I think the title pretty much sums it up. I’m looking to learn how you describe (verbally) to someone what it means to “have the horse in front of your leg”, or to “get the horse in front of your leg” (and, how do you know if he’s there).
I will try to articulate what it means to me. When a horse is in front of my leg it means that rather than having to send a horse forward, all I have to do is “open the door” or allow them to go forward. Maybe a slight easing of contact and the lightest ask of the leg and I get an immediate forward response. You never have to nag at a horse that is in front of your leg. Let’s say you are going down a line and you see you need to lengthen to the next jump; a horse that’s in front of your leg lengthens at the same instant you ask. You can’t have a truly adjustable horse unless they are in front of your leg…JMO
I think another way of describing the horse being in front of your leg is to imagine what happens if you took your leg off for a stride or two, or you needed to shift your position for some reason – if the horse is in front of your leg and carrying its pace nicely, you aren’t going to lose impulsion from that, but if you don’t have them in front of your leg, you are having to more continuously work to achieve forward momentum and they aren’t going to keep going the same way if you took your leg off.
Similar to what Ponyclubrocks said above,
When a horse is in front of your leg, you are not constantly pushing to keep a steady forward pace. The horse should be light in its forehand and feel as though it is driving from its hind end.
Just a side note, I can clearly picture a horse being behind the riders leg, but took a minute to think how to describe it verbally.:lol:
For me it means that the horse’s front end is light. That I am riding the horse behind me, not in front of me. I am NOT nagging, I am not leaning forward, the power is coming from the haunches driving the horse forward, not with me up over its shoulder and the horse is not pulling with its front end. A horse who is in front of my leg is up in front, down in back, and the front end is light. If a horse is head down and plodding int the ground in front, he is trailing behind and can injure himself jumping onto his front hooves. A horse in front of my leg has the feel of me behind his shoulder and not over it. I can feel his haunches engaged. It requires the horse to be strong through the back, and not tipped over in front. If that makes sense. There are exercises to make this happen. With a TB or QH it can take months of conditioning to get the horse strong enough to rock back and use its hind end and recondition its self not to use the front end.
I think the descriptions here of “not nagging” really sums it up well!
To me it is the feeling of holding energy and being able to use it at a moments notice. Where as I’d have to generate energy for a horse behind my leg and there is lag time.
