04/14/2026
Good feel is key to much of what you do with your horse. It’s that, often seemingly magical, ability that the best riders possess to really sense what is happening underneath them, and, as Teall shares, “You must immediately start developing an awareness of the concepts, if you ever want to ride effectively, effortlessly and invisibly.
Feel and lightness are closely related to each other. In order to be an effective rider, you need to learn to feel just the right amount of hands, legs, seat and weight. The more you can feel what that right amount is, the more lightness you will have in your riding.”
The ideal combination of lightness and feel is what Teall describes as “the Goldilocks Factor” – it’s neither not enough nor too much, but rather just right.
To help achieve this Goldilocks Factor, here’s a look at two of the exercises that Teall shares within his book.
When schooling at home, your goal should always be to get your horse working longer, lower and lighter. You want him to work with his muscles stretched out, as opposed to working with his muscles tight or bunched together.
Just as you would stretch your own muscles before doing any strenuous exercise, stretching your horse’s muscles will enable him to perform better. Tight muscles produce a sore horse. Long and stretched muscles produce a relaxed horse. This trotting exercise is an easy way to help you develop the lightest aids possible while you cultivate a feel for riding a horse with long, stretched muscles.
1. Ask your horse to trot around the perimeter of the arena. Post the trot. Use your legs to tell him to move forward. Your hands lightly balance him so he doesn’t pick up a canter. Hold yourself centered, relaxed, and balanced on the horse.
2. Pay attention to where the horse’s impulsion comes from. If he is pulling himself along with his front legs, feel how slightly altering your balance or changing your hand position affects him. Practice until you can feel the horse using his hindquarters to push himself forward.
3. When the horse consistently pushes himself forward with his hind end, encourage him to stretch his body. Gently close your legs around his sides. Pay attention to how his neck feels as he trots. Ride him forward so that his neck starts to get longer, not shorter. Think: forward, out, and down.
4. Once the horse is stretching his head and neck forward while pushing from behind, feel the difference in his trot. Practice until you can have the horse push forward with his hind end and stretch forward with his head whenever you ask him to.
5. When your horse will consistently stretch his front end and push off with his hind end, pay attention to your weight. While the horse moves forward, concentrate on keeping your weight down in your heels. Feel how that anchors you to the horse.
6. Once your heels are well down, consciously pay attention to the position of your hands. Feel how light they can be while still being effective.
7. Trot on a circle, tracking to the right. When it feels good going to the right, change directions and track to the left. Periodically reevaluate how well your horse is moving, how well you can feel him, and how strong and correct your position is.
This exercise makes you aware of where the horse’s impulsion comes from. You always want the horse to work from his hind legs and move forward from his hindquarters. The more you can get him working through his topline, the more comfortable and relaxed he will become. Moving forward correctly will also keep him sounder longer. If you develop a feel for riding a horse lightly while he is working correctly, soon that will become the norm. Then you will always ride with that feeling as your goal.
📎 Read the second exercise at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2020/11/19/developing-lightness-and-feel-exercises-from-geoff-teall/
