LB: Aids

Aids

So you're asking, what on earth are aids? Like the virus, what does that have to do with riding?
In riding, aids are what you use to communicate with the horse. You can use natural aids, or artificial aids.

NATURAL AIDS

You have four natural aids. They are your hands, your voice, your wieght(seat), and your legs.

You use your hands on the riens. They can tell the horse things like slow down, listen to me, prepare for a transition, do a transition, etc.

Your voice is used to give "voice commands" and praise. Many horses like voice commands when you are telling them what to do, and they actually learn words like canter, trot, and walk. And of course all horses like praise, so use it lots! *g*

You can use your wieght to tell the horse many things, because horses are so sensitive to wieght shifts, etc. You can tell them stop, turn, etc all using your wieght!

Your legs are for commands like go(any ammount of it). You have to be careful with them, though, because if you get on a strange horse he may need different ammounts of legs than the horses you regularly ride. As you advance more in riding, you also use your legs to tell the horse to bend and stay balanced on two tracks.

All together your natural aids should be able to tell the horse any thing, but you do have to be careful that you don't abuse your horse. You may not know it, but you can be abusing your horse when you don't think you are, by misusing your aids. To tell your horse to do one thing, for example make a circle, you should be using all your aids. Try to make sure you are using them all, because too many people ruin horses mouths by just pulling on the riens!

ARTIFICIAL AIDS
Artificial aids are designed to aid your natural aids. A lot of people think they are bad, they think it may be abusing your horse. But if artificial aids are used correctly, they are not abusive. Just be sure you get help from a trainer or expierienced horseperson before using artificial aids.
Some examples of artificial aids are crops, whips, and spurs. Martingales are also a debatable artificial aid.
All three can be used to sensitize your horse. Sensitizing is getting your horse to listen to your leg again. If your horse does not respond within about a second to your leg command, use your artificial aids quickly and firmly. Your horse should move into an upward transition immediately, and it should only take one use of the crop/whip/spurs. Once your horse has gone at this gait for a few strides, do a downward transition to the previous gait. Now try again. Use your legs first, and if that doesn't work, use your crop/whip/spurs, just like before. Keep doing this until the horse will do the transition a few times in a row without the use of the artificial aids.
Please make sure if you have spurs you are not accidentaly poking your horse with them every time you use your legs!! Also make sure if you carry a whip/crop, you do not accidentaly hit the horse with it ever! This is why you should have supervision the first few times you use artificial aids.

USING YOUR AIDS
You can use your aids to tell your horse to do anything you want. The aids for some basic commands (half-halt, halt, canter, and circle) are described below. If you are a more advanced rider and have already learned some about your aids, you may use the processes described below. If you are just starting to learn about aids, you should ask your instructor for help, because you will not be able to coordinate all these aids with proper timing.
To ask your horse to half-halt, you just need to briefly hold the horse in place with your aids. This tells the horse to keep listening to you, there may be more commands coming up. You use a half-halt before you perform many lateral movements. To perform the half-halt, sit tall and deep and stop following with your hands (ie hold them in place). Your seat bones should be even. Your legs should be on, pushing your horse forward as you hold with your other aids. This prevents them from losing the forward momentum or doing a downward transition by mistake. Be careful that your half-halt is not too long, or you may get a downward transition. Half-halts may be performed at any gate.
To ask your horse to halt, you need to stop your hands and seat from following, close your fingers, sit deep and tall, and breath out. The most important thing to remember as an advanced rider when halting is to keep your legs on. If you do not maintain your legs as you come down into the halt, your horse will not bring his hind end under himself, and therefore will not be able to move into a forward gait when you ask him to move again.
Asking your horse to canter can be tricky until you get the hang of it. Many horses will pick up the canter if you use incorrect aids, but some will not, and using the correct aids makes your canter departs much better quality. Before you ask for the canter you should perform a half-halt and make sure your horse is bent around your inside leg. Now sit up tall (don't hunch your shoulders), hold with your hands to avoid "dropping" your horse into the canter, move your inside leg about 5 inches behind the girth and squeeze with it.
When you ask your horse to circle, your inside hand keeps their attention, your outside hand is your brakes, your inside leg pushes the horse outward into your outside hand and creates the bend, and your outside leg keeps the horse from falling the outside. Your seat bones should remain centered as you circle.