ANSWER:
Sore arm muscles are always a bad sign. The rider's arms should never hurt
or be sore. Your description sounds like your trainer wants you to compress
the horse between aggressive legs and unyielding hands. You can possibly get
the horse to bring his hind legs closer to the front legs, but you will
never be able to achieve lightness and self carriage, because the horse that
is held in a frame by hands and legs has no room or time to relax. His
muscles are held in a state of constant contraction, which leads to muscle
soreness and atrophy. He will brace against the straightjacket, so there can
never be any flexion of the haunches, because relaxation is one of the most
important prerequisites for collection. After a lesson like this, check your
horse's back. I would not be surprised if the back is sore.
The question of how much contact is too much can only be answered by your
horse. You have to receive the weight that the horse places into your hand,
no more and no less. What is even more important than receiving the impulse
from the hind leg is that you let go again as soon as you have received the
impulse. This is where the problem usually lies. Most people catch the
impulse with their hand, but then they get stuck with it. Since horses
usually relax and yield into the release after the half halt, the horse will
never yield if the rider forgets to release the reins. That's why the adage
"yield when the horse yields" can be misleading. While it is true that the
rider should yield when the horse yields, it is even more important for the
rider to offer a release before the horse has yielded, in order to provide
the horse with an opportunity to yield.
- Thomas Ritter
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Last Update: January 13, 2007