When I finally got diagnosed with MS back in 1993 I sort of went through an existential crisis about my riding ability. I was SOOOO weak, unsteady and uncoordinated that I despaired of ever being able to start riding again, much less being a good rider. After a few days I finally remembered a tale I had read back in 1970 in the book "Riding Reflections" by Piero Santini (1933), Caprilli's fellow cavalry officer and student, and this story showed me a way forward.

In this book during a discussion on the supreme importance of a steady and GOOD seat for developing good hands, Santini told this tale. It is on page 30-31.

"It will always be a matter of conjecture what good hands really consist in and to what exact degree they are influenced by seat. That a position in the saddle which allows complete independence of the torso is an invaluable asset is indisputable, but, nevertheless, one sees all around one examples which would almost seem to contradict this theory. For instance, one of the best pair of hands I have ever seen is the envied possession of a friend of mine, the type of hunting man who makes a point of avoiding fences. As he always rides very fast horses and is on intimate personal terms with all the gates in the country, he sees most of the fun at not too great a distance. He has one of the ugliest and loosest seats that has ever come to my notice, but since he never jumps he never runs the risk of coming off or jabbing his horse in the mouth, or to any extent losing his balance; his seat therefore of secondary importance for his own particular purposes. His velvet touch permits him to handle in the most surprising manner the kind of neurotic pulling brutes that would give better horsemen most uncomfortable rides. That, just as he cannot jump, he would also be helpless to prevent a 'bad actor' from going home without him has no bearing on the fact that in his particular case his hands do not suffer from his poor seat."

Gee, someone can have a weak seat AND "velvet touch" hands? Someone can be weak and have no trouble controlling "neurotic pulling brutes"? Someone can be very weak and unsteady and still be able to control bad actors and get them to go where that person wants to go? A weak person could ride very fast horses? WOW. I had some hope.

Based on this vague memory from long ago I developed my present system of using my hands while riding. I have very "giving" hands, in that I give the horse the room he needs to do what I ask him for. Headsets? I do not have the strength to keep a horse in a head set the horse does not want to be in. I read of people putting 5-10 pounds of pressure on their reins. If I tried to put that much pressure on the reins my hands would be shaking violently and gyrating wildly through space. I put maybe 1-5 GRAMS of pressure on the rein, at my harshest I do not go over 2-3 ounces, and that only for a split second. Part of the reason I can ride so light is that I time my rein actions to the horse's stride, never giving a signal when the horse's hind leg is pushing on that side or when the horse's head is moving forward. This means at the walk and trot I never use both reins at the same time to slow down. It usually takes me anywhere from 1 minute to 30 minutes to explain all this to a horse, and usually I have no problems afterwards (barring emergencies when horses seem to go back to their old habits momentarily.) I give the rein aid by closing my fingers softly, in time with the hind leg motion, and immediately relaxing my fingers and moving my hand forward about 1/4 of an inch extra. I often get a downward transition from two seperate twitches of my little fingers, with the horse slowing down or halting calmly, with a closed mouth, and with no tension on the reins since by the time the horse starts to obey my fingers are already relaxing. I just assume that the horse will willingly obey me. They usually do.

My hands are good enough that the horses do not get too upset about my physical problems. While the horses get somewhat irritated at my bad balance and trembling muscles (ie. my weak seat), they do not get terribly upset. I think this is because I do not torture my horse's mouths. The other torments are basically just somewhat uncomfortable. At least I do not cause extreme pain in their mouths.

I am sure that when I finally get strong enough to go faster that the horse will take a stronger contact with the bit, and my aids will have to be proportionately stronger. But even if I have to hold a few ounces of contact I will be able to give aids that rarely go over another ounce of force. It is all in the timing and in the release of the aid.

Have a great ride!

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