21/06/2026
Great information 🙌
Over the years I have come to visualise the horse and rider as a system through which energy flows from back to front, front to back, and side to side, from the horse to the rider, from the rider to the horse, from the horse into the ground and back. It reminds me of water or electricity that forms a closed circuit. This energy can only flow freely if there are no blockages and no leaks.
Stiff, tight muscles form blockages that prevent the energy stream from reaching its destination. In other words, the pushing power of the hind legs will not reach the bit or the horse’s nose, and rein aids won’t reach the hind legs because the muscle blockage forms a barrier.
Hypermobile areas act as leaks. For instance, if there is a hole in a garden hose, all the water will leak out through this hole, instead of flowing through the nozzle. In a similar way, the horse’s energy will exit the body through a false bend at the base of the neck or the middle of the neck. You won’t feel any contact between the hind legs and the reins, and your half halts will not reach their destination, either.
The Path of Least Resistance
The energy of the horse and rider follows the same laws of physics as water or electricity. It will seek the path of the least resistance, which means it will flow through holes or gaps in the system, and when it encounters an obstacle, it will either flow around it or pool behind it. It will also fill open spaces that you create.
What does this look like in practice?
Blockages
* If the horse’s poll is locked, the energy coming from the hind legs will bounce off of it like a ball bounces off a closed door. Half halts will also not be able to pass through the poll if it acts like a locked door.
* A muscle blockage in the middle of the neck will prevent the energy of the haunches from reaching the reins and half halts will get stuck in it. Horses with blockages in the neck and/or poll are often behind the leg.
* If the rider is pulling on the inside rein, she blocks the path of the inside hind leg. When riding in the direction of the horse’s hollow side, this will result in the horse disconnecting at the base of the neck, overflexing the neck to the inside, and pushing the shoulders to the outside. In other words, the energy will find a path around the obstacle of the inside hand.
* If the rider is pulling on the inside rein when riding in the direction of the horse’s stiffer side, the inside hind leg will step short, the weight will fall onto the inside shoulder, and the haunches may swing towards the outside side (hollow side), away from the restricting inside hand.
* If the rider restricts the horse too much with the outside rein, it can lead to a head tilt and a counter flexion.
* If the rider restricts the horse too much with both reins, some horses learn to disconnect the base of the neck by curling up, so that the impulses of the hind legs can no longer reach the bit, and the rein aids don’t arrive in the hind legs, either. Other horses will do the opposite. They throw their head up and drop their back. They may stop and refuse to go forward, or they start bucking, rearing, or bolting because the energy that is pent up inside the system has to come out somehow. Those horses that refuse to move shut down. Those who buck, bolt, or rear, are like a pressure cooker or a steam engine that explodes because the pressure inside has grown too big and there is no valve through which to let off steam.
* When a horse feels too restricted, they can become claustrophobic and panic. Everybody has probably seen horses that were tied to a wall and frantically pulled back until the halter broke. This would be a case where the energy has no place to go and the horse increases his energy until it’s big enough to break the obstacle that’s in it’s way.
* Bolting horses are often created by the rider hanging on both reins and standing in the stirrups, so that there are no seat, weight, or leg aids, only a dead weight hanging on the horse’s mouth. This can trigger a panic reaction that leads to the horse throwing his entire body weight against the rider’s hand and running away.
* Sometimes panicking horses will push through obstacles with their chest if they want to go forward and something is restraining them in that direction.
* If the rider has a stiff hip, this will restrict the range of motion of the horse’s hip on the same side, as the energy can’t flow freely through this joint. The hind leg on this side will step short as a result, and the horse will probably lean on the shoulder and the rein of that same side.
* Tipping forward with the upper body can block the forward movement and open the “back door” so that the horse gets behind the seat and leg aids and is able to run backwards or to buck or rear, which are always signs that the horse is behind the aids.
Energy Leaks and Gaps
* A vertical false bend around C3 acts like a leak for the pushing impulses of the hind legs, and if the rider tries to apply a half halt, the horse will curl up his neck. This gives the appearance of roundness and lightness, but it’s not real. It’s fake because there is no connection between the hind legs and the reins. The withers and back are typically dropped when the horse curls up.
* A lateral false bend at the base of the neck also acts like a leak for the pushing impulses of the hind legs. The horse will overbend the neck and push through his shoulder. These horses often respond to any rein aid by quickly evading sideways with their entire neck so that it is reminiscent of a wagging dog’s tail or a lamb’s tail.
* These horses are crooked and disconnected, so that the back and withers are dropped and the horse is not moving through his body.
* If the rider’s lower leg is too far forward or too far away from the horse’s side, it leaves the door open for the hind leg on that side to swing sideways, which results in a crooked horse. The hind legs can also lag behind if the rider’s lower legs are so far away that they can’t communicate with them.
* If the rider’s elbows are sticking out you can often observe that the horse’s shoulder falls out on the side where there is no connection between the rider’s elbow and pelvis. I’m not exactly sure what the specific mechanism for this is, but I have observed it often enough.
* If the rider’s elbows don’t have a good connection to her pelvis because they are too extended as a result of a lack in core muscle tone, the horse can “steal” them away from the rider by leaning on the bit. In that case, the horse explores the open space that he feels in order to find out whether there is a boundary or whether it is limitless.
Creating Space
* If the rider lightens her seat by distributing her weight more onto the inner thighs or by swinging higher with her pelvis, during the same moment in which the horse’s back lifts up, she is able to induce the horse’s back to swing more and lend more roundness and expressiveness to a flat, rough gait: the horse fills the vacuum, so to speak, that the rider has created on purpose.
* If the rider perches on the horse or hovers over the horse’s back permanently, the horse will sooner or later extend his hind legs and push up his croup in order to fill the space that the rider has created inadvertently.
* When the rider is asking for a leg yield, a turn on the forehand in motion, or a full pass, it often helps to open the leg on the side towards which the horse is supposed to move. This creates an open space that the horse can fill with his body when the opposite leg is asking him to move away from the impulse of the sideways driving aid.
* If the rider has a crooked pelvis with one hip higher than the other, the horse will most likely lift his own hip on the side of the rider’s raised hip to fill the space, which creates a crookedness in the horse’s pelvis.
Practical Application
The rider can take advantage of the horse’s tendency to fill empty spaces and to flow around obstacles by closing all doors that the horse is not supposed to go through and leaving only the door(s) open that the rider wants him to take.
If the rider opens the wrong doors, the horse’s energy will leak out though these open doors and he will move in the wrong direction.
These become areas of hyper-mobility, such as false bends that don’t transmit the energy properly between the hind legs and the skull. This applies to the movement impulses of the hind legs that are travelling from back to front to the horse’s skull, as well as to the half halts that travel from the skull to the hind legs. The energy circuit, the circle of aids can’t be properly formed in that case.
If we leave too many doors open, the energy will evaporate through them, and the horse will probably get crooked and disconnected, and his energy level will be too low. Similar to the water in a river that flows slowly in areas where the riverbed is very wide, whereas it flows much faster through narrow ravines.
If the rider blocks a door that is supposed to be open, the energy will get bottled up and either find a way around the obstacle, or it will break free through an explosion, which can even be dangerous for the rider.
Leaks and blockages in the system of horse and rider will send the horse’s energy in the wrong direction, which leads to incorrect postural patterns and movement patterns that will be detrimental to the horse’s health.
The rider’s task is, therefore, very clear: We have to channel the horse’s energy into the right direction by opening only those doors that need to be open, and to close all the doors that we don’t want the horse to go through.
There has to be at least one door that is open at all times. This is extremely important and cannot be stressed enough. If we close all doors (front, back, left, right) and ask the horse to move, there is a risk that the pressure within the system becomes so high that it explodes, as I have already mentioned.
Seat and Aids
You can think of the horse’s body as a corridor with several doors, or as a flute with several holes that produce different notes, depending on which holes are open and which ones are closed.
There is a front door and a back door, of course, because the horse can move forward and backward.
There are also side doors, one for each leg.
You could probably also picture a door on either side of the poll.
And a door above the back that allows the horse’s back to lift when it’s open.
You can close the front door by sending your weight straight down through any one of the horse’s legs into the ground. Moving your pelvis slightly backward and closing your fingers on the reins can also close the front door.
You open the front door by releasing the reins and moving your pelvis a little forward and up.
You close the side doors for the shoulders by framing them with your thighs, knees, and reins.
You frame and stabilise the neck and poll laterally with the reins as well. This only works if the reins are well connected to the rider’s pelvis and lumbar spine.
You close the side doors for the hind legs by framing them with your lower legs.
Passive framing aids can become active nudges to get an escaping leg back in line.
You can close the back door by engaging your back muscles, leaning slightly back with your torso, and moving your pelvis slightly forward.
You can press the croup and hind legs into the ground by sinking down with your pelvis.
You can open the door for the back to lift by swinging up with your pelvis.
Leaks and blockages in the rider’s body transfer themselves to the horse’s body.
Conclusion
Try to feel the energy of the hind legs flowing under your seat bones and pelvic floor. You should feel each hind leg touching down as a slight bump under the seat bone of the same side. And you should be able to feel each hind leg as a small pulse in the hand on the same side.
This will only happen if the hind legs are stepping towards the center of gravity, so that they touch down underneath your seat bones.
They also have to reach far enough under the body mass. Otherwise, the back will drop and you can’t feel them in your seat bones or your hands.
The horse has to move with high enough energy. If the energy is too low, it won’t reach your seat bones or your hands. If the energy is too high, the horse will be tense and heavy, so that you can’t feel any differentiation in the movement of the hind legs.
Scan the horse for blockages and leaks by sending out probes towards a certain target.
For instance, lower leg aids should result in a quicker, more energetic lift-off of the hind leg on the same side.
Rein aids should either produce a slight lateral flexion or they should act as half halts that keep the targeted leg on the ground longer or flex the joints of a targeted hind leg.
That’s why it’s important that you always have a clear mental image of what you want to achieve with an aid: which part of the horse’s body do you want to reach? What do you want this body part to do? Which aid is naturally connected to it? If we are not very clear about these details, we are not likely to be able to channel the energy effectively and to achieve what we want to do.
If you find a blockage, try to remove it through a mobilising exercise for this particular body part so that the energy can flow freely again.
If you find a leak, frame the hypermobile area more with your lateral aids (lower legs, knees, thighs, reins) so that the energy can’t leave the system.
