13/03/2026
If only we had a magic wand✨🪄✨
For anyone who decides to begin a journey with an EDL teacher, where the training begins will very much depend on you and your horse. No two combinations are exactly the same, and part of our training as teachers in the School is learning to recognise what is needed most in that very first lesson.
I’ve spoken a lot on this page about the education of the rider’s hands and the horse’s mouth. This is important for many reasons and is an area that often doesn’t receive enough attention when riders first learn to ride, or when a young horse is first backed and introduced to ridden work.
But the saying…
“Ride from your seat and legs.”
I’m sure most riders will have heard this phrase at some point. And I agree, this is where the aim is: eventually to have the hands doing as little as possible.
But I have a theory.
To gain awareness of the finer details of the seat and legs, we first need an awareness of our hands.
Some instructors speak about the posture of the arms and hands developing naturally from having a good independent seat. But in my experience it is often the other way around.
It is far easier for a rider to become aware of carrying their arms still and in balance than it is to improve the seat first and hope the hands will follow. Trying to steady the seat in order to improve the hands can be incredibly difficult. But when a rider begins to organise the arms and learns to truly carry the reins, something interesting begins to happen.
That awareness in the hands starts to fine-tune the awareness of the seat.
This is something we pay particular attention to within the School, because the hands are not simply there to hold the reins, they are one of the main ways we begin to communicate clearly with the horse.
It’s very common to see riders with very little awareness of their hands. Without correct posture in the arms, the hands cannot remain still enough to communicate through small, intentional movements. Instead, the horse feels many small involuntary movements, “words” being spoken through the reins that the rider may not even realise they are saying.
But something interesting happens when the rider learns to truly carry the reins rather than simply hold them. Something almost magical begins to happen to the seat.
Another very common correction I make in lessons is with the legs. Often they move with every stride, constantly nudging or gripping, and the rider will frequently say, “I’m not even aware I’m doing it.” Just like with the hands, the horse eventually learns to ignore these repeated “words”.
So once awareness begins to develop in both the hands and the legs, then we can start to talk about the seat.
But as I mentioned earlier, where the initial focus lies very much depends on the individual combination.
Because the difficulty with focusing solely on the rider is that it simply will not work if the horse is leaning like a ton of bricks on the hands, heavily weighting one shoulder, sometimes so extremely that riding in one direction around the school becomes almost impossible.
It is virtually impossible to improve the rider’s seat in the canter if the horse itself cannot canter in balance.
When a horse shows these kinds of issues, it is not our seat alone that will solve them. Having the perfect seat does not suddenly create a magic wand that makes these problems disappear.
This is where the hands come in.
And sometimes the hands will be used in a way that is quite obvious. This is often where criticism of the School appears, people say we are not focusing enough on the rider’s seat.
But at the beginning we focus on what is needed.
As the rider becomes more aware the horse begins to improve balance… and gradually one begins to improve the other.
There is also another trap that riders can fall into. Some work incredibly hard at improving their seat, believing that if they can somehow become a “perfect rider”, the horse will magically transform underneath them.
Of course good riding influences the horse enormously, and improving ourselves should always be part of the journey. But when things are more extreme, when the horse is heavily on the forehand, leaning, crooked, or struggling with balance, simply becoming a more perfect passenger will not make those problems disappear.
To become good riders we must also learn how to become good teachers for our horses.
And, sometimes the main focus is the rider.
Sometimes the hands are too restrictive, held down and together at all costs.
Often this goes hand in hand with strong legs that nudge every stride without the rider even being aware of it.
Sometimes the rider is so far behind the movement in rising trot that they unintentionally block the horse’s forward movement.
The response then often becomes more leg, more pushing, more effort.
And so the cycle continues.
So where we begin always depends on what we see in front of us.
But what we aim for is always the same.
A rider who can speak with the hands or the legs with subtlety.
A rider who is aware of the “words” they are speaking with their body.
A rider who can isolate the aids.
A rider who can rise to the trot and sit to the trot in balance, without blocking the horse.
One who does not constantly drive with the legs.
One who understands weight aids and the refinement of the seat.
A rider who learns how the hands can help the horse relax and work in balance.
A rider who never needs strong leg aids to keep the horse moving.
And ultimately, a rider who learns not only to ride well themselves… but who can improve their own horse.
But we do not have a magic wand.
As teachers of the School we simply work on what will make the biggest difference in that moment, step by step, until eventually the magic of riding with refined aids becomes accessible to everyone.
Perhaps the real magic in riding isn’t a wand at all, but the moment we begin to understand how to communicate more clearly with our horse.
l will be sharing an educational video on this subject very soon for those who enjoy learning through visual examples. 😁
Many of the things I’ve mentioned here are explored in much greater depth inside my online course.
Early access is currently still open at the reduced price, but once the ridden module is added the price will increase.
I will add a link for more information in the comments 😊
Photo is Jennifer Brown and Oskar, Williams & Brown Equestrian
