There are really many good reasons to work the horses in hand.

I would like to tell you when I use work in hand and for what reason

When autumn and thus the rain comes, I can have periods where I only work the horses in walk. The arena can simply get too wet to do much more than walk work. Then I often do work in hand with the horses.

I also work the horses in hand if I'd like to have trained all four horses, but don't have that much time. It's quick to put on a bridle and then go out and get them to work over their back for 4-10 minutes.

Lucky Lady

What is the most important thing in connection with the training of the horse?

It is to teach the horse to work properly over its back. This means that the horse must learn to work with its back up/lifted.

Amaze steps deep under herself and lifts her back

The strange thing is to search the web, so there is not really much to find about the subject. And often when you finally find a good text about it, the pictures do not fit. At least not to the idea I have about how it should look.

walk work is extremely important in getting the horse to develop properly. Unfortunately, it is often the walk work that is done least out of, although it should be the gait one initially used most.

Many will experience when they start training their horses according to Art2Ride, that the horse is faster to stretch in trot compared to what it does in walk. So many of us are not working our horses enough in walk to start with, as we really should. I think most of us who train according to Art2Ride have made this mistake.

When you have trained your horse from the ground for some time and you think the horse seems ready to be ridden, then it will be really well prepared, but you shouldn't expect it to stretch out consistently. Often it will switch between the horse going deep, then high and then halfway between, etc. So how do we keep a contact on the rein when the horse does this.

Whether the horse is on the forehand or carrys the weight on the hind can not be determined from the neck's position. A horse that goes in competition frame, with the neck high and slightly in front of the vertical, can easily still go with the weight on the forehand. So even if everything in front of the saddle looks perfect, that is not necessarily the case. A horse that goes with the head and neck in a deep stretch, even very deep position, may well carry weight on the hind end.

Gitse steps deeply under herself causing the neck to stretch and the back to lift just behind the wither. You get an impression that the horse goes "uphill"