07/30/2025
Contact and Connection: Two concepts that go hand and hand, but are vastly different.
The third step on the Training Pyramid is Contact. A horse that willing accepts and "takes" the contact can start using their body biomechanically correct. This is why our stretchy trot and free walk movements are double scored at the lower levels. The horse's desire to stretch long and low into the contact is paramount. At this stage in training, the rider should feel a steady pull equally on both reins. I find this confuses students, as they think if the horse is "light" they should feel nothing in their hands. If you feel nothing, your horse is evading the contact.
Connection, however, is the idea that the entire horse's body is connected BACK TO FRONT. The hind legs push energy over the horse's topline which travels through the poll and into the mouth before being recycled by the rider through the contact with the reins.
These 2 pictures are moments apart, but show very different moments. This is Muffin! The 1st picture shows me opening up my inside rein to allow her shoulders to come around the circle. At this point in her training, she tends to have a tense neck & back. A lot of riders will think that because "her nose is in" that this is correct. No. No. No. No. No. She is NOT accepting of the additional contact I put on the rein. Her back is dropped and her body is not connected.
The 2nd picture is more correct. She is trying to stretch outward and you can see this by following the line of energy along the top of her neck. This would be an appropriate stretch for the medium walk at her level of training.
