I think this changes depending on what your sitting on. I have the privilege to ride many horses every day. From babies to FEI. So I feel what I need to ride each horse well adjusts to what they need to do a task. Some horses all my half halts are leg aids and core/seat. Some horses I ride are just core and seat; how I use my seat would change as well for these different horses. Constantly evolving.
I think being able to think of our aids as a title of a story but there is much more to the story broken down into chapters… you may need chapter 10 today and chapter 2 tomorrow; just to write the title today.
I think one thing I keep relearning or misunderstood from the beginning and need to always reassess is collection. For me the hardest movement or one where I feel my understanding of collection is always adjusting is the shoulder-in. I don’t know why but this moment for me is always adjusting in how I process it.
And a absolute must for every ride, every horse… they MUST be in front of my leg!! They must be in front of my leg!! And they must accept the contact. Without this, the rest of the ride would be pointless.
Apologies for any rambling or incoherence… I’m only one cup of coffee in! Ha
