a fairly loose rein. Never been able to replicate it away from home though, and even at home it's only happened a handful of times :p
 
Ridefast, this is the feeling I thought I was aiming for, the mare I loan has a tendency to overbend but offers some real 'wow' moments on the light contact, uphill and feeling amazing. However when she's not doing that, she's on the light contact still but on the forehand and overbent sometimes. She wasn't overbent on the strong contact but also didn't feel as awesome as she does in the good moments on the light contact. This is what my second opinion lesson will be for on Monday, because I don't know which is preferable and better for her training :( (sorry to hijack slightly Pigeon, but you are describing exactly what I feel and this thread is just so relevant!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top