Forty seven years ago when I first read Vladimir Littauer’s “Common Sense Horsemanship” I was first introduced to the mysteries of effective contact.  All of my previous riding, four years of trail riding in Chile and Uruguay, had been done on loose reins, and contact was a deep, deep mystery to me.  I tried to learn all I could from books since I could not ride much until I got my first horse 5 years later.  Then, since I could not afford good lessons, it was me and my horse teaching each other.

One concept of Littauer’s about contact was the importance of “give and take”.  Littauer writes about this throughout his career, from when he was still teaching what he learned from the Russian Cavalry School (then teaching the method of James Fillis) through his last books on the Forward Seat method.  In Littauer’s first book, “Ten Talks on Horsemanship”, written with his partner Sergei Kournakoff  and based on radio broadcasts aired (and published) in 1930 when Littauer and Kournakoff were still teaching Fillis’ method, he writes on pages 26-27: 

     “Speaking about permanent contact between the rider’s hands and the horse’s mouth, we are trying to give you an idea of something that is almost impossible to explain over the radio, and in this case we will have to rely upon your own power of imagination:  ALTHOUGH THE CONTACT MUST BE PERMANENT, NEVERTHELESS THE BIT MUST PLAY IN THE HORSE’S MOUTH.

     It is very essential that there should not exist any even and constant pressure of the bit on the horse’s mouth, such a pressure will stop the circulation of the blood in the area where it is exerted and it will be only a question of minutes before this area of the mouth becomes numb and the horse ceases to feel the bit.

     This is where the rider’s FEELING comes in, the feeling that is not only the result of practice, but of talent….

     An experienced rider, guided by instinct, will, by playing with his finger, slightly increase and decrease the tension of the reins, thus obtaining a “live iron” in the horse’s mouth, and at the same time not losing the permanent contact with the latter.”

In Littauer’s first Forward Seat book “The Forward Seat” published in 1935, on pages 58-59 he expands on this: 

     “Besides being gentle, the contact with the horse’s mouth, or any order given with the reins, must have a certain play, which is known under the technical name of “give and take.”  It is a matter of feeling and consequently hard to explain in writing.  A constant, even pull with the reins means a permanent pressure of the bit against the same place in the horse’s mouth.  This constant pressure stops the blood-circulation, the place becomes numb and the horse loses all feeling in it.  The contact with the horse’s mouth, though constant, must have variations of pressure.  There may be fractions of a second when the pressure is nil, but it is restored immediately, then decreased, perhaps lost entirely, re-established again, and all this without losing the permanency of the contact.”

Then in Littauer’s book “Be a Better Horseman” published in 1941 he explains this concept a little further on page 29:

“When pulling on the reins to slow down, turn, back, or stop you should never pull consistently for any length of time; you should increase and decrease the tension on the reins so that the bit moves in the horse’s mouth.  A long steady pull will result in a long pressure of the bit in the same place and will make the mouth numb; consequently the horse will cease feeling the rider’s hand, and a very strong pull…will be required to obtain results.

     The increase and decrease of tension which I have described is known as “give and take”; its reactions in the horse’s mouth are as follows:  when the reins take, then the bit presses in the corners of the mouth, and when they give, then the bit slides down a little.  This keeps the mouth sensitive.”

And in Littauer’s “Schooling Your Horse” published in 1956 on page 56 he adds to the above:  “A certain amount of very gentle “give and take” is always present while riding on contact; the contact should never be rigid.”

Of course Littauer did not invent “give and take”.  Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere does not use the term, but in “School of Horsemanship” (originally published in 1733), on page 113-114 of the J. A. Allen reprint de la Gueriniere writes:

     “We said above that a good hand has three qualities, viz., to be light, gentle, and firm.

     A light hand is one which never feels the contact of the bit with the bars.

     A gentle hand is one which feels the effect of the bit slightly without giving too much contact.

     The firm hand is one which holds the horse in full contact.

     It is a great art to be able to harmonize these three diverse movements of the hand, according to the nature of the mouth of each horse, without too much constraining or suddenly releasing true contact in the mouth.  Thus after having given rein, which is the action of the light hand, tension must be increased gently, in order to regain and reestablish by degree the feeling of contact; this is what is termed having a gentle hand;  the reestablished contact is made more and more definite, which proceeds from a firm hand; and then the sensation of contact in the hand is diminished before passing to the light hand.  For the effect of the gentle hand must always precede and follow the effect of the firm hand, and contact must never be released suddenly or made firm again precipitously; which would offend the horse’s mouth and cause it to toss its head.”

One method of contact used both for the horse ridden in collection and, centuries later, used to ride horses which are not ridden in collection.

Though I used “give and take” from the time I started riding seriously over 40 years ago, it was not until I restarted riding after being diagnosed with MS that I really got into it.  Since the nerves controlling my arms do not work normally I found that to keep constant contact I had to follow the horse’s mouth with my fingers as well as with my arms.  When I gave a rein signal I would do the hand aid when the horse‘s hind leg was in the right position, “release” it immediately, and reapply the hand aid at the proper moment.  This is the proper way to use give and take when giving rein aids.  But it took a while before I started using “give and take” when I wasn’t giving a rein aid.  One day I noticed that my fingers were doing this “give and take” unconsciously while I was keeping normal contact by opening and closing my elbows.  It is hard to describe, independently from my conscious aids  and independently from the movement of the horse’s hind legs I was “giving and taking” with my fingers while I was trying to keep normal contact.  At first I was really worried that this would confuse the horses I ride but, miraculously, all it seemed to do was “steady” the horse.  Paying close attention I finally realized that the reason the horse was not confused was because all my rein aids worked in concert with the position and movement of hind leg of the horse, while my “give and take” occurred with no relationship with the movement of the horse’s hind legs.  The horses seem to consider it part of the normal “conversation” that their mouths have with my hands, a part of the conversation where I am reminding the horse that I am riding him, that I am in control, and it seems to help the horse keep his attention on me.  I relax my fingers and straighten them out some, then I let my fingers smoothly curl back up, then I smoothly relax my fingers again, and I do this most of the time I am riding on contact apart from the normal movements of my arms.  I think when I use the “give and take” that the horse activates its tongue to follow the different pressures of the bit and that it is the horse‘s tongue that keeps the contact going through the different bit pressures.  “Give and take” is very much a process of mutual cooperation between me and the horse.  Of course my legs are always ready to tell the horse to keep going forward if the horse misunderstands what I am doing.

And I feel much more united with my horse by using the “give and take”.  I find that this “give and take” is one of the keys to riding a horse in lightness whether in collection or when the horse is not collected.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran