“You don’t need a stronger leg, you need a stronger response to the leg.“ Philippe Karl

Do you often hear… “More forward”? With more impulsion, we can find more activity, and maybe more straightness. But more forward doesn’t always help balance, and sometimes worsens it. “More forward” doesn’t mean “more leg”. It means the horse needs more understanding from our legs.

It’s our role to teach a horse to respond to light leg aids. Further, it’s our job to ensure we remove pressure on time i.e., immediately the horse goes forward. For ‘pressure-release’ training, it’s the release that trains, not the pressure. The sooner we release – the sooner we train the horse.

Training means helping a horse work out how to get rid of pressure, not how to put up with it. We don’t want to habituate or desensitise the horse to our legs. So, to improve responsiveness – we need to improve our timing.

Let’s remember that a horse can feel a fly land on its coat and flinch to get rid of it. So, we cannot say any horse is insensitive. Though some are more sensitive than others, they are all sensitive enough to feel a fly. And they can all feel a light leg aid.

If a horse can go forward from light leg aids – yet we keep pressing the legs every stride – they soon ‘habituate’ to that ‘white noise’ but it still remains as a constant annoyance overshadowing any other aids used at the same time.

Similarly, the habit of urging a horse forward with the seat, teaches them to ignore our seat. It’s a misguided idea and surely annoying for horses; constantly pushing into their back disturbing the balance. Then when we need the seat for subtle weight aids it’s impossible – no chance of fine communication.