The hand is the primary aid

A few days ago I gave a lesson where the rider got to practice the reverse half halt. I love giving this lesson since most riders are very sceptical at first but then get all excited when it works. The aim of the exercise is to get the horse to trot only using a specific giving action with the hand.

The hand can create impulsion. Yes! I mean it! How is this possible?

”The hand is the primary aid”. This means that the hand should act first, before the legs and/or seat. But it also means that neither legs nor seat is necessary at all. If the horse is attentive, and if the rider sits on the horse in balance and with a supple seat without hindering the horse's movements.

The father of classical equitation, François Robichon de la Guérinière (French, 1688-1751), wrote in his book “Ecole de Cavalerie” that: “The hand ought always to begin the effect, the legs to accompany it: for it is a general principle in all the paces, as well natural as artificial, that the head and shoulders of the horse must go first”.

One more thing – the hand should never ever act backwards. The reason for this is that the horse's reflexes are 6-7 times faster than human reflexes. It is therefore impossible, from the horse's point of view, to yield a hand that acts backwards at the proper moment. A hand that acts backwards usually makes the horse protect itself in other ways, for instance by not bringing the hind legs under and/or overbending the neck.

So, how does all this add up to the horse trotting by the action of the hand alone? It is simple (but not always easy to do), a well schooled horse follows the bit. If the bit is allowed forwards, so the horse should go forwards.