105 RIDE VERBATIM: The 4 NATURAL AIDS

Use the voice as the first natural aid to teach the horse the words walk, trot, canter and whoa, then link sounds to felt cues for invisible guidance.

Discover how the seat's weight and engagement drive the two hindquarter forces, creating weight aid, carry, and the leg-at-the-girth aid to activate going.

Defines carrying power, thrust, engagement, and forward, showing how hindquarters and weight govern thrust, adjust trajectory, and set a horse on a determined line of travel.

Explore how the seat's weight informs and adjusts the hindquarters' joint angles, using unilateral, bilateral, and level weight to guide straight, uphill movement without pressure.

Explore how the four natural aids: bridal, click, engage, and weight are uniform cues applied to the hindquarters to promote consistent, heartfelt submission.

Master how leg aids at the girth and behind the girth guide a horse, engaging hindquarters and prompting sideways movement away from the leg behind the girth.

Place the leg at the girth, not the ankle or foot, and use it to signal carry and go by activating the hind legs together.

Calibrate and refine leg aids through isolating each side, teaching the horse to respond instantly and precisely, and increase the tune rather than detune the horse.

Isolate the inside hindquarter by using the rider’s inside leg at the girth, one step at a time from a full halt, ensuring discreet, separate aids.

Master the turn on the forehand by riding the square to isolate the hindquarters, using leg at the girth with deliberate weight placement.

Learn how the leg-behind-the-girth aid repositions the haunches or shifts the whole horse onto a new line of travel, using a slight, not excessive, behind-the-girth cue.

Develop a well trained hand by learning how the bit conveys sensations to the horse, teaching him to follow the bit through the leading rain, opening rain, and bearing.

Learn to use the opening rein and bearing rain to guide the horse's forehand, with the inner ring guiding the outer for power steering and coordinated movement.

Calibrates the aids by isolating hindquarters and the forehand through turns from the halt, proving their effects before combining them for precise horse training.

Conclude that natural aids require discreet, successive use of the seat, hands, and the bit; never simultaneous, and practice turn on the forehand to develop one-sided engagement.

Master the equitation language by applying the four natural aids—voice, seat with weight, leg, and hand—and align hindquarters and forehand to line of travel for straight and curved riding.

Train by the book using pearls of wisdom and proven instructions from the bookshelf, then verify principles without reading every book.

Master blue straight lines and pink curved lines to train horses with sighted, mapped line work, using purple angles for carrying power and green arcs for thrust.