Is Your Leg Aid Broken?
This article challenges the common practice of using one leg aid for everything from 'walk' to 'shoulder-in.' Discover why a generic 'go' signal can confuse your horse and limit your riding, and why a more specific approach is a brilliant shortcut to a deeper connection and better performance.
Article Summary
This article deconstructs the leg aid, asking a fundamental question: when you say 'go,' which of your horse's four legs are you talking to? It explores the common but flawed practice of using a single, non-specific leg aid for every command, which confuses both horse and rider. Discover the Kjrsos principle that a true leg aid must have control over a specific hind leg.
Learn how to assess if your own leg aid is 'broken' and why this foundational tool is the key to everything that follows. The full text offers a path to creating clear, effective communication that provides a shortcut to collection and a more harmonious partnership.
Read More From the Article...
Most riders use exactly the same leg aid for almost everything.
I want you to go.
I want you to walk.
I want you to go from a walk to a trot.
I want you go from a halt to a trot.
I want you to gallop.
I want you to do a shoulder-in.
What we want changes but the aid doesn’t.
Most say that this is fine because our leg aid says go and our hands shape the go that we want.
But there are a lot of different answers that a horse can give to the idea of go. Forwards, backwards, sideways, walk, trot, gallop, bend -- which one is it that we want? Don’t you think it would be so much better if we had a better approach than this? Especially for the horses.
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