Beginning Steps of Finding the Feet in the Walk and Trot
Feel is an important part of horsemanship. It’s seemingly illusive and nearly forgotten in many instances. But understanding of how the human and horse’s awareness of each other is incredibly important in light and artful riding.
Knowing where the horse’s body is requires more than just knowing where the feet are, but figuring out where the feet are is a wonderful way to begin to truly feel the horse and to have a better understanding of their body while riding.
Exercise for developing feel in the walk
Finding Rhythm & Keeping Time
To begin this exercise, first picture a metronome. This is represents your horses front feet to start. Through thinking of the horse’s front feet as a metronome your brining conscious awareness to what the horse is doing and where the horse’s body is under you. It’s important to develop this understanding of where the horse naturally is placing their feet. Once this is feeling is consistent, then begin to check in with your body. How does the horse’s front feet affect your body naturally? Begin to have this conversation between your body and the horse’s body.
Once this exercise is comfortable and consistent in the front legs, think about the hind legs. Where are the hind legs? What is their natural rhythm? How does this affect your body? Can you feel the hind legs in your body?
From here, you can begin to feel the rest of the horse and bring more awareness to your own body. Much of developing feel is about bringing awareness to your own body and how it works with the horse and also areas where it may work against the horse. This exercise is purely a listening one. Rather than trying to ask the horse to achieve a new skill, it is more about developing skills as a rider. Ideally the horse is walking relaxed and as naturally as possible throughout this exercise.
Exercise for finding the feet in the trot
The posting trot
Being on the correct diagonal is a basic riding skill that many learn early on. This exercise is aimed at teaching feel through this basic skill.
To begin this exercise, pick up the sitting trot. After a few paces, decide if you’re wanting to find the correct or incorrect diagonal and then begin posting on whichever you’ve decided to find. It is important to be able to find both of them, so don’t just stick to the correct one!
This exercise is especially helpful with having someone on the ground who can instruct when to sit and when to post as well as which diagonal to find. It is also helpful to do this exercise and begin posting on the desired diagonal and ask a person on the ground if it is correct or not.
Once finding the desired diagonal becomes consistent on both directions, play around with the length of time in the sitting trot between finding it. This exercise can also be done by standing in the stirrups.