…or seeming to anyway. How do reiners, dressage riders appear to not move but steer the horse? Are they just using their legs? Or is it just really subtle movement to the reins? As a newbie rider that’s been riding for a year but still can’t seem to master the trot, let alone trotting plus steering in intricate patterns this fascinates me. I hope I’ll be able to ride like that one day.
Basically, horses go where riders are looking.
Horses sense how your weight changes.
Turning your head toward’s the next jump indicates a horse where to go next.
They sense that change in your body.
Reiner in the large fast cycle barely moves inside leg off the horse and forward means slow down and moving your hand 1/2" indicates to stay in the circle, sitting up and “riding behind the motion” means stop, wiggling legs is backup.
Some of those cues are “installed buttons” while training and you learn about those as you learn to ride.
Since humans tend to think consciously about something AFTER they have decided to do it, horses seem to respond to us seemingly reading our minds.
Our conscious mind is getting the message about the time the horse is and is acting on it.
In reality, they are reading our body’s preparation to whatever we are committing to do next, if a horse is well trained and sensitive.
It seems like magic at times.
On a well trained and finely tuned one, the rider has to be equally quiet and soft and clear in what it is doing, so as not to have a horse anticipating or confused.
If you are already thinking about changing leads in x spot, but your body is already “previewing” the change two strides before x, well, the horse will change two strides before x and get blamed for anticipating!
With a good instructor and time with horses, you too can learn about all ways we communicate with them.
1 Like
our horses when used to be mounts for very young beginner riders would side step to keep their charge centered in the saddle
3 Likes
Our neighbor put his little kid on his horse to work cattle one day.
Getting back home, kid kept falling asleep as we walked back to headquarters.
We were all watching how the horse would, sensing kid leaning to the side, take a little sidestep and hop to righten the kid back up as we walked along.
5 Likes
Years upon years upon years of had work. 
I can’t speak to reining, but in dressage, it’s a progression. At Training Level, the horses learn the aids for each gait, begin to learn to carry themselves, and start learning to work more off the seat/leg aids. Seat, leg, and rein aids work together to tell the horse what to do, in what direction to do it, and at what gait it should be done. (That’s simplified, but basically, that’s it.)
Because dressage is about harmony between horse and rider, the aids might seem invisible, but they really aren’t. Watch the Grand Prix riders - you will see when they’re doing half-pass and one-tempis, the leg aids are visible, but you will also see the seat aids at the same time. If you watch this video of Edward Gal and Totilas, for example, you’ll start to see him use the aids (one-tempis start at about the 5:25 mark). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp_w5mW0yWo
My mare does it just by me thinking about changing direction and the subtle things I do when the thought crosses my mind. Not at speed mind you!
She is just really in-tuned and responsive to my leg. I am the only person to ever ride her and at 14 she knows what I want pretty well.
1 Like
As a generalization, the key to being able to control the horse with “invisible aids” is to have enough control over your OWN body that you are not giving unintentional aids.
If you legs are always moving a little bit, the horse will probably ignore any aid it considers “within the noise level”, and will only respond to leg aids that are visible. Same with hands that move around.
8 Likes
Funny, because I feel like I see a lot of aids being used when I watch dressage
If however you are riding a clear contact, then there is not so huge a change in hand position or rein tension when you give a rein aid.
My horse is not particularly high level but already at this point I would say my body and thigh control direction unless she is being naughty, and body to a great degree downward transitions,again if she isn’t being naughty, and reins more about balance of horse, and head flexion.
When I ride my coach’s schoolmaster mare, she in general turns off thigh pressure and the upward transitions are easy because she is very forward.
I’m sorry you are having so much trouble learning to ride. How often are you taking lessons, how many hours of saddle time do you get in a month? I would suggest getting more time in the saddle and perhaps upgrading to a better lesson program because even at one lesson a month you should be able to trot and steer a horse after a year. You might consider aprogram that will help you work on your balance with longe lessons.
it can be very hard to learn anything if you are dealing with worn out sucked back lesson horses that will not listen to youir aids at all.
It’s so cool to read how in tune horses can be to their riders, I’m far from owning my own horse but I look forward to being able to have that kind of bond with a horse one day
Scribbler, I should have mentioned that the place I take lessons at breeds gaited horses so I am very comfortable steering and riding at faster gaits on those guys. Trotting has been a learning curve, but due to money constraints ( bulldozing my student loans right now) once a week is all I can do. Honestly I just want to relax and build skills/confidence with time so I’ve kind of been taking a slow pace with everything. But eventually I should be able to do more. Although maybe working on a lunge line would help, I could bring that up to the lady I do lessons with, that way I don’t have to focus on the directing so much and just the balance.
I think maybe because I haven’t gotten that deep into riding and all the different aids/buttons used I just don’t have the knowledge to see what is going on in those events. It’s just super cool to watch right now.
1 Like
Another thing I was wondering, do people click or talk to their horses during dressage competitions or is that not allowed?
.
Not allowed, points off.
But you can talk in jumping!
You can talk in Western Dressage as well.
You teach this by intelligently wetting a LOT of blankets.
My horse will go where my eyes go, if I want him to. But sometimes I don’t so we don’t use the “follow the eyes” practice.
There’s a lot of cues you can use to obtain fine movements. Most come from the seat and legs in a well trained and schooled horse/rider pair. Watch a performance by the Spanish Riding School if you want to be impressed. But sometimes Old Clomper gets distracted and you have to add the hand, or even the crop or spur, to obtain the performance you need. I’ve even seen this in an SRS performance. Horses can, and do, have “Mondays.”
I don’t know the formal Dressage rules as that is not in my area of interest. In training military horses verbal cues were not allowed as a rider’s voice travels beyond the ears of their horse and could confuse other nearby horses. Also, if you’re talking your not listening and might miss a command.
G.
1 Like
Everything @Bluey said :yes:
I had a shareboarder for my TB Hunter who was more Novice than she thought.
In a clinic with Diane Carney she came loose over the first element of a combination, horse practically cantered in place to keep her in the tack 
2 Likes
:uhoh: Only if the judge hears you, lots of sotto voce commands in Dressage rings
Jumpers are famous for growling :lol:
@ziggywiggy Don’t be discouraged, weekly lessons are a fine place to start :encouragement:
A lot of us were not born To the Manor or on a ranch & that was Ground Zero.
I got my very first Own horse at 39 after years of riding schoolies in 1xWeek lessons & then shareboarding - so I could ride more often.
I learned a lot by doing both.
3 Likes
No whips in competition for dressage either IIRC. I think you may wear spurs.
I got jumped out of the tack once , didn’t take much, but I froze in fear expecting the horse to dive away from my off center weight and dump me and by golly if she didn’t adjust a little and provide me with a stable platform to continue on.
That makes total sense, given dressage having cavalry roots!
Whips are allowed in most classes (must meet length regulations) and spurs are permitted, though restrictions on types and sizes exist.
1 Like
As a dressage rider, I’d say the steering aids come mostly from the legs (thighs and calves aid differently) and seatbones/hip angles and the weight/posture (posture changes change the weight). The rein aids maintain suppleness in the poll and jaw as the horse drives from the hind end. Looking where you’re going changes your hips (leg and seat aids) and shoulders (rein balance aids) in a subtle way that the horse can understand/learn. Like someone else said, rider fitness is as least as important as horse fitness.
