horse on the bit

When specifically addressing the issue of having the horse on the bit, start by warming up for 10 to 15 minutes at all three gaits. Then allow your horse to relax on a loose rein. During this pause, you will imagine and plan your training session depending on your horse and what you wish to achieve. I usually advise riders to start by riding at a walk on a circle with a diameter of about 10 to 15 metres. As I am sure you have noticed, horses are not symmetrical: they usually bend better on the side their manes fall. It is therefore preferable to start on this rein, the horse will assume the correct attitude more quickly and this is better for its mental state. Remember, to improve the weak points it is always preferable to work on the strong ones.

Using your 4 contact points: light hands, legs well stretched and relaxed muscles, your horse will feel kindly organised. As is often said, the hardest things for horses are the rider’s hands! One feels the need to hang on to something... the need to possess causes one to hold on to everything, to control everything. The hands become stiff and move back toward the rider. Learn on the contrary to move your hands forward as often as possible; your joints must work in the direction you are going in. Establish communication with your horse, let the energy circulate. Remember the saying: «The hands are part of the horse’s mouth.»
Make the circle progressively smaller, request the horse to bend increasingly around the inside leg. When you feel that your horse is ready to yield with its body and its poll, cease asking, while relaxing the tensions in your own body. Forestall its reaction: soften as soon as you feel your horse is about to yield, while keeping a light contact.
While reducing the size of the circle, keep an eye on the forward movement because turning often results in a loss of impulsion.
The horse must bend from the tip of its nose to its tail, to perfectly match the curve of the circle. If the horse moves towards the inside of the circle, push it back using only your inside leg.
Yielding is not complete unless the horse’s back is in the correct position, hence the importance of starting at a slower and more extended gait on a curve.

In an exercise like this, 90 % of my mind is busy analysing the sensations coming from my horse, and more specifically, what is happening with its hindquarters. I advise all my pupils to also place themselves in this frame of mind. Unfortunately, one observes with what degree of unkindness certain riders vent their inability and rage on their horses’ mouths. They focus on the horse’s weak point and by continuing to torment it, end up exhausting and destroying it.
One should, on the contrary as we have said, rely on the horse’s qualities to allow its weak points to vanish.

It is important for less experienced riders to know what having a horse “on the bit” means…

As we have seen, when faced with situations in which the horse feels
constrained, it will try to escape. The first time you tie up a horse using a halter and a rope, its initial reaction will be to pull back to try to escape. Likewise, a horse will try to spit out the bit you put in its mouth.

When it feels your hands at the end of the reins, it will try to free itself by shaking its head. All the rider’s work will consist in persuading the horse to accept these constraints, with kindness, with relaxed arms and fingers and a light contact.

The last stage will be having the horse “on the bit”, hence a trusting horse, which will have relaxed its cervical vertebrae, gently accepting ‘contact’ with the rider’s hands.
This can only happen with patience and understanding, initially often with low hands kept quite widely apart, so that the rider maintains elasticity in his arms.

It is true that at times I ride with my hands practically on my knees. This open attitude, although it may appear an exaggeration, allows one to have young horses on the bit more easily. I do not of course advise you to always ride like this. However, used for a few minutes, this position may allow one to unblock the situation, in particular with riders who have not yet understood the repercussions their position has on the horse’s attitude. It is pointless to try to have a horse on the bit if the rider cannot keep his hands still. To understand the influence your position has on the horse, do not hesitate to ask a very good rider to ride it. You will see to what extent your horse can be transformed. Starting from there, establish for yourself the aim of achieving the same results.
As far as having the horse on the bit is concerned, the final aim of the rider is to establish a contact, weighing only a few grams, with the horse’s mouth, whatever the position of his hands: high, low, separate or close together. This contact must be permanent in all situations: when turning, bending to the right, to the left, slowing down, stopping… the horse’s mouth trustingly follows the rider’s hands and vice-versa.