Are Your Horses Feet In Good Hands?

I want you to think about good hands in another way…

Who goes on a trail ride and their horse just goes on auto-pilot? “yep guilty too” it’s easy when you have a good riding partner to just relax and switch off on the trail but think about this…we use contact and direct our horse in the arena, with pole work or obstacles and the such (this is a controlled environment)yet when we’re out on unknown terrain we just stop riding, sitting there enjoying the view. Now obviously it’s going to depend on the kind of trail ride, we don’t want to be directing and over riding while we’re half cut on a wine ride out along a well ridden track..no no sit back and relax your horse has got your back.

I’m talking new terrain, difficult terrain, unknown obstacles, steep inclines and near vertical declines.

Horses are extremely intelligent, they use their senses and often know much better than we do about a lot of things especially navigating new ground. Now it is so important to relax, always try to be relaxed and your horse will benefit greatly. To a degree it is best to let the horse make decisions for himself on tough terrain, he knows his feet, he’s only had them his whole life. It important to differentiate between your horse navigating his path or if he’s secretly navigating back to his mate (if it’s the later you must keep that in check otherwise it can lead to all kids of buddy problems on the trail, if he’s let get away with things then soon enough you’ll have a horse that only wants to be where his mate is).

If you are confident to give your horse some rein (long rein, not loose rein) to allow him to round his back and stretch his neck it will encourage him to watch for things on the trail, not to mention this is so great for your horses back and neck. When navigating difficult terrain it is important to always have some contact, this doesn’t mean collect him up so he looks like Vallegro, no, you can still have a long rein and still have contact. The importance of contact on difficult terrain is so that if your horse trips or slips you are able to encourage him back up by lifting his head, quite often this will save them from falling right down.

Allowing your horse to really see his trail will help avoid trips and slips as he knows how to place his feet, but we can however help to slow his feet down, like over large logs or on steep declines. Imagine that your hands on the reins are like the hands and strings of a puppeteer only that they aid control to the feet. Horses can sometimes get a bit rushy, it is up to us to help contain the energy and show them when it’s best to slow up. Horses will learn to trust and rely on you very quickly if you become mindful about their feet. My horses know that if I sit and slow a back foot down that it is for good reason.

Use a combination of your hands and your body to steady your horses gait.

Have a play with your obstacles and out on the trial, be mindful of your horses feet under you. See if you can use your ring fingers alternately for the hind legs and sit (on the same side as the rein you’re breaking) and see if you can gain control of the hind legs, see if you can slow them down and speed them up, see if you can walk over a log then slow the hind feet and ask him to lift them higher…just something to play around with.

Try this on steep declines, sit and lean back in your saddle and rock with your horses movement try to encourage him to be steady with your own body, put a hand break on the hind legs alternately until the horse comes to your speed, help him understand that he needs to use caution, horses will really start to listen to this and be grateful for the heads up.

Start thinking like a team..

As for going up hills, I like to let the horse find his own pace. If it’s a steep incline they will want to opt for a lope or a hurried canter to gain momentum and pull themselves up the hill, this will depend on the ground. Walking and trotting up steep inclines that have a lot of sand can put a lot of strain on the legs so horses like to get up the hill quickly, this is a natural response.

Lean forward and give them their head, I even like to hold my reins in one hand and grab an bunch of mane whilst leaning forward this helps the stay balanced and allows the horse the freedom of movement to be able to get enough impulsion behind to drive them up the hill without a lot of effort and strain. Sometimes us humans get in the way, sometimes we need to get out of the horses way for him to use his body effectively.

These are really fun exercises to play around with and the communication and bond that comes with being able to work as a team and listen and trust each others judgment makes riding as a partnership that much more closer.

Using your hands and knowing when it’s best not to is a key point in creating a trusting relationship with your riding partner, a exciting stage to your ridden horsemanship!

Have fun, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.