Stopping
Like cars, some well schooled horses have brakes which are very sharp and respond to the lightest touch, whilst others require more effort. To halt just stop following the movement of the walk with your seat – this can be done sharply for an immediate transition, or gradually. Inwards pressure down the thigh to the knee, without losing the seat, can reinforce the request. If the horse doesn’t respond to this polite request we must resort to the hand. After a few repetitions he should have the message that it’s nicer for you both to halt from the seat.
Assess the quality of the halt from the feel in your seat. Does one seat bone feel higher than the other? If so, the hind leg on the lower side has been “left behind”. Try to correct by a “nudge” with your seat bone on that side.
Going
To move off from halt into walk use as little effort as possible. Ideally it is releasing because there should always be the possibility of move off, so just a small nudge with the seat should suffice. Some horses require a lot more than this, especially before they are warmed up. Try a nudge with the leg as well as the seat movement, then the whip and your voice. With many repetitions you should be able to do less and less and the horse should still understand.
Once we have our horse responsive to our aid to move forward we can be more particular. It is possible for the rider to select the hind leg to commence the move off. To do this decide which hind you would like to step forward first in the move-off and start the sequence of the walk with your seat on that side.
Test your control by riding on an inner track. Can you ride a straight line in walk without the support of the track? Do nothing. What happens? Try it again? What could you try to correct?
Turning
Turning should not need much effort from the rider.
Try this exercise. In an enclosed school simply ride the horse towards the corner – most will turn naturally using a quarter 10m circle. Sit square to the movement, there is no need for excessive movement of legs, hands or upper body. Notice how the horse turns on each rein. Think “how could I help him?” In the corner; inside knee. Before the corner slight turn of upper body, then release and allow horse to go through the corner. Successful turning is all about setting it up, then letting it happen.
Turn comes from your body not your hands. It requires a combination of inside and outside aids – seat check – weight into inside seat bone and outside heel (still 50% of weight each side – constantly check this).
Test the effect of turning only from the inside aid or the outside aid then both together. What happens? What have you learnt? Try turning with your hands alone. What happens?
Try circles of different sizes. How do you need to adjust your weight to achieve them? Combine the turning with the halt, move-off and stride length variation.