01/02/2024
The *more leg* debate
Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of posts talking about instructors telling their students to “use more leg” and that this is wrong or it’s not being done properly, etc. However, not one post then says how to do it properly. They just criticize.
Also it seems that they forget that a lot of people that ride don’t use their legs hardly at all to steer and ride their horse and use just primarily rein aids.
Shouldn’t we be trying to instruct our students to ride more with their seat and leg aids than their reins?
Also most students do not use enough of their lower leg to support or communicate to their horse properly. The use of the leg must be taught through repetition and feel.
Now I get that overuse of the leg will result in a dull horse but sometimes a student truly is not using enough of their lower leg to effectively communicate because they just don’t know how to effectively and correctly use their leg in relationship to what they are requesting their horse to do.
And the message of using too much leg is confusing to new horse riders. It sends the message of telling them to not use their leg at all which causes a whole slew of issues in itself.
I tell my students that their neutral leg on their horse’s sides should be about the same pressure as their arms resting relaxed at their sides. The leg should not engage more unless they want more energy from the horse or for direction and steering purposes. The leg should be like a gentle hug. Reassuring, giving and feeling for feedback at the same time.
The leg should be held with relaxation with only enough pressure in the stirrup to barely hold a dollar bill in between the ball of your foot and the stirrup.
There should be flexibility in the hip, knee and ankle. This allows for movement and feel for cueing purposes. Soft legs allow for flexibility in the seat and lower back which travels up into the shoulders and the arms and hands. In essence, the status of the leg influences the entire body.
Tight and tense legs cause tension in the thighs, hips and lower back which cause the rider to actually move against their horse. If you are bouncing a lot in the saddle, you might be riding with a tight and tense leg. Tight legs cause riders to put too much pressure in their stirrups which causes them to ride stiff up through their hips and lowers back. It also causes the rider to keep their legs off the horse. This causes lack of communication between the horse and rider and also causes the rider to be more unstable.
We must have balance in our legs and seat. We must learn to wait and feel our horse underneath us and then respond accordingly to them after giving them time to respond to the request. A solid and quiet leg takes time to build but keeping your leg completely off your horse only causes more harm than good.
The use of leg in communicating to a horse and for the importance of balance and position in the saddle is one of the most important things to teach. So rather than poopoo-ing the use of leg, encourage correct leg position and contact.
