Kathy wrote:
>>I have actually taken lessons on her other
lesson horse with a kimberwicke and hardly needed to use a lot of leg to get
him to come to the bit softly so I'm not convinced about using strong leg
aids to overcome the curb action for all horses.<<
I have no idea what your level of
riding is, nor how developed your "feel" is, so please don't take
this as a personal attack on you, but rather as a general observation (and
perhaps, a caveat).
I, too, can get a horse "on
the bit" with very little leg contact, in a KW. Hell, on Toc, I
can do it while he's still on the buckle. Being "on the bit"
is NOT what we want from our horses. What we want is for them to work
in a rounded frame, using their quarters, and softening in front. I've
seen horses above the bit who were still soft in their backs and engaged
behind. I've seen horses ridden deep (which sometimes looks like they
are "behind the bit") who are working well. I've seen some
with their noses on the vertical, but their hocks are about as engaged as a
hermit's telephone!
This is the danger with a bit
like a KW (or a Pelham, or Weymouth, or similar curbs) : the horse drops
easily onto the bit. What some riders don't appreciate is that a horse
can work just as incorrectly in this "frame" as it can in any
other.
>>Actually, with any Arab I have ever ridden,
strong leg aids was not necessary.
I've heard this, too, when people ride "hot"
horses. "Oh, he's so hot, you use hardly any leg". My
experience with hot horses is that they require as much, and sometimes more,
leg than a calm horse, it's just used in a different fashion. Hot
horses will often give the impression that they are moving
"forwards" when in fact, all they are doing is moving fast!
There is a difference btw speed and impulsion, and what you are looking for
is impulsion, and that comes from the correct use of the rider's leg.
I have tried a KW once on my
horse, when I was considering taking him to the Boxing Day Hunt. My
reason for trying it was not because I needed brakes (Toc will stop when I
ask him to, because I ask him to, irrespective of what is going on around
him) but because he has a buck from hell, and I thought the curb chain might
help to keep his head up.
This horse has had five years of
solid work under his belt, moves strongly off of the aids, and carries
himself in a balanced frame. What I found with the KW is that he
backed off of the bit, even when I was riding him "on the
buckle". No, he didn't get over-bent, no he didn't go behind the
vertical. The "backing off" was only evident if you looked
at what his back and quarters were doing. Tense through his back, with
quarters strung out behind him. Oh, and the old "draw rein wither
effect".
I guess what I'm saying is that
it seems to me that folks are awfully caught up with what their horses'
heads are doing at this point, and not with their horse's
backs.
Which brings me to Jim's post
about a lowered head being a sign of a calm horse. In most cases, this
is true, but not always. Some horses will lower their heads, because
it's what they've been taught to do, without relaxing in the jaw, at the
wither, or at the SI joint (this is usually the last place to
"give"). Others will carry their heads above the wither and
be utterly relaxed throughout their bodies.
If you want to see if your horse
is relaxed, you have to "feel" it. It's not about head
height, it's a whole body thing.
Tracey