In this post I will tell you how to get started working your horse in hand. I will try to keep the post short and simple.

I get so many good questions from people and today I got this:

I'm a little curious about art2ride ... Do you constantly ride your horse so deep or is it a period to strengthen them or do you use it when warming up or how? Thinking that it's not going to work with the head this far down if you're going to jump.

I think there are more people who could have the same questions and therefore I will make an in-depth answer here.

One of the questions I usually get asked is how to get the horse to stretch in the lunge without side reins. I will try to respond on that in this post.

Side reins

First, I would just like to say that we use side reins. But we do not use them to make the horse bend his neck. We use them to teach the horse to seek contact on the bit.

When we use side reins they are initially so long that the horse can stretch all the way down to the ground. That is, the horse can lift his head as much as he wants. The horse, therefore, does not learn to stretch due to the side reins, but they teach the horse to seek contact on the bit.

When the horse goes with a lowered back.

When a rider get up on a horse, the horse's natural reaction will be to lower the back. When the horse lowers its back, the vertebraes will come closer to each other. If this happens, the horse will not be able to work properly.

The horse will then find it difficult to step under himself. It may be difficult for the horse to bend. The fore and hind end do not work in harmony with each other, that is, the horse is struggling to keep the rhythm. The body's "shock absorbers" are put out of service and the horse's joints are put under heavy load, which can cause lameness, unnecessary wear and kissing spine. It goes without saying that this can not be particularly pleasant for the horse.

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