I get a lot of questions from my viewers about how to teach the horse to accept the contact and how to get the horse on the bit. This can be very challenging especially if you have a horse that has learned not to accept the contact in the first place! Here are some tips to help you teach your horse to accept the contact. Remember that it is extremely important that the rider maintains the correct position and an independent seat when working with the horse to accept the contact.
How to Teach/Reintroduce the Contact:
1. Start from the ground! Whenever I have a horse that really does not understand the contact, working from the ground is the best place to start. Teach the horse to bend and yield to the pressure of one rein. Lunging with side reins is another use full tool to get the horse to accept the contact and give to the pressure of the bit. I have several videos on groundwork available on my YouTube channel!
2. In the saddle, teach the horse to give to just one rein at a time. When you slide down the inside rein, the horse should bend their head around and their body should follow where their head is looking. In this exercise you are using inside rein and inside leg only!
3. Once the horse understands to give to the pressure of one rein, then pick up the contact on both reins. First establish just a steady contact on 2 reins. You may need to take your hands a little wide to help. Get the horse to go on the bit and then release the pressure of the reins
If the horse is inverted – take the hands a little wide to help get the horse to accept the contact. Ideally your hands should stay hip width apart, but sometimes taking the hands wide will help get the horse to better accept the contact and lower their head can be a useful tool. Circles and bending lines will also help with horses that tend to be inverted.
If your horse curls and tends to drop behind the contact….
Think of inside leg to outside rein and move the horse a little bit laterally to help get them up and out to the contact. Transitions can also help with a horse that tends to curl.
The stretch circle is the ultimate test of the contact. The horse should take the rein contact millimeter by millimeter out and down if they are correctly accepting the contact and maintain the same tempo and balance in the trot!
