Refining Your Leg Aids - Part Three, Leg Pressure

This is the last Monday in October, so in the final installment of "Refining Your Leg Aids" we will discuss the amount of leg pressure to use to cue your horse.

It is very important that we teach our horses to be light and responsive, yet I see many riders with stiff and rigid legs.  The fix just takes some thought, understanding and practice.

Try this:

• Open your left hand all the way open and don't be shy.
• Take your right index finger and touch the palm of your left hand.  
• Don't press your finger into the palm of your hand, just use the weight of your finger to touch it.

That is how much leg pressure I use to cue a broke horse to turn.  There are times I will need more leg pressure for things, such as collecting the horse while trotting, teaching him something new, etc. but in general when asking the horse to turn or change a gait I will use just a touch of my leg to communicate with the horse.

Touch your palm again a few times, yes it really is that light. If a horse can feel a fly land on his body he certainly can feel my leg when I touch him with it.

This lightness does not happen overnight, there are a few things a rider must do to train the horse to respond to this type of a cue.

• Use your calf with your heel down to cue the horse not your toe or heel.  Your calf is your "communication device".  Using your toe or your heel to cue the horse is like talking with food in your mouth, a bit rude and difficult to understand.
• Always initiate a turn or change of gait with a touch, making a touch the cue.  If you stiffen up your leg and jab your horse to turn or move forward this will be your cue not a touch.  
• Follow up a touch with a hard bump if the horse does not respond to the touch.  When you give the horse a hard bump with your leg you should hear your leg "bang" off of the side of the horse.  - Don't feel bad, he should have been paying attention, besides you can never kick as hard as another horse can kick him, you won't hurt him.
• Repeat - Always cue with a touch, punish with a bang no in between.

If I were a horse I would much prefer a soft touch for a cue followed by one big BANG on my side for punishment when I did not respond as opposed to hard press, stiff leg, hard press on my side each time.  All the hard pressing on my side would make me stiff, dull and resistant.  A soft touch would be enjoyable, and it would be no ones fault but my own if I had to get kicked occasionaly for not responding.

When you touch softly, and punish harshly you are speaking the horse's language.  He will respect and most importantly understand you.   He won't understand when you say, "Awwww come on Bucky please don't try and eat grass wile I am riding you."  He'll keep on eating.  But if you lift his head and give him a good kick with both legs, he will understand that what he is doing is not acceptable.  

One last thing I would like to mention about using a soft touch for a leg cue, you will more easily maintain your body position.  When you use a stiff leg with too much pressure you will be more likely to drop your shoulder, tip, balance on the horse's mouth or cock your head to one side.  

Related Posts:

Refining Your Leg Aids - Part One Timing Corrections
Refining Your Leg Aids - Part Two, Balance and Feel
Fix The Problem - Fix The Symptom