Top tips on creating steadier and quieter hands
Soft contact with straight line from elbow to bit
Hands up who is a micro manager with their hands? Or maybe you are unstable with your contact? Have an uneven hand position? Heavy in your hands? The list of common faults goes on. I for one, will put my hand up for micro managing! Its easier said than done to just LET GO! Or to soften and stay elastic in your hands and elbows. But it is something that we can slowly work on to help create a softer and steadier contact. Here are a few tips and techniques that may help you:
Contact too high
1) Find the correct hand and arm position: Firstly, look at your elbow, hand to bit alignment. Are your hands too high, too low, uneven or do your turn your wrists over? By looking into this, you can assess whether you have the optimal straight line from elbow to hand to rein to bit and will enable you a focus point to start with. You might find you lock your elbows out and hands become too low causing a stiff and inflexible connection to the horse’s mouth. You may find you ride with your hands too high which breaks the line to the horse’s mouth creating an inconsistent contact. If you are rolling your hands over and twisting your arm position eg. Pushing the pram or riding a motorbike, this will lock the forearm into place and reduces mobility.
2) Don’t try too hard: The second you start to think about keeping your hands still, quite often we will tense up our whole body, you will inadvertently lock your wrists which then will lock your elbows, which will flow and brace your shoulders, switching off your postural stabilisers and core muscles. The reason why this doesn’t work in the saddle is due to the fact we are on a dynamic moving structure eg. The horse is moving underneath us and we need to stay moving with it. Trying to maintain the flow and fluency with the horse’s movement is key. Work on softening your whole body and go with the horse, not against the horse- and again this is easier said than done. The elbows and wrists need to maintain elasticity to move with the horse. If you stay locked / braced through your hands and not move with the horse, you will find that the rein will slacken and become too loose as the horse lifts its head in its natural movement and then suddenly tighten and jab the horse in the mouth, when the horse lowers its head in its natural frame. Our elbows and hands need to follow the movement towards his mouth. It is especially important in the rising trot as there is increased movement and suspension, requiring our elbows to bend and straighten to keep our hands stay steady.
Focusing on Rider Fitness is a great way of improving your aides in the saddle
3) Improve your seat “No Seat, No Hands”: Your main function of your seat is to follow the motion of the horse. If your seat isn’t working correctly as a shock absorber and an aide, you will struggle to keep your arms and hands steady, creating an unbalanced connection to the horse. If your pelvis is becoming locked or braced, it will bounce back against the horses movement making you work against them, thus creating more tension. You might find you have an increased reliance on your hands to give aides to the horse, as your leg and seat aides may be less effective. If you are weaker through your seat and legs eg. reduced pelvic stability, you will have reduced efficiency of your driving aides making you more reliant on the hands which are your restraining aides. Working on your strength of the hips/ pelvis out of the saddle can specifically help improve your stability and communication of aides in the saddle.
4) Improve your mobility: Relaxation and mobility of the body is important to maintain your elasticity as well. If you are chronically stiff in certain areas you will find it difficult to be able to relax into the horse’s movement and this will cause you to stay rigid. Just like I stated above, you need your seat to follow the movement of the horse and not work against it. So focusing on improving your hip and pelvic mobility can greatly improve your deep seat and create more independence. You also might find those that struggle to maintain their posture and have poor postural habits are quite often tight and stiff in their thoracic spine. Being quite stiff through the thoracic spine can cause you to put excessive strain on your shoulders which then will continue to add to your poor posture patterns and unsteadiness in your contact. Why not try my FREE 20 mins whole body mobility session on YouTube? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cZpAnKE0u4&t=17s
Bridging the reins- my new personal favourite
5) Try Bridging your reins: Bridging the reins creates a symmetrical contact that isn’t pulling back, which in turn makes your hands more secure and reliable in their mouth. I personally have found a great benefit of starting my ride with bridged reins to allow myself to quieten my hand aides, not rely on just using my inside rein to turn. This encourages me to engage my seat and leg aides to help balance, which has helped me to create a more soft and secure connection and not pull back against my horse. I have been able to completely focus on staying soft and elastic through my elbows and hands and my horse is much steadier and more stable in her contact. It took a bit to get used to holding the bridged reins, but now I absolutely love this technique. This is also beneficial with gallop work when your horse becomes too strong, you can bridge against their neck and they struggle to pull against you which then allows you to use your seat to bring them back and stay in a steady rhythm.
Holding the neck strap with the outside rein
6) A monkey grip or neck strap on the saddle can be a beneficial tool to help create steadier hands. A monkey grip, neck strap or grab strap is placed around the D rings or low on the neck of the horse to create a steady hand and reduce your balance on the reins. A quite common technique is hooking your outside hand or pinky finger under the grab strap / monkey grip to create the steadiness of the outside rein, as well as helping to be a constant reminder of maintaining a steady outside rein. You need to be mindful that this doesn’t pull you forward out of the saddle but in turn helps secure your seat deeper in the saddle. Nick named the “Oh Sh*t” strap, it is also extremely beneficial on young horses or when jumping to avoid grabbing their mouth and helping you stay in the saddle.
7) Remember that it will not be an instant fix, you need to plant the seed and continue to care and nurture for it by doing the consistent work and putting in the effort, as slowly in the background the roots are being laid and the progress is being made.
8) Please note that you and your horse are all individual with your response to aides and tools to help. What might work for you may not work for the next person. Please consult your riding coach for more information before trailing the tips or techniques.
9) Book in for a rider biomechanics assessment to specifically evaluate your position, symmetry and function in the saddle to get a more personalised program to help you. With the combination of anatomical, biomechanical and sport specific (equestrian) knowledge, it can help you develop an effective riding position, seat and rider fitness enabling performance improvements.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more, get in contact with me via email natasha@eventingphysiologist.com or follow along the journey on our Facebook and Instagram page “The Eventing Physiologist”
