Dressage requires riding with light, even, steady contact—not floppy, loose reins. Contact is easier when the horse’s head and neck remain stationary, but how do you maintain contact when the horse’s head and neck nod with each step?

Here’s my story.

Following the Natural Head and Neck Motion

I’ve been a passionate student of dressage since 1988, predominantly of the German school, riding bouncy trotting horses. They kept me in shape, I’ll give you that!

Then in 2007, my aging body longed for smooth, and that’s when I acquired my first naturally gaited horse: a just turning three-year-old Tennessee walking horse filly named Makana. Dressage is the only form of riding I knew, so that’s the form of training I applied. We began with the German dressage I learned.

Then through clinics with Larry Whitesell and Susan Norman, I became acquainted with the books and videos of classical French dressage Master Philippe Karl. Around 2014 I began to gradually adopt a new way to ride.

In 2016, I set out to Seattle, WA, to visit family and learned that Karl had been teaching School of Légèreté instructor certification clinics at three USA locations—one of which was not far from where I would be staying. I contacted the Seattle location for lessons with Nichole, one of Karl’s instructors in training.

I took several lessons each day with Nichole on her non-gaited horses. First, I learned work in hand. Here’s a recap of my lessons: Work in Hand: Educating the Mouth.

Then Nichole taught me how to apply the same exercises from the saddle while riding at a slow walk. She noticed that I wasn’t following the horse’s natural head and neck motion with my hands. Instead, I was keeping my arms still at my sides. She encouraged me to follow the horse’s natural head and neck motion with my hands while maintaining an even, steady contact with both reins connected to a snaffle bit.

Nicole noticed that while my arms were quiet at my sides, my pelvis and back followed the motion of the horse more than necessary. My efforts to remain still with my arms and hands created tension which translated heaviness to the horse.

Interesting.

While some following motion with my body is needed, Nichole encouraged me to also follow the horse’s natural head and neck motion with relaxed shoulders, arms and hands while maintaining a light, even, steady contact with both reins to the snaffle bit.

This was an epiphany for me!

Granted, I was riding a non gaited horse, but I was riding the horse at a natural four-beat walk. This got me thinking about the smooth four-beat gaits of the naturally gaited head nodding breeds.

I wondered, what compromises have tension to create stillness had on the quality of the naturally smooth flat walk, running walk, and fox trot in my naturally gaited horses?

• Could the tension in my shoulders and still arms and hands be saying “stop” to my naturally gaited horse, Makana?
• Would following hands produce less prodding on my part to encourage Makana to go forward?
• Would following hands produce less tension and more relaxation, harmony and lightness in my naturally gaited fox trotting horse, Lady?
• Would Lady be more apt to seek contact with a snaffle bit if I followed her head nod?
• Would Lady’s back be less hollow if I rode her with following hands?
• Would Lady be less heavy on the bit?
• Would Lady learn to relax more rather than take off at a quick gait?
• Would Lady track up more with deeper strides if there was greater relaxation in her back?

Think about it. Are we creating braces in our horses through our tension to ride still? How many of us struggle with a camel walk, hard pace, step pace, and a lateral canter? Wouldn’t our horses be smoother to ride if they felt more comfortable and relaxed if we followed their natural head and neck motion?

Nichole taught me the importance of following the natural head and neck motion of the horse’s four-beat walk with relaxed shoulders, arms and hands. This fostered relaxation, harmony and lightness with each horse I worked with.

If following the natural head and neck motion of non-gaited horses at a walk produces relaxation, wouldn’t this translate to the naturally gaited head-nodding breeds that move in flat walk, fox trot, and running walk?

I just wonder if following the horse’s natural head and neck motion—the head nod, head shake or what ever we want to call it—might lead our naturally gaited horses to greater relaxation, harmony, and lightness, and produce less bracing in the jaw and back and produce more naturally smooth gaits?

True or False

When the horse’s tongue, jaw and poll are stiff and tense, it will lead to tension in the back which will cause more pace in horses prone to pace when tense.

True.

Wouldn’t the opposite be true? If we follow the natural head and neck motion of the horse with relaxed shoulders, elbows hands, seat and back, our naturally gaited horses will be more apt at relaxing their backs which helps to break up pace caused by tension. Right?

Granted, it is a lot easier to ride a naturally gaited head nodding horse with floppy reins, but if dressage is your passion, like it is mine, then we need to figure out a way to establish a light, steady contact with both reins that produces relaxation, harmony and lightness. I believe following the naturally head and neck motion of the naturally gaited horse is the way to do it.

Watch: Why follow the natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms

Special thanks to Nichole Walters, the owner and instructor of Cadbury Farm who taught me the “Educating the Mouth” and “Following Hands” exercises that she learned first hand from Philippe Karl and his School of Légèreté.

I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.

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