You always hear people say that you want
your horse “light,” but what exactly does
that mean? Lightness is, essentially, having
a horse that is super sensitive to your cues
and you being super sensitive to how
you are cueing your horse. There is no need
to physically manhandle a light horse,
because they respond to the smallest cue,
either of your legs, hands, weight, or seat.
No matter what style of riding you use,
lightness is the goal.
“Lightness is the absence of
resistances of weight or strength to
the actions of the hands, and the
absence of resistances of inertia to
the actions of the legs.
There is resistance of strength when
the horse “pulls” on the rider’s
hand.
There is resistance of weight when
the horse “bears” on the rider’s
hand.
There is resistance of inertia when
the horse “ignores” the actions of
the legs.”
~Jean-Claude
Racinet~ Another
Horsemanship
To attain lightness, we need to be gentle.
However, we must define terms. By gentle, I
don’t mean that we must never use any force
on our horses. By gentle I do mean that you
use as little force as is necessary but,
working up to, as much as is needed. You
start out by being as light as is possible
and if your horse does not respond, you
gradually use as much force as is necessary
to get the desired result. If you want your
horse to stop when you shift your weight
slightly, then this is where you begin your
stopping cue. Of course, your horse is
likely to ignore it the first time you do
this (or second and third and so on…), so
you then say “whoa” and if there is still no
response, you would follow up with light
rein pressure; proceeding to a harder pull
on the reins until your horse stops.
Naturally, this will take hundreds, if not
thousands, of repetitions before your horse
understands and complies with what you want.
And even then, you will need to continue to
fine tune all these cues. If, however,
instead of this gradual increase of
pressure, you were to simply pull hard on
the reins, this would be all the lighter
your horse is going to get. Only through
Attention and Intention is your horse going
to improve and grow lighter.
This applies to any cue, whether turning,
backing, side passing, collection, or
speeding up. Your horse only pulls as hard
as you do. The lighter you learn to be, the
lighter your horse will be.
It is amazing when all you have to do is
shift your weight to slow or stop your
horse. The reins need not even be touched!
It makes riding even more fun when you can
hop on your horse with no tack on him and
just ride around. It is so freeing and even
joyful to have a light horse. Lightness is
attainable, even for your horse. Just pay
attention and ride with intention.
