There is a saying that on a hot horse you keep your legs on and on a cold horse you take your legs off. Riders confuse this quite often thinking that keeping one's legs on means squeezing and tightening the legs on the horse. I had first hand experience with this at my first international competition.
Batialo got into the arena and was like a huge ball of electric energy. Every time I would give him an aid he would react like I'd just tasered his flank. I was not giving strong leg aids at all, but rather I’d taken my legs off completely because he was so calm in the warmup. When I went to give him even the slightest aid, he was that much more sensitive that every touch shocked him and he would give me ten times what I had asked for. I had to learn that when he became excited, to gently touch my lower calf on his side constantly, and then when wanted to give an aid, I had to lift it off slightly and then ask.
Riders confuse this with tightening their thigh muscle, which results in a tightening of the hips, and an uncomfortable horse. Nuno Oliveira used to say that, “just like the hands, the legs have to give and take.” If a horse has a strong mouth a rider must give more to ensure the horse is carrying himself. If a horse has a light mouth then the rider must take a little more until the horse in confident enough to take the contact out. The same goes for the legs.
If your legs are simply flopping in the breeze they are not effective at all, and if they are clamped on and tight they are suffocating the horse's movement or pushing the horse into your hand. "When your legs are hard, you risk a horse that is hard in your hand," said Oliveira. He added that, “the legs have to softly drape so that they can gently activate, not through closing but through touching."
So how do we establish loose but effective legs, and all the while maintaining a light yet elastic contact? This is where it gets interesting, because in actual fact a rider must adjust his leg pressure according to each and every horse he rides. On Batialo I must keep my lower leg touching lightly and then give my leg aids from there. On my other horse Ulisses, I must keep my leg always really loose and only apply leg pressure when I need to ask for something specific.
The ability for a rider to establish the correct amount of leg pressure is key to establishing the correct connection to the horse's mouth and a rider who uses too much leg or is rigid and tight through their hips will have a horse that shows this displeasure at the front. “The errors of the legs are reflected in the horse’s mouth,” said Oliveira.
A rider will drive the horse into his hand and then pull back on the reins to stop that pressure. The horse will grind on the bit, become behind the vertical, pin his ears back, all signs that there is pressure building in his body, and it is being forced into his mouth. The key to leg aids, is teaching the horse to respond to the slightest touch and then learning through feel what the horse is most comfortable with.
If you are feeling the horse too strong in the hand, try relaxing the leg, and if your horse is too light in the hand and not reaching for the contact, try to gently apply the lower calf to the side of the horse, and maintain a subtle pressure until you feel the horse reach forward. This again is another fine line of dressage, but one that if walked correctly, will make for a much more harmonious and happy partnership.
by Sarah Warne - Photo © Astrid Appels