I have been thinking a lot about the new challenges Shannon’s Arab-Welsh mare Cider has been presenting me.  I went through my old calendars and I started riding Cider regularly in 2006 until January 2012 when I switched to riding Merlin and Bobby until I could get Cider a saddle that fit her properly since her back had changed.  At the end of those 6 years Cider was super responsive to the bit (Dr. Bristol snaffle), aware that a twitch of my little finger was a valid aid to be obeyed immediately and fully capable of doing three distinct speeds at the walk and trot, all this using saddles that really did not fit her properly.  Getting back on Cider just a little bit over a year later I could not believe how much she had “forgotten.”  I tried little twitches of my little fingers--no response.  I tried give and take with both hands simultaneously--no response.  I finally had to set my hands and not move them until she slowed down or turned.  Three speeds, no, there is nothing like three speeds, there is only go, go, GO.  This happened to me using the Spirit cross-under bitless bridle, a Mullen mouth Kimberwick and a JP Dr. Bristol.  What happened?

Since Cider greatly prefers being ridden in a mobile mouthpiece with a rider with decent hands, Shannon and I are the only people who ride her in a bit, everyone else uses the Nurtural cross-under bitless bridle.  Cider’s problems responding to my light rein aids did not arise from horrible hands using a bit.  Cider, a kind mare who will modify her movement to her riders’ abilities, has been ridden in the Nurtural bitless by several beginning riders.  This MUST be where the problems came from, not from reaction to insensitive hands hurting her mouth with the bit but from insensitive hands “untraining” her from her old sensitive responses to rein pressures while using the bitless bridle.  All during the past year Cider had just been ridden with a bare-back pad since none of Shannon’s saddles fit Cider’s extra-extra-extra-wide back.  When I finally got my EZ-Fit treeless saddle I was confidently expecting that, with Cider feeling more comfortable with the saddle, she would promptly return to her old sensitivity.  I was wrong.

As a rider, when I am puzzled by what a horse does, I find that it does me good to imagine that I am that horse.  When I imagined myself as Cider I got this “picture”, that the actions of the beginning riders’ hands had turned ALL rein aids into meaningless gibberish to be ignored until the rider made it perfectly clear to Cider what was expected of her, which meant that during the past year Cider got trained to respond to only the strongest and longest acting rein aids.  THIS was why Cider’s mouth got turned into a bar of iron over the last year.  It is not that Cider enjoys the strong rein aids, it is just that she now thinks that the strong and long-lasting rein aids are the only aids that are “proper” and thus worthy of response.  When she gets the strong and long-lasting rein aids with the bitless bridle Cider stiffens her poll joint just as much as she does with strong and long-lasting rein aids with a bit.  Ironically Cider’s lower jaw is nice and mobile, she plays with the bit with her tongue, she licks her lips when I release the light aids (with both bitless and bitted bridles), it is just that the light rein aids do not seem to affect anything to the rear of her poll and she tightens her poll whenever it starts to flex in response to the reins.  However since none of the beginning riders had backed her up Cider is now much easier to back up than she was last year.

When I give a rein aid I give it only when the hind leg on that side is swinging forward, which means at the walk and trot I use alternating twitches of my fingers to slow down or halt.  I only use both hands at once to slow down from the canter or to back up.  I have had unbelievable results with this method, I have gotten soft responsive halts on my first ride from horses whose other riders had to pull hard to slow down or halt.  It just seems to make sense to horses, green, trained, or ruined though it usually takes three times for the ruined horses to understand it, and when they understand it their mouths become light and responsive to my hands.  This happened with Cider when I first started riding her, she picked up the alternating actions of my fingers as a valid aid with three tries and she kept this concept through the six years I rode her previously both when I rode her every week or when I just rode her once a month or so while other riders regularly rode her in the bitless bridle. 

I have come to believe that hand aids given at other times in the horse’s stride become CUES, something that the horse learns, through much repetition, requires a definite action on the horse’s part instead of AIDS that are immediately understandable by the horse because it just makes so much sense to them and which help the horse do what you want.  Mis-timed hand aids seem to dull a horse’s mouth just as much as ham-fisted pulling can.

So how can I fix this?  Riding consistently with properly timed hand aids whether alternating or with both hands at once, gradually escalating my hand aids until she responds and then giving the reins generously.  By the end of my last ride Cider finally started to slow down and halt without me having to set my hands so we are off to a good start.  It may take just another ride to get the responses I want or it may take months of consistent aids with prompt release when she starts obeying the hand aids promptly.  At the same time I will be working on the normal and fast walk and the normal and slow trot in order to get her into the habit of bringing her hind legs further forward when I use my leg aids.  Horses have to bring their hind legs further forward than their usual pasture walks in order to free the tension in the poll.  When the tension is released in the poll then the hand aids can work properly through the horse’s body.  It all begins with the hind legs, the light responses to the bit are the rider’s reward for getting the hind legs to work properly.  Since Cider is such an energizer bunny her beginning riders have not been using the leg aids very much leading Cider to get heavier and heavier to the hand.

But Shannon has two other horses I need to work on, Merlin the balker who balks from defiance though he had been trained properly, and Magic, the mare who balks because she is confused since nobody ever bothered to train her properly.  Three horses to ride and I just get to ride at Shannon’s once a week for half an hour.  Shannon’s mother had been riding Cider when I rode the other horses and I sort of feel guilty of depriving her of her weekly ride but it may take me three to six months to get Cider back to the level she was at a year ago, and then I will HAVE TO ride Cider at least once a month to keep her responsive.  At least Cider is usable with other riders, but I am the only rider Shannon has who has any hope of getting the balkers to move forward reliably.  I will present this problem to Shannon the next time I ride, letting her decide which horse she thinks it will be the most useful for me to ride and train.  I prefer riding Cider since she does not balk, but I think the balkers need me more.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran