The confusing case of the possessed hand!

[KBC]

My, now horseless, self is back in a lesson program, trying to find out how to communicate properly with my trainers Friesian. He is a handsome boy, and she has him extremely well trained, and now I am trying to find where all the buttons are, there are so many programs you can run

She has been mentioning my “rogue” left hand before, saying she has never seen a student with such a wayward hand, and it didn’t get what she was on about. Yesterday I got to see it doing its thing, seeming controlled by something other than my brain It’s a bizarre thing, caused an awful lot of bad language every time I caught it flicking out to the side. I guess it is some sort of learned repetitive behaviour, and I SO need to get someone to video me next time…

Still not discounting demonic possession, split personality, or maybe plain faulty wiring…please tell me I’m not alone.

Picture just because……

[Paint_Party]

Are you primarily riding with one hand, holding the reins in your left hand, essentially neck reining, as in the photo?

Or mostly riding with two hands, and your left hand is inexplicably doing something the right hand is not?

[Jackie_Cochran]

Oh yes, my riding teacher regularly gets after me about a wandering hand.

I do have an excuse, MS destroyed my proprioceptive sense.

However when talking to some riding teachers about this I got told that most of their adult students lack a proprioceptive sense even though these students are neurologically normal.

Right now I am wondering if the religious stricture not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing contributes to this.

As a piece of comfort, my riding teachers after they tell me this usually tell me that the horse does not seem that bothered about my wandering hand. I presume that the horses are not that bothered about this because I keep my fingers relaxed and always following the horse’s mouth, and because I time my hand aids to what the horses’ hind legs are doing with a prompt release so I give the horses an aid versus blocking the movements of the horse.

Two of the horses this happened with had the MOST SENSITIVE mouths of any horse I had ridden in over 50 years. So long as I kept my fingers relaxed rather than clenched and I timed my hand aids correctly these horses did not seem to care about my wandering hand though they WOULD get upset with me if I blocked their movements with my hands.

[KBC]

@Paint_Party

Are you primarily riding with one hand, holding the reins in your left hand, essentially neck reining, as in the photo?

Or mostly riding with two hands, and your left hand is inexplicably doing something the right hand is not?

Currently flat, dressage portion of my lessons two handed, when we are on the Ease of Handling course, need to mainly two hand, but the obstacles, ride with left, complete tasks with right.

More than ever before I am being asked to carry my hands higher than my comfort zone, but the way he responds tells me I need to work in that in work in his comfort zone, not mine. I am also consciously working on having hands close together, with creating a channel between my thumbs to steer, it makes sense to me as we do it. It’s so disappointing when you are focusing on them working together, to realize lefty is doing its own thing.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I do this too. It helps me to think about keeping my elbows by my side, versus chicken-winging. I think you’re talking about the issue of turning your left elbow out?

In the photo, your hands do look like you’re trying to be elastic by keeping your hands high at the neck, but you’re turning your thumb flat and your arm out, which results in unequal/ineffective contact.

Again, I have this habit, too, and thinking of my arms superglued to my sides and turning from my shoulders as a unit was helpful. Not that I don’t still fall into the habit!

[Paint_Party]

If it makes you feel any better, I’ve had Left Hand Syndrome much of my life. Even when I was showing in eq. and medals, I had this weird habit of flattening only my left wrist. Why? I do not know. I had to consciously remind myself not to do it. I’m not sure if there’s an underlying reason, like my own physical conformation, or if it’s the fact that I am not ambidextrous. At all.

So of course when I ride and show western, I have to hold my reins in my aforementioned devious left hand, and neck rein. (Hypothetically). At least neck reining is the goal.

What helps is really focusing on using my seat and legs to turn and guide my horse. And, as @Impractical_Horsewoman said, keeping my left elbow at my side in a steady, yet relaxed position.

By the way, you look great on that fancy black horse.

[KBC]

@Paint_Party

What helps is really focusing on using my seat and legs to turn and guide my horse. And, as @Impractical_Horsewoman said, keeping my left elbow at my side in a steady, yet relaxed position.

By the way, you look great on that fancy black horse.

Will definitely have to focus on left elbow, just so weird that it’s just one side.

When this retainer bought the barn a couple of years ago, I would have sworn that the big black Friesian would the last horse I would ride. 13 years ago my big black horse lawn darted me into intensive care for a week, was in hospital nearly a month. Strangely enough it was the right side of my body that got smashed up…maybe the left started compensating then?

The last memory I had was the long flowing black mane, and head coming up, then the ambulance was there. When she said last year I could show him, when my horse went lame two days before the event, I wasn’t sure I would even be able to swing a leg over him, but I did, and I was in love

So happy to be learning new things and having a good looking guy to dance with!

[outerbanks77]

Try riding with an elastic band around your wrists, or hold something that keeps your hands together (like a snaffle bit).

[KBC]

Will have to give it a go

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

Try using a small riding bat, or even a flat stick under your thumbs in each hand.

Any extraneous movement of your wrists or shoulders will be immediately noticeable.

It really increases awareness of what’s going on with your hands and you don’t have to look down to see it.

It’s a great exercise that costs very little and you can do it anytime.

Hope this helps.

[KBC]

I am so going to try carrying a bit, or bat, just to help the awareness, if I can nudge myself to feel it, then maybe I can tame the beast.

[candyappy]

What are you holding in your right hand? I see something there.

[KBC]

It’s a Garrocha pole, that’s part of our Working Equitation round at the last shoe.

[TheDBYC]

A dressage trainer I know once used the visual of pretending that you’re a butler starting to lift a silver tray up onto a shelf. That resonated well for me.

Wondering also if may be the body’s way of counterbalancing your working right hand?

I’m jealous! Been wanting to try working eq for a while!

[RemarkableOwl21]

I have this with my right arm. My instructor tells me to bend my right elbow, put my elbow back, and all my arm wants to do is give, give, give, even when im telling it to stop giving. Not a problem on the left side. Right arm truly has a mind of its own.

[Alterration]

Mine is the left hand. It drifts to the sky for a reason unknown to man. I continually have to check myself. It’s probably some sort of tension, but no one yet has magically figured it out.

Good luck! Many of the tips here have helped but I find I constantly have to remind myself of it!

[peedin]

I have a rogue right arm. Sometimes it is possessed. It will float away from my side and just hang out. Like I have no control over it! I think I came from opening my outside hand ( in the left rein) to give her something to move into. It’s much better now that I have worked on my upper torso position, thinking of gluing it to my side, relaxing, and correcting it ASAP when I notice it.

[KBC]

Well today I tried the short crop across under my thumbs, jeez, how uncoordinated can a person be? Lots it seems when trying to get sorted out. Coach said it did improve things, so going to keep trying, but we were working on so many things today, I was forgetting to keep checking. I can’t wait to ride on my own again and just focus on me…lol, if I walk for an hour simply concentrating on my hands, I’ll do it on “my” time.

Today I’m on a high, got my first really good lope on the Friesian, he is bigger and his movement is far bigger than anything I have ridden before. It’s taken me a while to appreciate it and find the joy.