Balancing Your Leg & Hand Aids – Speed Control Exercise at the Walk

5.49 minutes – In this video John talks through how to use hand and leg contact to control the horses speed at the walk. This is a simple exercise John does to teach the horse to accept hand and leg pressure equally and to teach them the appropriate response to hand and leg aids. John wants the horse to walk forward with consistent rhythm and to keep a fifty-fifty balance between leg and hand pressure. The idea is to get the horse to give to the bridle, soften at the poll and soften their back while they learn to accept and relax when he rides his legs to his hands.