Blue River Farm

Right down there in the thick of things ...

My farm has been sold to a lovely young couple, Katie and Isaiah, and they'll be running it as a boarding facility. They're a joy. I am very grateful that this beautiful land and the horses I've loved for so many years are being passed on to such a delightful pair. At the end of September the next chapter begins for all of us. Me in Portland somewhere, them here in the heart of the community I love so much.

Several people have been sharing and resharing a post I wrote about the bit many years ago. Here's another variation on the theme...
One of the concerns riders who dislike the bit express is the belief that the seat and legs are more natural, more "in tune" than the hand. They don't want to use the bit, they call it an artificial aid, they want to avoid the bit because it is a hard object.
Your pelvis is an artificial aid made of bone. Your pelvis acts just as the bit does, but with less clarity. Learning to move with the horse, balancing very well, and using appropriate tack,your pelvis can communicate beautifully to the horse-- but the hand has authority that the seat lacks when authority is required, and it sometimes is. Your hand has the potential for specificity when things are unclear to the horse that the rider's body can sometimes mask.
In this set of images, you can see that the horse's back carries the rider's back, when his hip raises or lowers in his natural motion, (and, though you can't see it, when his shoulders reach forward or contract back) the rider's seat is carried in a sort of "hour glass" shaped movement, up and down, forward and back.
If the hand on the reins belongs to a rider with a good balanced seat, the bit lays on the bars of the jaw and gently carries the rider's hand as the jaw expresses the same forces in physics that carry the rump and the spine. The movements of the horse express themselves in the movement of the jaw if the horse is relaxed and without tension.
It's why nosebands have to be loose to allow the horse to move without obstructions.
It's also an invitation to the rider's mind. The mind of both the horse and the rider are the first consideration. This is why L'Hotte says "Calm, forward and straight" in exactly that order. The mind is paramount.
The rider's hands are no more or less "natural" or "gentle" than the rump, legs and spine. Our bodies are all of a piece. And there's a reason we play guitar and stroke our children's faces with our hands, and not with other parts of our anatomy.
If you can balance well enough that your hands are listening and floating along with the movement of the horse, cadenced with him at this level, then you can begin to use your hand with intelligence. Then you are in the area of developing balance well enough to use your seat and legs with hope of some nuance too. If your balance is such that you can't work this well...don't abandon the bit, just assume it's really time for serious seatwork.
If you can already balance this well, Great! Now, don't abandon the bit, learn to listen to the information your horse is sending you through it. There's a marvelous channel of communication available there from him to you, if you're listening.
And that is allowing the natural horse to communicate to the natural human through the most nuanced of their tactile centers, and in this interaction both animals find the other beautiful.
We do intensives on seatwork for riders from all over the world at Blue River Farm.
I'll be offering a limited number of these intensives in the coming year. Consider asking if you'd like to learn more.