High Hand vrs Low Hand

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Permalink Reply by wilson on December 8, 2010 at 6:39am

Your web link is not working.

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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on December 8, 2010 at 8:41am

It lookes like he is holding all four reins in one hand, and because of that the rider has to hold his hand higher. It also looks like he is asking for a turn to the inside.
The web redirected me to http://www.philippe-karl.com, and I am commenting on the first picture that came up.
I will lift my hand so that the rein is parallel to the cheek piece of the bridle if the horse starts carrying its head way up with the nose stuck out, but in that situation I have to be ready for the horse's nose to make a sudden dive all the way down to the ground.
When the horse's head comes up naturally to trot I will raise my hand to keep the straight line from my elbow to the horse's mouth.

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Permalink Reply by Kairen Jamieson on December 8, 2010 at 9:53am

I will try to get the other link up....thank you for pointing that out.

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Permalink Reply by Erin K Beach on December 8, 2010 at 10:52am

http://www.philippe-karl.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5&...


I read this on a different forum, and I liked it a lot. I think what a rider often thinks as mechanically correct, is often completely wrong when thinking of the horse's anatomy and physiology. You can't pull your horse's head down by dropping your hand. I also think a lot of people will skip over the part when you drop your hand once the horse gives.

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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on December 8, 2010 at 12:32pm

Erin, thank you so much for the reference to this site and article.
I guess my hands know what they are doing as they drift upwards.

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Permalink Reply by James ( Sandy) Dunlop on January 15, 2011 at 11:45pm

Hello Kairen,

                  The purpose of the high hands is so that the tension applied to the reins will be directed to the corners of the mouth rather than the bars where pressure causes great pain and with it all the resistances we see every day in arenas. As the horse becomes trained it becomes possible to lower the hands more and more, until in the finished horse it is no longer required that the hands be lifted in this manner. This style of training is French in origin whose touchstone is lightness.

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Permalink Reply by James ( Sandy) Dunlop on February 4, 2011 at 1:19pm

Reverend, the high hand, from time to time, is only a means to an end in a horse in training. The position you describe (except I would keep the thumbs up rather than face each other) is for the finished horse.

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