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First, we start with the study of the biomechanics of the horse without us.  Learn what healthy movement looks like.

Then we take that learning as our base for the next step. Healthy movement with us up on them. But this part is tricky because this is when we begin to wonder which master got it right. And we can't seem to agree who is right. The best way to make our choices is to remember the lessons learnt from the previous course on What is Healthy for the Horse where we used the horses to teach us what was healthy.  Keep as much as we can of these concepts with us ensures that we don't stray to far from what is true for the horses.  So the first step of riding is ensuring full movement in both horse and rider.  The use of aids needs to wait as we learn how to Patten the Rider. How can we ensure that goal is at the center of all that we do with our horses. Learn to match in our bodies everything that is in theirs.

That has to come first before we worry about using any aid at the right time, and knowing which aid to use based on the level of balance of the horse currently.

So we carry the layer of healthy movement of the horse, use that to achieve the next step of healthy movement which we are up on them, and then holding onto all of that, we next work on understanding the aids and levels of balance and how we can hold onto the rest while we take this next step.

It is when we reach this level, which is quite basic, if you think about it.  We need to be able to ride the gaits in such a way that we free the horse from us. That we don't limit healthy movement.  That we have a basic understanding of the aids and now we can hopefully have a fruitful discussion as we look to others on what they can teach us.

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