When first learning to ride a horse, students are introduced to the aids that they can use to communicate with their mount. These aids come in the form of natural and artificial aids. And aid is something that assists, in this case with regards to communicating with the horse. Even saddles and bridles are aids to riding.
Natural Aids for the Rider
The natural aids used to communicate tend to come from the rider’s body and can be utilised in varying extremes. These may be the:
- Hands
- Seat
- Legs
- Voice
Each of these aids can be used to communicate with the horse and try to gain a particular response. For example, the hands may apply pressure to the reins to ask the horse to slow down or halt. The seat may sit deep and still to reinforce what was being asked by the hands.
Legs can be used to ask a horse to move forward by a slight increase in pressure. This request can be emphasised with the rider’s voice. Each of these aids will have a time and place to be used but generally riders work to make their aids as subtle as possible when asking anything of the horse.
Artificial Aids Used in Horse Riding
Perhaps the most common form of artificial aid that may be recognised by riders is the whip. Some love it; others hate it; still others recognise its potential when in the right hands. The whip is seen as a form of encouragement in racing, to the point that some jockeys have been accused of trying to throw a race due to not using a whip in the last couple of hundred meters of a race.
It should be noted that the idea of any artificial aid is to reinforce the natural aids that riders have. Consequently, it should be applied in a manner that imitates the natural aid it is replacing. An example is the stubborn pony that refuses to move forward despite its mounts’ insistent leg pressure.
Riders need to quickly be taught that a whip isn’t to be used as a form of punishment, nor should it be the first point of call. Instead, the pony should be asked with the legs and if this doesn't work, then the whip should be utilised to reinforce what the legs have already asked. The idea is to increase pressure until the horse responds and then immediately release this pressure.
Another example of an artificial aid is spurs. These are attached to the back of one’s shoe and used to apply pressure like one’s legs or feet would.
As is the case with all methods of asking a horse to do something, aids should be utilised in a clear and safe manner and not as a form of punishment. If unsure about the use of particular artificial aids, these should be avoided until they are better understood. Effective communication with the horse should always be the goal.
Chris Thomas - C. Thomas has studied and worked with horses since 2001. She teaches horse studies part time and is undertaking an Equine Science ...
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