out of scale

Now you can buy a gadget that measures the pressure on the reins. It's called EC Hands (a bit witty actually). It works like a fishing scale but the scale is composed of two fields of color, a green for ok and a red to alert that the pressure becomes too high.

I think the idea behind EC Hands is good. The pressure may well vary during a riding session and with this you could "see the variation". Another pressure measure tool is made of plastic and breaks when the limit is reached and passed, but it gives no indication of whether you stay too close to the limit all the time you ride.

But even if I like the idea, I can not hold back a sigh - how did they set their scale!? I had to pull quite hard just to reach the green field, I guess that it was at least 1.5 kg. In order then to get me up to the red zone, I really had to put effort in the pull. The plastic pressure measurer has a minimum weight of 2 kg, so my perception of 1.5 may well be 2. Manufacturers often glance at each other to look for guidance.

During the ISES Conference a research project on horses habituation of the pressure of the bridle was presented. The study showed that horses were not accustomed to the pressure, but tried to avoid it. The maximum pressure they put on the reins once (and never again) was 1 kg, then they exposed themselves to about 600 g.

My reins including a 12.5 cm bridong bit weighs 394 g. To that weight in the horse's mouth I can add up to 200 g and land on a pressure that a horse might accept.

There are research done in the U.S. showing that bit damages horses' mouths. The scale ranges from micro-fracture on the bars to fully visible dental damages.

I have not taken a stand against bits. But I definitely react to how the bit is used and what is considered acceptable in today's riding regarding what riders do with bits and reins.

Therefore, I wish and hope that the producers of "pressure gadgets" dare to adjust their scales so that they begin with grams, not kilograms. And that riders dare to let go of the reins during their riding lessons. It is not about having un-taut reins but to reduce the tension in the muscle chain belonging to the arms. If an exercise went well, do it again with half as much effort. It decreases your muscle tension and increases your flexibility.

Quoting Nuno Oliveira "... try to relax your hands to have a lighter contact. I have been lecturing for forty years and this is what I never cease to repeat to students around the world who speak to me about their difficulties."

The control lays not in force but in ease! This insight would certainly be appreciated by a large number of horses.