The Balanced Horse: The AIDS by Feel, Not Force

This book is about developing that perfect understanding which is so important in our riding relationships. Whether you practice dressage, hack, event, show, enjoy long distance riding, natural horsemanship or Western, the improvement of your horse through an understanding of his language, should allow him greater ability, confidence and enjoyment in all your work together. The Language of the Aids is not as well understood today as it should be and it seems that it is frequently forgotten or fragmented, and it will be the horse that suffers most when this happens. Incorrect aiding can have a very adverse effect. The aim of The Balanced Horse is to confirm in people’s minds what they should be doing for each and every request, and what they must avoid. Every instruction is based on what the horse needs to feel–at that moment in time. Each aid is based on the psychological and physiological effect placed on that sensitive animal underneath us. Over time, applying each aid correctly can elicit a response in a horse’s body as instant and involuntary as the knee jerk reaction in our own.