I was observing a junior rider while she was schooling her horse. The horse, ridden in dressage tack, was moving in a nice soft frame, round and on the bit. They looked as though they were schooling training level. Suddenly, the rider hauled both her hands up and back, jamming her seat down and shoulders back. The horse came to an abrupt halt, head high, eyes wide with surprise, back hollow.

“Sorry,” the student said somewhat sheepishly. “She was heavy in my hands.” Being that I am a hunt seat instructor, I didn’t feel that it was my place to comment especially since the rider didn’t ask for my opinion.

However, my feeling is that anytime you ride on contact, you owe it to your horse not to punish her for something that is a minor evasion…and perhaps not even an evasion at all, depending on her level of training.

If the horse were heavy in her hands, she could have performed a simple training technique that would have encouraged her horse to get lighter in her hands by attaining self carriage. All the rider has to do is give with her inside rein for three strides, then take back contact. Give (with the hand moving forward toward the horse’s neck, and easily take back contact.) If that doesn’t work, she can alternate giving with the inside rein for three strides, then with the outside rein for three strides. Regardless of gait, the horse will become softer in her hands when performing this exercise.

Instead, if this rider keeps up with the snatching of the bit with her horse, she will have great difficulty gaining this horse’s trust, and training will be difficult as the two move on.

If I were that horse, I’d be hard pressed to go round and on the bit if I had to fear my rider’s hard hands! I find this snatching to be far more egregious in abuse than spurring the horse unnecessarily hard. Snatching may be necessary if your horse has run away with you and you’re heading toward a cliff; in that case, you might need to snatch or go to a pulley rein. Otherwise, I see no use for it. Whether the rider was stressed with my presence (her instructor asked me to observe) or whether she lost her patience, clearly she isn’t doing right by her horse.

When you ride, you owe it to your horse to always maintain your patience and never lose your temper.

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