Busy hands

Busy Hands

By Maribeth Dunlap

February 2009

Busy hands are usually the result of an ineffective seat. When the seat is not secure, or is unbalanced and out of position, the rider must use crude aids, larger movements with the hands and often the arms to try to control the horse. Any rein-aid that is not supported by the seat, becomes a rein that pulls, holds, or gives unintentional half halts and signals to the horse. This ultimately dulls the horse to the rein-aids and it all becomes a downward cycle as the rein-aids must become stronger and cruder as the horse becomes duller and more resistant. The rider shouts the aids at his horse instead of whispering them to him. This, of course, is not correct and very wrong.

The most important thing that a rider can do to quiet busy hands is to work towards acquiring a correct seat. This should be done by getting quality instruction from an instructor who understands the functions of the seat and from one who clearly understands what it means to have an effective seat. Lessons on the longe line on a reliable horse are also very helpful in establishing in the rider a secure and effective seat. (See my article – Components of a Good Position)

There are also many different exercises to help you identify the weak points in your position. Although these can’t take the place of good instruction, it can help you to become aware of any flaws that you might have in your position. In this article I’m going to discuss a few fun exercises that I have used in the past to help my own students.

Exercise 1: Sitting, Rising, & Two Point!

This is an exercise that I like to use for students who display some stiffness in their bodies, especially in the hips. Excess movement in one area of the body is usually a sign of stiffness and tightness in another area. It is also a great exercise to warm-up the body on a cold day and helps the rider become more coordinated and in tune with the movement of the horse. It can also help teach a horse to maintain the rhythm and a steady tempo while the rider makes the transitions between sitting, rising trot, and the two-point position.

After a proper warm-up in both directions, pick up a rising trot and stay on the track around the arena. Smoothly and gently, go from the rising trot to the sitting position, being careful not to sit too heavily or bounce. From the sitting position, go back to the rising trot. Now from the rising trot go smoothly into the two-point position. The two-point position is just going from the down phase of the rising trot and maintaining the up or rise phase of the rising trot. Your buttocks should not extend backwards and your shoulders should not extend forward. It is the up-phase of the rising trot, as if a photo is taken at the time. If you have some trouble at first holding your balance, place your hands on the withers to help stabilize your position. In time, though, you want to gain the strength, coordination, and balance to smoothly make the transition to two-point without altering your hand position.

Once, you’re comfortable making the transitions between all three positions, try this exercise: Once again, on the rail at the trot, sit and count 10 strides, after 10 strides of sitting trot, immediately rise and count another 10 strides, after 10 strides of rising trot, immediately move into two-point and count yet another 10 strides. Don’t worry about what posting diagonal you’re on. Then pick another number like 6 and try the same sequence at 6 stride intervals. Work your way all the way down to every other stride and see if you can smoothly and with good mental and physical coordination make the transitions between all three positions. Work these patterns in both directions, on both reins. You can also change the pattern by riding the positions in different sequences. You can also do this exercise at the canter using the sitting and two-point positions but it is most effective at the trot.

Exercise 2: Hold That Ceiling Up!

This is a great exercise that I use for students who collapse on one side. It helps them to identify, strengthen, and stretch the muscles necessary to help them ride straight and more in balance.

You must first identify which side that is and sometimes this is helpful with someone with “eyes on the ground” or by taking a video of yourself to identify if you collapse and on what side. Begin this exercise at the sitting trot and raise your arm and point to the ceiling on the side that collapses. Next, bend your elbow out away from your body like a wing and rotate your wrist so that your palm faces upward toward the sky or ceiling of your arena. Now imagine that the ceiling is caving in and you’re trying to hold the ceiling up. It is important to keep your palm facing upwards and flat as if you are holding the flat ceiling on the palm of your hand. Keep imagining that you have to hold it up. You should feel the stretch of your muscles on your collapsed side. Practice this everyday for a few minutes here and there during your schooling session to remind you to stretch that side of your body. Practice it, then ride normally but remembering that stretched feeling. You can practice this at all three gaits and in the sitting and rising trot. You could even really challenge yourself and ride this exercise while riding the above Exercise #1.

Exercise 3: No Hands!

This is an exercise that I like to use if I have a student who is too busy with their hands or, worse yet, a student who balances on their hands. These are exercises that I use mostly on the longe line but they can also be done off the line on a horse that will safely and reliably maintain the gait, balance, and their rhythm, and stay on the track along the rail. Pick up a sitting or rising trot, and allow the reins to lay at the buckle on the withers. First allow your arms to drop and rest quietly along your sides while feeling the motion of the horse’s back with your seat. Allow your hips to flow along with the motion while sitting erect and in good posture. Next move your hands to your hips while maintaining your balance. Place your hands on your abdominals and feel them working as you stay with the motion of the movement. You can do many things with your hands and arms with this exercise to help establish independence from the reins:

1. Point towards your horse’s ears,

2. Airplane arms reaching out to the sides,

3. Point towards the ears with one arm while pointing towards the tail with the other, and reverse,

4. Point to the sky or ceiling of your arena,

5. Imagine holding a basketball between your hands. Concentrate on keeping it the same size, as you roll it over one hip and back over the other,

6. Arm circles; large and small.

You can also use this exercise of riding with no hands while riding the first exercise in the article – Exercise # 1. The hands can be rested on the hips, extended to the sides, or holding imaginary reins. The important thing to remember though is that the hands are held in one particular position and not allowed to move about.

Exercise 4: Drop Those Irons!

Dropping the irons and riding without stirrups helps the rider to gain more confidence by helping to improve her balance. When a rider is in better balance and has more confidence, then she is apt to rely less on her hands. Well-positioned irons support the rider’s position. It is important, for safety reasons as well as coordination and confidence, to be very comfortable dropping and picking your irons back up at all three gaits. Riding without irons is a good exercise to:

1. Lengthen and strengthen the leg,

2. Loosen and supple the hips,

3. Improves relaxation and confidence,

4. Helps the rider find independence and separation of the aids,

5. Improves coordination and balance,

6. Helps to remind the rider the importance of maintaining and not compromising a correct position and good posture.

It is best to start by dropping the irons at the walk while riding a safe and reliable horse. Start by dropping your irons and then picking them back up again. Do this by “fishing” for them with your toe. Point your toe in towards your horse’s barrel and “fish” for them. Do this until you can easily drop and pick them back up again. Next practice riding figures and different patterns and concentrate on staying centered in the saddle with even weight on both seat bones, even/level hips, and with the feeling of evenness down both legs. While you’re doing this, imagine that your core, or the trunk of your body, is inside a barrel being held stable and unable to collapse. Keep your legs and feet in proper riding position as if your feet are still in the stirrups with thighs well turned-in and toes pointing straight ahead. (Read my article – Components of a Good Position)

Once you are comfortable and confident, try riding the sitting trot staying on the track along the rail. Be sure to maintain a balanced trot with steady rhythm. Do not ask for more trot than you can handle. Ask for a trot only as big as you can maintain your position, balance and confidence. Again, practice dropping your irons and picking them back up again at the trot. Once you are comfortable with this, try riding a few simple patterns while maintaining your position. Take your time and don’t expect too much at once. Take walk breaks to re-establish your position and composure. Eventually, with time and perfect practice, you’ll be able to trot without irons with ease and confidence.

When this all feels comfortable, practice going from the sitting to the rising trot and back again. This will help to strengthen the leg and gain more balance and confidence. Make sure that you’re not gripping with the calves while you do and allow the leg to remain long. Also be sure not to come back too heavily on the horse’s back. Support the transitions between the positions with your thighs and abdominal muscles.

Once you feel very comfortable and confident, pick up the canter on the rail and drop your irons while maintaining your correct position and posture. Practice dropping and picking your irons back up again until you feel comfortable doing this. If your horse gets excited, strong, or quick, calmly and smoothly ask for a down transition to walk to regain his confidence. If he is accustomed to you dropping and picking up your irons at the walk and trot, then he should understand what you’re doing at the canter.

Exercise 5: Don’t Spill the Coffee, Please!

This is a good exercise to help remind the rider to keep the hands quiet and in the proper position. By imagining that you’re holding two hot cups of coffee in both hands helps to keep the thumbs on top, the wrists straight, helps maintain that straight line from the elbow to the bit, and the hands quiet. The elbows must have a soft bend in them and stay close to the hips.

Another variation to this exercise is to imagine that you’re holding a tray full of coffee (you can use any beverage you like – hot chocolate, iced tea, champagne) and you’re resting the tray on top of both hands. You don’t want to drop a hand or you’ll tip the tray and spill your drinks. You have to keep your hands quiet and still or you’ll risk toppling the tray full of beverages. You can also rest a whip under both thumbs to emulate a tray. It serves as a visual and you can easily see when you drop a hand as the whip will become crooked. You want to keep the whip level as if it were a tray full of mugs filled to the brim with hot coffee. Don’t spill a single drop!

Exercise 6: A Whip in Both Hands!

Another good exercise to keep the hands quiet is to simply hold a dressage whip in both hands. Make sure that you hold your hands in the correct position - thumbs on top, straight line from the elbow to the bit, soft bend in the elbows with the elbows resting close to the hips. You don’t want to cock the wrists, but imagine that you have splints on your wrists to keep them straight. You want to keep a soft bend in the thumb to keep the wrists soft. If you point the thumb downwards towards the neck of the horse, the ends of the whips will come up and you’ll risk hitting your horse on the croup inviting an undesired reaction. If you allow your hands to flatten – like piano hands – and ride with the back of the hands facing the sky or ceiling, then the whips will point outwards. You want to be sure that your hand position is correct and keep the whips resting on your thigh mid-way. You’ll find that you will have to rely on your seat and less on your hands to guide your horse and to make corrections and transitions. When the elbows are connected to the seat via the hips, the rein-aids become part of and are supported by the seat – which is what you should desire as a dressage rider. The rider can then begin to whisper the rein-aids to the horse as they become smaller and invisible. Crude rein-aids are no longer necessary – no more pulling, holding, jerking, and huge half-halts, as everything is more quiet and the horse can better hear and understand the rider’s requests.

Exercise 7: Holding Mane!

This is another fun and simple technique to keep hands quiet, close together, level, and learn to ride more with fingers and seat. I use this with some of my riders, as it really is revealing to them in how unnecessary crude hand movements are. This exercise is done by simply holding a small piece of mane in each hand along with the reins close to where you would normally carry your hands. Make sure the mane is the same length in both hands as you want to be sure that you’re carrying your hands level and evenly. Also make sure that you’re riding in good position/posture with a rein length that will enable you to guide your accurately. Now try walking and trotting simple patterns like figures of eight, 3-loop serpentines, changes of rein, and big and small circles. You should find that your entire body will fall into better position as you quiet your hands and sit in better balance. You’ll also find that your horse will move with more freedom, as he won’t be constricted with unnecessary and unintentional rein-aids. Your horse should move with more balance and in a better frame because you are now riding in better balance and position and perhaps not interfering with him. Everything evens out when the hands are level and even. Quiet hands tend to quiet the entire body of the rider and enables the horse to become more steady in the bridle. This exercise helps to remind you of the importance of all your aids, the importance of whispering your aids to the horse as opposed to shouting the aids, and it reveals the importance of having the correct rein length. If the reins are too long then it will be very difficult to ride accurate ring figures.

Most riders tend to shout their aids at their horse using large hand and arm movements and excessive leg movements. Often, too, the timing of the aid is muddled and the horse doesn't hear it or cannot distinguish between the aid and the excessive movement of the rider. This only dulls the horse to the aids and you end up having to use more extreme aids to get your horse to react as he shuts down and stops listening. So give this exercise and the others above a try. Have fun with them and allow them to reveal to you the weaknesses in your position. Knowing is the first step in being able to fix a problem and progress as a dressage rider.

Photo: Maribeth riding Jedulon

~This article was written by Maribeth in February 2009 – All Rights Reserved - Used With Permission. ~