Hands On Horse Training

08/30/2026

"The hand is dependent on the position of the inside leg, the outside leg, and the torso, with the natural and correct position of the upper arms and forearms. It will be just as good, mediocre, or bad as these. For the seat and the posture, torso provides the support for the hand. A good hand is unthinkable when the seat is wrong, unsteady, stiff, and dead.

The shoulder, elbow, fist, and even the finger joints must remain relaxed and free of tension. If the rider has to apply strength, he must produce it only by sitting deeper in the saddle, by increasing the stability of his torso, and by hugging his rib cage more with one or both arms; in other words, by securing and maintaining the support base of the hand more. The hand may close more only to the extent that the reins cannot be pulled away from it.

It is only through long practice that the rider can acquire this skill, which originates in the seat and posture alone, i.e., the support base of the hand, and which gives him the greatest possible control over the horse, whereas, conversely, a bad hand gives the horse all the power over him."

Adolf Kästner 1876

08/30/2026

“When you ride your horse with hand and heels, then the horse is not a part of you. You are just sitting on top of it.”
Bent Branderup

Bent Branderup has spent years looking into the historical roots of...

08/30/2026

"Everyone who trains horses will admit that one of the rider’s most important tasks is to sharpen his awareness in his seat, leg, and especially in his hand, so that he feels the slightest difference in pressure. As every mistake should be corrected right at the beginning - this is the only time when it is possible to correct it, because avalanches cannot be stopped in the psychological or in the physical world -, this is only perceptible and feasible with a pressure that is as small as that of our relaxed finger muscles. For a muscle loses its sensitivity for subtle nuances to the same degree that it contracts."
Otto von Monteton 1877

08/29/2026

"Equitation is not the search for public acclaim and self-satisfaction after applause, and it is not pleasing a judge. It is a one-to-one dialogue with the horse and the search for harmony and perfection."
Nuno Oliveira (1925–1989)

08/29/2026

"When horses with a long, weak back, or long-legged horses, have acquired enough attentiveness to the rein and leg to be able to control the bend and flexion of the body, we will do well to ride them more frequently in renvers than in shoulder-in, especially when we are working on a straight line next to the wall. In the shoulder-in these long-backed horses drift too easily to the outside with their croup, whereas in the renvers, i.e. with a moderate angle, the entire body can be brought into a correct posture and maintained in it. Long-legged horses cross the line of the center of gravity too easily with the inside hind leg. They lose their balance, which makes them fearful and nervous. On short-coupled horses and on round-backed horses, frequent repetitions of the shoulder-in and frequent reinbacks on the circle are useful."
(Ernst Friedrich Seidler, 1846)

08/28/2026

"Those who train remounts and canter before the horse is able to step under correctly can use all the diligence in the world in the trot, yet the work of months will soon be lost again."
Otto von Monteton 1877

08/28/2026

Perfect your aids at the walk before you try to advance to the trot. Perfect them at the trot before you advance to the canter. But perfect the trusting relationship with the horse before you ever step into the saddle.

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08/28/2026

"Those who understand more or less how difficult it is for the horse to throw the rider’s weight from the haunches towards the forehand with each canter stride, without seeking support for the forehand in the mouth, which would force him to forget everything he had learned (self carriage under the weight of the rider), - those who understand this, will also understand that you cannot canter a horse for any length of time, until the flexibility of the back and the haunches has increased enough so that the horse can place his hind legs underneath the center of his body for support, without throwing the weight onto the forehand."
Otto von Monteton 1877

08/27/2026

"Unfortunately, it is unbelievable how much ignorance surfaces, especially in this beautiful art, because every incapable or irresponsible person who is unable to succeed in other fields tries his hand at being a horse trainer. Without any scientific knowledge of his task, often even without the necessary physical aptitude, he proceeds to work the most noble creature of the animal kingdom mechanically, like a carpenter cuts a block of wood to size, and does not stop until it is either completely broken or has become his lord and master. Instead of supporting the natural movements of the young horse with his seat and aids, he interferes with them and blocks them with his own stiff and incorrect posture, through unnatural elevation of the forehand, and through harsh, poorly timed aids. Slowly, but surely, he thus suppresses all of the horse's talents, and when he has crippled it, he blames its poor conformation."
(Gustav Steinbrecht, 1884)

08/27/2026

"It is in Horsemanship as in other things: regularity is beautiful, while distortion and compulsion must be without grace. There is an elegance moreover in Horsemanship, which looks as if it was natural, tho’ it proceeds from art. Thus, tho’ a perfect horseman rides with art, it seems rather natural than acquired by practice; and he makes his horse appear as if nature had produced such a creature for no other end, but to be conducted, governed, and rid by man. What is more, a good horseman rides as one may say with harmony; for his horse being of the same mind with himself, moves in such exact manner, steps so equally, and keeps such just time; turns, pirouettes, rises so equally, so easily, so lightly, that it is very agreeable to see, as well as a very profitable science to learn."
William Cavendish, the 1st Duke of Newcastle (1592-1676)