Contact and Controversy

By Danee Rudy

One needs only to read a few threads on any online dressage forum to see how much turmoil the word “contact” can create! If you happen across a thread on hyper flexion (rolkur), bit-less riding, or on combining natural horsemanship with dressage it will be obvious that there are many ideas on what “correct contact” means- and of course everyone is sure that their way is the only way! Even among Olympians you have those who believe in five pounds of weight per hand, and those who believe the weight of the reins is enough. There are those who believe hyper flexing the horse will be damaging, and those who see it as a beneficial stretching exercise. I am not going to pretend that anyone who strays from my suggestions is ‘wrong’, but the following ideas are ones that I find have worked the best for me.

If you are interested in dressage, you are probably familiar with the German training scale. This scale resembles a pyramid, with basic yet important concepts at the bottom, like relaxation and rhythm. Without these, you won’t get far. Remember that relaxation includes mental and physical relaxation, and that rhythm refers to multiple concepts such as preserving the correct footfalls of each gait, picking the correct tempo for your horse, and maintaining that tempo on the straight, around corners and whether or not you are headed towards or away from your horse’s buddies! Next on the training scale you have contact, and than you work progressively on ‘schwung’ (German word for energy that comes over the fluidly moving back), straightness, suppleness, and finally collection. The pyramid is not a mountain to be climbed where the rocks change color as you pass into each new level, but rather you build a very tiny pyramid, with tiny amounts of each ingredient, and your goal is to make your pyramid bigger by building on more of each ingredient from the bottom up. It can never hurt to have too much rhythm and relaxation, because even though it may not look like the collection you are aiming for, it is a big solid base to build on.

One problem with the training scale is that clarity has been lost in translation. We used to see the word ‘forward’ or ‘impulsion’ instead of schwung, but riders took this to mean it is acceptable to rush along on the forehand, so most writers now opt to use the German word. I believe the word ‘contact’ has also had its share of misconceptions. Anyone can pick up the reins and ‘establish contact’ by pulling on them until there is no slack. Riders know that building a good base to their pyramid is critical so they establish more contact- they pull harder and call it a solid connection. This is THE fault which tends to give dressage a bad name among other disciplines. I try to think of contact as a willing acceptance of and submission to the bridle (bit or hackamore) which is shown by the horse stretching forwards to the bridle and the lack of head tossing, pushing against the rein or coming above or below the pressure. I believe there is also a similar connection through the seat- the horse should want to shape himself to the rider. Maybe “willing connection to the rider” would be the better definition. Because there is an element of connection (contact) that has to do with the seat, I can practice this element of connection, along with relaxation and rhythm, even when riding bridle-less. Some dressage riders buck me on this because they swear I can’t complete the circle of the aids or cycle back the energy. This is not totally incorrect since I can’t control any energy that may be escaping from anywhere in front of the withers, however when there is no bridle to ‘clutter’ the conversation, I can isolate the conversation through my seat and legs, and work on directing the energy under my seat- an important ingredient most dressage riders talk about a lot more than they actually do! And this component of contact is what I believe leads to schwung, the next tier on the pyramid.

Even though riding bridle-less is fun for the horse, the real benefit is for the education of the rider. Dressage discontinues being an art the moment it gets heavy- if the horse is heavy in the bridle than too much weight is going to the forehand and one must then increase the driving aids to keep the hind legs stepping under and the front elevated, but the increased driving also increases the weight in the reins and on the cycle goes. If the rider can practice using his or her seat and leg aids without the bridle (and better yet, without even a neck rope so she is not using her hands at all) than the rider will be practicing close to perfectly with the seat. After the rider can make turns and simple transitions without the bridle, than the requirements of the seat aids have been met and it is time to put the bridle on and practice the connection with the mouth. The contact will at some time become too heavy since the process of learning is difficult and all riders have fallen into this trap during some portion of the learning process. When this happens you can remove the bridle and reinforce the correct use of the seat and be certain that your horse has enough rhythm and relaxation to move without changing tempo or gait when the contact is gone. So as you can see, bridle-less riding is actually the beginning of dressage- not the end.

When I first became intrigued by bridle-less riding I too was leery of the effect it would have on my dressage goals since it is so different from traditional training. I saw pictures of Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling, author of “Dancing with Horses” doing piaffe and passage with no contact at all. I wrote a letter to Karl Mikolka, former rider at the Spanish Riding School, and asked him for his thoughts on the subject. While he did not give any technical comments he simply stated that anything you do that improves the relationship between horse and rider can be considered classical. He also stated that if he met a person who could do an entire Grand Prix dressage test bridle-less that he would become “his disciple.” At a horse expo I saw Pat Parelli, who often rides bridle-less, doing a calm confident active piaffe on a Quarter Horse mare in a western saddle and a halter. Dressage master Walter Zettl encourages riders to use Parelli methods which includes riding on loose reins. Later I learned about the riders of Cavalia who not only do liberty dressage performances, but compete in Grand Prix on those same horses. Even if collection without bit contact is a silly dream, I figured I am in good company!

Once the horse and rider can do simple things without the bit, they can than refine it in a bit. Once the horse is used to that level of refinement you should be able to put on just a halter and achieve the same results. It is quite possible that even with no tack you may still have the refinement you created with the bit since it is now becoming habit for the horse to correctly carry the weight of the rider. The horse goes through this same process when introduced to a curb- the level of collection attainable increases through use of a curb bit, but if once that level of collection has been regularly practiced, it would be very incorrect if the horse could not perform the same way in a snaffle.

Even if you don’t ride your horse with a naked head, being able to ride on loose reins is beneficial. Practice turns using first your eyes and shoulders, followed by shifting weight to the inside (keeping a straight torso), then using leg, and only following through with rein if the horse is unresponsive to the earlier aids. To practice correct downward transitions, first get a friend to pull on your reins- hard. If you stay erect and allow the pressure to pull you deeper into the saddle, you will feel your lower back brace, your thigh close, and knee drop. This will also lengthen your leg so your heels drop lower. To stop without the reins you will need to be able to recreate this same feeling. Bridle-less riding becomes more advanced yet as you learn to bend your ribs with the horse, align your shoulders with the horse’s shoulders and your hips with his hips to get more complex maneuvers, but simply doing circles and transitions on loose reins will prepare you sufficiently for creating connection. Once your horse bends readily off seat and inside leg you can practice changing bending- this will relax the whole spine and even the jaw, even though there is no bit to directly effect the jaw. To understand better hang your head forward and down and than gently swing your head from side to side. It is very hard to clench your jaw while fluidly moving your head and neck.

When you do establish contact it should be light. The horse should stretch to the hands. If you know how to muscle vertical flexion out of a horse (and it doesn’t take much pressure to be muscling them) it is so tempting to do so- especially when the horse is going around like a camel- but resisting this urge now will payoff in the long run. After getting the rhythm you want, gradually introduce different size circles, leg yields, changes of direction, and simple transitions. .

As you do figures and changes of direction compare how the horse is, and how you ride, to the right and left. I know that I connect my left arm to my body very well, while my right arm I tend to give with subconsciously. This works fine circling right, but circling left I must be more in the moment to correct my own tendencies and not let energy leak out the horse‘s right shoulder. If your horse pulls hard on the inside rein while going right, there is most likely little to no pressure in the left rein. Instead of trying only to lighten the horse on the right rein, try to establish more contact with the left. Even though straightness is higher on the pyramid, addressing it some now will help you create light even contact. To be sure to keep your outside hand very connected to your torso think of the same feeling you had when your friend pulled the reins- if your arm wasn’t stabilized by your body the friend would have simply pulled your arm forward. At the same time be sure that your inside hand is soft and giving. Give with it every moment you can. Even if you momentarily loose the bend and flexion, your horse will be softer on the rein after a moment of release. When your outside hand is well connected to your seat and stable, your horse cannot push through it. The hand must be strong enough that the horse doesn’t decide to just pluck the rein from our hand. But even though the hand is strong it does not mean it may act in a backwards motion (pulling). It should be like a solid post concreted into the ground- the horse cannot push through it, however it does not take up the slack, nor does it pull backwards. Horses tied to a trailer do not typically lean against the trailer tie the way they often do a rider’s hand. Pulling backwards not only causes your horse pull back in defense, but it also shorten the neck. When a horse is in correct carriage the cervical vertebrae form close to a straight line, with the muscling of the neck forming the curve we often recognize. The horse can, however, have a seemingly nice curve in the neck when the vertebrae are scrunched into an improper ‘S’ shape. Whether or not you are familiar with the appearance of the horse’s spine, or can tell what posture the vertebrae are in is not as important as your being able to know if the horse is stretching forwards the whole way from the withers or if he is bringing his neck in like an accordion. To tell if the horse is being worked properly, look at his neck while mounted. If the muscling is the widest at the base and narrows evenly towards the poll, you are doing a great job and should give yourself a real pat on the back. If there is a lack of muscling just in front of the shoulders, but the horses neck is shaped correctly from that point forwards, you need to think more of getting your horse to stretch forwards to the bit and maybe should work on long and low exercises. If your horse has a muscular bulge in the middle or top of his neck than you are doing him a large disservice and need to immediately rethink your current riding and training methods.

So maybe we took the concept of contact from straightforward to rather complex, but the more you work through it the more it will become ‘brilliantly simple’. This is when you know you have truly mastered it- I can’t wait until I‘m there