A Matter of Contact© Elaine Ward

A Matter of Contact© by  Elaine Ward. 

Since Western Style Dressage has become more popular, I have seen a plethora of comments and complaints about contact. Some people perceive the overly loose reins as an alternative to good solid dressage principles. There are many reasons why our reins are not loose and long.

The contact of the reins serves several purposes:

1. When we have our horse correctly balanced at the basic level of training, with active hindquarters, we allow our horses to become relaxed through the back. The energy of the horse flows from the hindquarters, through the back and eventually the neck and head of the horse. At this point the horse is PUSHING into the contact. The rider does not pull the horse’s mouth toward the riders body. As the physical development and musculature develop, the eventual process is called self-carriage. The horse moves with an uphill tendency, created by the impulsion from the hindquarters, and the lifting of the forehand. The neck is arched and the poll is at the highest point.  This is called the Circle of Energy.
The perception of people (and what has been preached by incorrect instruction) is that we are holding the horses into a “frame”. This is when the draw reins and training forks have been used. A properly ridden horse does not need the gadgetry. It in fact creates a false position.  One of the biggest faults is to see lower level horses be placed into harsh bits. The horse never learns to push through into the contact.  It’s quite apparent to see the incorrect riding as the horse will constantly evade the bit and fail to bring the hind legs under his body. He will be unable to track up (bring the hind feet into the front feet prints) in all 3 gaits.  The walk and working jog will be slow with no engagement of the hindquarters and the working lope will be a 4 beat rhythm instead of 3.  A horses’ head cannot be forced into a position and expected to stay there. That’s just bad training, and not correct dressage training principles.

Pictured above, almost the same sequence of the working jog. Horse on left being forced with the riders' hands for contact. Horse on right ridden with the soft hand and creating the circle of energy. Not the completely different way the horse is engaging the hindquarter on the right with a soft outline. Even the attitude of the horse appears to be completely different. 

2.   Our aids are delayed with reins that are too loose. Think of how much slack you would have to pick up to touch the horse? By the time you have attempted to correct the horse, the reaction has been given too late.  It is actually much kinder to the horse to apply your aid “real time”.  With sensitive horses, the draped reins cause over-reactions, which have to be constantly corrected.

3. The rein too loose causes the rider to frequently adjust their position in the saddle. This includes lifting arms, twisting the body, and moving un-necessarily on the horse affecting proper balance. I call that the “Band Conductor” position.

4. Correct contact is light; although the illusion is that there is little slack in the reins. There should be the feeling of riding the horse with silk threads in the hands. We are not attempting to pull on the horses mouth. The only time that the hand is used it is either employed left, right, and up. But, never down, or backward. 

I hope this gives you an insight to the contact issue. We are applying correct Dressage principles to the Western Style of riding which have been employed for hundreds of years. 

Two Basic Level Horses in Correct contact, light and showing good engagement of the hindquarters, roundness of the back and acceptance of light contact.

Advanced level horse in self-carriage at the collected lope with an uphill outline.

Elaine Ward of Lynden Ontario is a Western Dressage clinician, coach and author. For more information go to http://elainewarddressage.com