The Magazine March 2025

The right response

Posted 16th January 2025

Giving clear aids to your horse is the key to successful training. Gareth Hughes explains how

The-right-response

When schooling your horse, it can be easy to overcomplicate things in your mind and become frustrated if the session doesn’t go exactly as planned. But, really, the true goal should always be simply to improve your horse’s way of going, even if only by a small amount, while making it a positive experience for both of you. As riders, it’s up to us to communicate with our horses in ways they can understand and we do this via the aids.

Being clear and precise, while ensuring your horse knows what you’re asking, will build the relationship you need to succeed and see improvements. But learning the aids doesn’t need to be complicated.

Cause and effect

In essence, aids are the cues you give your horse to let him know what you want him to do next. However, for him to learn and understand them effectively, and act on them, we first have to know them thoroughly ourselves.

The aids can be used both separately and together for creating different outcomes, but it’s important to first know which part of your body influences which part of his…

  • your arms can make corrections to his head and neck, like an imagined extension of the reins
  • your hands influence the shoulders by moving them left or right – note that the bit doesn’t influence the shoulders
  • your seat can be used to ask him to bend and create or reduce impulsion
  • your legs influence the hindquarters

Swing low

I believe the best way to train walk is on the buckle. That way, you’re allowing your horse freedom in his head and neck to stretch and relax, which are two of the most important components when creating a quality walk. Plus, with your hands on stand down, you can focus more on the other aids required to influence the rest of his body.

Key aids to improve the walk

  1. Your arms influence the length of your reins and, therefore, the length of your horse’s neck. In free walk, allow the reins to be long and keep your hands still and soft.
  2. Your seat encourages your horse to make his stride bigger. Focus on relaxing your lower back to produce a natural swing from the hips.
  3. Your calves encourage your horse to step through and forward, so if you need more ground coverage, give a well-timed squeeze when his hindleg is about to take a step.
  4. Your heels influence the tempo. If you need more energy in the free walk, give a subtle squeeze with your heel.
  5. Once you’ve established free walk, you can start to shorten the reins and neck to transfer the forward strides you’ve created into the medium walk. Make sure your horse’s head is angled no more than 90° to the ground so he remains forward thinking and through. Be careful when using the heel in medium walk, as your horse may fall into a jog. Instead, focus more on practising relaxation with the shorter rein contact and allow your hips to continue to swing. As a result, the hindlegs will follow.

Discover more of Gareth’s advice on giving clear aids to your horse in March Horse&Rider – out now!

Your Comments

Newsletter Sign-up

Sign up now

Subscribe

Latest Issue