Communicating through the Hand Aids

A good product on the market for retraining a horse with a hard mouth is called the Bitless Bridle. Once your horse is educated to your seat, leg and hand aids without a bit, you can then re-introduce the bit and build on that education to retrain the mouth. The overwhelming number of bits available on the market would require me to dedicate a separate article to cover their different uses, benefits and drawbacks. However, I would like to encourage you to use what is called a "French Snaffle" bit on any young horse or horse you are retraining. It is the gentlest bit you can use.

The key to a responsive mouth is training the horse to look for the commands and communication coming through the reins. A western horse that is properly trained will feel you move your hand less than ½ inch in any direction even when there is a loop in the reins from the hand to the bit and it looks like the movement never reaches the bit. A horse being ridden English will feel the slightest change in muscle tension in the rider's hands.

Dressage horses often look like they are being pulled on very hard, but in reality the dressage horse is looking for and seeking support from the rider's hands. The hands are containing the horse's energy and collection, not pulling him back. The misuse of the rider's hand aides to force the dressage horse's head and neck into position instead of developing and then containing the collection from the hindquarters and back and allowing the horse to naturally come into that position (frame) is very common among amateur dressage riders and some misinformed and/or impatient "professionals." The result is that the horse's neck is not in the ideal position, although it may look like it to the untrained eye. Another result is a very sore back because the muscles are not properly developed to support the horse in this frame. Some horses will go behind the bit (curl their heads back toward their chests to relieve all pressure from the reins) or try to stick their heads way up in the air. There are many products available on the market like draw reins and such to help impatient trainers make the horse perform correctly, but taking the time (think in terms of years) to properly condition and properly educate the horse is a much

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