Contact too strong

S

Sprat

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 September 2015
Messages
1,167
Visit site
Does anyone have any exercises to lighten the contact? This is an issue with me, not my horse!

He has been strong in the past but I am now finding that with his strength building he is able to carry himself better and accept a lighter contact however I have got into the habit of taking a strong contact and it's totally working against me.

I know I have to trust him more and give more with my hands but I just can't seem to get to grips with it, I feel like I am constantly trying to 'keep' him in an outline which is totally incorrect!

So any advice or exercises would be great :)
 
best advice i got was to think of it as almost pushing his head forwards with my hands. As if you are pushing a shopping trolly.
 
When you are riding thing of offering him the bit (think handing over two mugs of coffee) rather than holding back. Easier said than done I know...

Do you ever ride without reins? Try it in walk - walk allowing each alternate seatbone to move as the hind leg comes under, feel the belly swing under you. Then stop moving with the horse which will collect the walk back up. Then squeeze your upper thighs and bum cheeks a little to block further and ask for halt. Once you can truly control the tempo with the seat you won't have any need for the contact other than refinement :)
 
Glad you posted. I'm trying to address this too for similar reasons. I'm trying to think push forward, pushing a shopping trolley, holding a tea tray. Whilst rubbing my head at the same time, or that's how it feels! But this can lead to washing line reins so it's finding the balance between having a contact and the right rein length whilst being able to feel that push forward.

It helps if my arms are tucked in to my sides and elbows pointing down, not tight but at least 'present' next to my sides - that's because I have flappy arms. If I do that and lift my hands up that seems to help, as I'm combating my tendency to pull back and down.

Very much a work in progress but I feel like I'm improving but I need to constantly check myself to make sure I'm not back into default position which tends to happen if we have gone wobbly. So for you it may be a case of working out what you're doing with the strong contact and counteracting that.

Also I've been practising some stuff that 'be positive' suggested on another thread, to engage horse from back to front - rein back to trot and walk to canter - and that has helped.

And on a final note I suspect it's a lot of focus on engaging the hind end generally rather than focussing on what the front is doing. Easier said than done eh.

If you find stuff that works for you, lemme know !
 
EQUIDAE said:
When you are riding thing of offering him the bit (think handing over two mugs of coffee) rather than holding back. Easier said than done I know...

Do you ever ride without reins? Try it in walk - walk allowing each alternate seatbone to move as the hind leg comes under, feel the belly swing under you. Then stop moving with the horse which will collect the walk back up. Then squeeze your upper thighs and bum cheeks a little to block further and ask for halt. Once you can truly control the tempo with the seat you won't have any need for the contact other than refinement :)
Click to expand...

No, I can't say I have done a huge amount with no reins (mostly because the little darlings best trick is spooking and bolting across the arena) however I'll give this a go when he is feeling chilled.
 
Bernster said:
Glad you posted. I'm trying to address this too for similar reasons. I'm trying to think push forward, pushing a shopping trolley, holding a tea tray. Whilst rubbing my head at the same time, or that's how it feels! But this can lead to washing line reins so it's finding the balance between having a contact and the right rein length whilst being able to feel that push forward.

It helps if my arms are tucked in to my sides and elbows pointing down, not tight but at least 'present' next to my sides - that's because I have flappy arms. If I do that and lift my hands up that seems to help, as I'm combating my tendency to pull back and down.

Very much a work in progress but I feel like I'm improving but I need to constantly check myself to make sure I'm not back into default position which tends to happen if we have gone wobbly. So for you it may be a case of working out what you're doing with the strong contact and counteracting that.

Also I've been practising some stuff that 'be positive' suggested on another thread, to engage horse from back to front - rein back to trot and walk to canter - and that has helped.

And on a final note I suspect it's a lot of focus on engaging the hind end generally rather than focussing on what the front is doing. Easier said than done eh.

If you find stuff that works for you, lemme know !
Click to expand...

I think that's it, it's the engaging of the back end that I struggle with as well. I know what you mean about washing line reins, it's really difficult to find that inbetween point where you have contact but not too much, and not flappy reins.

I think I too have flappy arms so will concentrate on tucking them in a bit and pushing hands forward :)
 
I've been told to relax my elbows, don't keep them clamped to my sides. sometimes giving with the hand is too much and you an end up dropping the contact whereas relaxing the elbow allows the horse to take the contact forward into a lighter contact. Works for me but I may not have explained it well!
 
I used to have this issue - went from a big strong horse who only relaxed if you had a fairly heavy contact to a little fussy ghost-mouth horse.

Several things helped:
- practising with a rein looped around my foot, so I could feel how strong my contact was (not when riding, obvs!)
- holding reins upside down (i.e. rein coming in over forefinger, out between ring and little fingers) - temporary fix but useful to stop him getting upset
- riding on the buckle so I couldn't hold on

Could you get someone to lunge with you riding, so you're not having to control speed/direction and can focus on hands/arms?
 
Change grip on reins. Hold them as though you are holding a frying pan if that makes sense or like a driving rein. You can't be strong with this type of grip and it can help re-train your brain?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top