Your hands must rest in motion, not moving when they are not meant to move, but rather riding in time together with the horses’ mouth.
Photos by Andrew Wilson
Riding one handed is less demanding on a trail, but can be very demanding with any kind of arena work where practical details matter. I am talking about the “B” word. “B” is for balance. The choice is completely yours whether to ride with one or two hands, but there are aspects that are important to evaluate in order to be successful. “There are two sides to every horse and two sides to every horse’s mouth; these two distinct sides are not, as a rule, evenly developed by nature” (Henry Wynmalen). It takes a great deal of work to even out these discrepancies, and the hands play a significant role, on both sides of the horse’s mouth, in all sorts of combinations. Movements by the hands are comprised of bending the head left and right into turns, lowering the hand forward down in giving or to relax, and raising the hand backwards up to lift the shoulders into collection, a halt, or a rein back. If that all makes yer eyes glaze over, it shouldn’t. But let me bring this cattle drive home.
As our hands make contact with the horse’s mouth,
the contact should be about giving and receiving
messages between the horse and rider; information
to and from the hand, to and from the horse; it should
never be about weight (“I can’t stop this blasted
beast…”). I want my horse searching for my hands
when I open them, and giving, or lightening, when I
close my hands. Stop stompin’ on your dance partner’s
feet!
…And, bits won’t do the job for you; it is the hands behind them, and they must be working toward becoming soft, light and steady. What, you haven’t got there yet? Well, saddle up and ride on, ‘cause there’s more. Your hands must rest in motion, not moving when they are not meant to move, but rather riding in time together with the horses’ mouth. A good hand must also establish a few things in the horse—with two hands—before one hand can do its job properly.
Hard sayin’ not knowin’, but the truth, as I cook it, is that many western riders don’t ask for bending to better balance their horses. To be able to bend the horse from the inside aids—the seat and legs—is important so that your horse is not going around stiff on one side like the boards you got nailed to yer arena. First, seat and inner leg are asking for bending and then the horse gets soft on the inside rein. This is a basic to bring a horse into a balance while bending towards the direction of travel; finally, turning the horse with the outside rein on the neck and bringing the outside leg over the inside.
If you're looking for the last woodchuck hiding, here it is. It is significant to mention that quality and serious riding is never about leading the horse left or right from the mouth, but rather to move the shoulders between the reins. Western riders who neck rein understand this principle. To carry the idea further into the subject of balance, the inside rein should move the inside shoulder out, and the outside rein should move the outside shoulder in. That is a true statement whether you are riding one handed or two. Many riders today can be seen leading their horses in the mouth instead of leading the shoulders.
What is important to recognize is that the hands and fingers, like playing a violin, guitar, or piano, must all be used. As the horse comes into an understanding of what its job is, the hand merely plays “back up” to the work of the primary aid, the seat. To have boot-stompin’ fun is to bring the horse into that harmonious performance.
That is the work of an artist. So one-handed or two, you, as the artist, must decide.