Teaching Feel

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TwoStroke

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I have no teaching experience, but a friend of mine has asked me to help her whilst she schools her horse, as she finds she makes more progress if she has someone there 'teaching' her.

I've done a couple of sessions with her, and her main issue is 'feel'. Her hands are too hard and her horse fixes against them; I've tried to explain how an elastic, following contact should feel, and whilst her position looks a bit better now, she obviously hasn't managed to get the contact correct yet.

At her request, I got on the horse for a few mins. Although he's like a plank of wood, he has no muscle and finds correct work very difficult, he does soften fairly easily for me, and tries his best. So I know the horse will go nicely when ridden correctly, but I'm really struggling to try and teach feel.

Ideally she needs lessons with a really good instructor; unfortunately that's not an option for her at the moment. So does anyone have any tips about how I can help her to improve her contact?

TIA
 
a few ideas. both standing in the tackroom, a pair of reins between you. You are the horse, she holds the reins in the normal way and responds to how you move the bit end of them, does that make sense? reverse direction to show her. when she's being the horse, show her little vibrations going down the reins as you squeeze them, hold etc... that's communication with a snaffle bit. Always one side only, holding 1 side still (in relation to horse's mouth) and using the other side to communicate, give, hold, etc.
Position wise, make sure she's got heavy soft relaxed bent elbows, remind her of Kylie doing the Locomotion (!!), she needs to allow her elbows to be able to move like that (albeit not that much). Also thumbs on top so the radius and ulna stay parallel not crossed, 'piano hands' stiffen far more quickly.
You getting on and tuning the horse up for 10 mins (or whatever) at the start of a session is a good idea, to make it easier for both of them, otherwise it is like the blind leading the blind - if she's not asking correctly and he doesn't have a clue what she's on about anyway, they're unlikely to get to the happy place... if he tries his best that's a huge bonus, horses that are already a bit ruined on the flat are a total nightmare for this sort of stuff, they need 'kid gloves' which they just don't get when someone's getting the hang of it...
Then, as long as she's patient - which is essential... if she's frustrated or in a hurry it just doesn't work, unfortunately - (and you are v patient too!) it will come. My trainer taught me 'feel' by patiently standing in the middle of the arena, for hours, telling me which exercises the horses needed to do at that moment to loosen them up, and continually correcting me and then saying "A-ha, did you feel it?" when there was a good moment (when the horse softened at poll and jaw, relaxed back, stepped through more, etc.)
He made sure I was relaxed enough to have the honesty to say "erm, no..." sometimes as well as "YES!!!"... no point fooling yourself. Eventually the FEEL of those moments sunk in, what he saw and what I felt matched in my brain until I could feel the good bits without needing to be told. It's a slow process sometimes but absolutely worth it obv.
Hope those ideas help a bit.
 
People mistake soft hands with hands which are just not there or effective IMO. Having said that I do a couple of things if teaching.
Ride without using the reins. Learn to control pace & direction with seat, knees and leg. Very interesting how mush less rein people use when they take up a contact again.
Turn their hands upside down, so the rein comes out the top of their hand under their thumb.

Most importantly bend elbows and have a firm grip on the reins. Softness doesn't really come from the hands, the hands should be pretty passive, it omes from the elbows and always having them soft & fluid.
 
I used to cling on like a limpet and have the WORST fixed hands ever, and this wee exercise taught me how to keep my arms independent from my body, so they were still and soft, which in turn gave the horse nothing to lean on and I was able to work to relax the jaw/poll/neck in turn.

Face a wall / horse / fence. ask friend to place her hands in the 'holding rein' position against the wall. tell her to rise up and down without moving her hands - they have to stay in the same place. Tell her to observe the angle od her elbow opening and shutting. I find teaching it to 'rising' makes it easier to see / understand. The fact her elbows are opening and shutting should mean her arms are relaxed and independent from her body.

Then (as Kerrilli has said) take reins and practice 'walking' (you pull reins forward like a bobbing head) and her allowing the rein forward with the natural movement whilst keeping an elastic contact, practise 'trot' and 'canter' (similar to walk)

The put her on the horse and work on independent hands.

When that is established, then work on using the vibrations / half halts etc and again as Kerilli said, make a big deal when they see it so they learn to know what it should feel like.

But I have always said I didn't learn to 'feel' untill I was able to use my arms and legs indepently and didn't cling on.

EDIT - Siennasmum is right. 'Fixedness' comes from the elbows. Thats why it's important that they are soft and fluent.
 
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Thanks, Kerilli, that's really useful. When I learned about feel it was a real lightbulb moment, so I've probably been waiting for her to 'get it', when it's realistically going to be a gradual process. I tried the trick with the reins a little whilst she was on board, but I'll give it a proper go on the ground.

siennamum - I put her on the lunge the first time, and she coped ok with that. But I think I'd struggle to ride her horse without reins, let alone her - he's not been schooled at all, and he doesn't understand even basic aids (so really not an ideal horse for her to learn on, but he's an honest sort at least). I find that she struggles to maintain a good position and the bend in her elbows and actually ride at the same time.

Thanks, Jenni, I'll give it a try. I'm sure she's 'blocking' or tensing somewhere in her body without realising it, but I ask and she says she's not. I'm not sure how to enable her to really examine her own position/riding accurately. I think maybe I can't, and as Kerilli says, it's just a matter of perseverance whilst she 'discovers' it, so to speak.
 
. EDIT - Siennasmum is right. 'Fixedness' comes from the elbows. Thats why it's important that they are soft and fluent.[/QUOTE said:
Not just the elbows, but the shoulders have to be relaxed as well. I have had several riders who are considered very good ride my mare, but not one of them can ride with a contact without pressure. I found an exercise in an old driving book which might be worth trying. Put a long pair of reins onto the back of a dining chair, (seat at the front). Then take up the contact and get the chair onto its two front legs, and keep it there. I think that may be quite hard for some people!
Click to expand...
 
I don't know I'd this is along the right lines, but what I found helped me with contact and feel is that it doesn't come from the hand but from the back of your upper arm and elbow. Imagining a piece of elastic between shoulder, elbow and wrist and then allowing an extension of the arm etc. not sure that makes a huge amount of sense but it gives an idea.
 
Jenni_, your 'facing the wall' exercise is the same as my Locomotion exercise, I suspect! All about showing how much the elbows need to open and close for the hands to stay 'still' in relation to the horse's mouth.
cundlegreen, that sounds an interesting exercise. so the seat of the chair faces away from you? surely when you take up the contact the seat will be rearing on its two back legs, or is my brain not working very well?!
RiderLizzie... that reminds me, another 2 images that I use (might be from Centered Riding, I'm not sure) is of the arm, hand, rein, bit, rein, other arm, and across back of shoulders forming a continuous loop, like a Scalextric track, or a big oval loop of elastic. These are useful ones too, I think...
 
Probably Kerilli - but I think I'm too young to remember the Locomotion? :o

Remember singing at an assembly at primary but thats about it!

Yours does sound more inventive and fun than mine though!
 
I'll try the chair one as well, cheers.

The elasic loop feeling was one of the ways I described it to her :). I think something practical would help more. I thought about putting a loop of rope through the D rings of the saddle for her to hold onto, to make her realise how much her hands bob up and down as she rides, but I think there's a danger of that making them too fixed. Maybe on the lunge on a long rein?
 
I'd suggest you ride the horse, get him working nicely and then put her straight back on. For the first couple of minutes he should stay soft in the contact and even if she just stays in walk she will have experienced "the feeling" of a soft contact.

Once she's felt what she's after, it should give her something to aim for.
 
Kerilli,
This is a quote from "The Driving Book" by Major Faudel Phillips. "Here is a nice piece of string; tie each end to the back of the chair, up top at the corners.Stand in front of it facing the seat. Now pull. Yes, the chair is balancing on its front legs. Now get it right on the point of balance so that the string is almost loose, and if you move your hand the chair topples one way or the other. There, that is contact, and if that hand moves forward or back, you are going to throw your horse (or chair) off balance"
I might add that I haven't tried this, but Major FP was well known as a trainer of horses, and its even more important in driving to have a "feel" all the time. With approx 8 feet of rein between you and the horse, by the time you've felt it take off, its too late, and you are well and truly runaway with!!!
 
There may be several things going on which most probably need different exercises to help your friend.

1. Is she using her hands to balance? (work without stirrups/very short stirrups/work without reins, lunge, etc)
2. Is she unable to release pressure immediately the horse has stopped/slowed? (She has to be taught when to release with a person on the ground to shout out the command whist performing downward transitions. Transitions within two parallel trotting poles side by side, with instructor stating when to release.)
3. Does she consistently ride with too much rein pressure? (put a can of baked beans in each hand to illustrate how a constant pressure should feel and what the horse should get used to.)
4. Are her hands in the incorrect position so places the bit in the wrong place in the mouth? (get her to place hands just above wither and then ride with her pinkies pointing downwards onto the wither - perform some school movements to incorporate some transitions.)
5. Is she tense or nervous so applies to much pressure at certain times when horse speeds up or at all times? (Again needs someone on the ground to shout instructions when to release pressure but also exercises to build confidence.)

I would try to analyse what she's doing as each of the above would need different exercises to help her.

Oh.....fancy taking your AI? Coaching Cert? Ha, ha!!
 
Tonks - don't think I'll be doing my AI, this teaching malarky's tough!

I don't think she's balancing on her hands, her reins tend towards the washing line end of the spectrum, rather than being too short. It almost like ballerina arms, only her elbows are bent. She must be tensing in her shoulders I think.

The horse itself needs a lot of work, as he's so weak that he finds correct work very difficult, and really needs his rider to help him out. If we had the facilities I'd offer to school him for a month, but we have to hire an arena a short hack away.

You've given me plenty of ideas though, so thanks folks.
 
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