Good hands: the answer to better riding
Good hands are the difference between a good rider and a great rider. Achieving good hands is a journey and an area in riding that can continually be improved even in the most upper level of elite riders.
The better your hands are, the better your communication with your horse will be and the happier your horse will be to work for you. The hands form the connection to our horses mouth; a good connection puts you in the driver's seat and makes a nice harmony between horse and rider.
To talk about the riders' hands, we have to first lay out the general riding position rules and pitfalls that happen for many riders in this area of their position.
Let’s look first at the fundamentals of good hand position.
Thumbs on top
Wrists straight
Fingers closed
Holding the reins correctly
Thumbs on top: The orientation of your hands should be with the thumbs as the highest point; thumbs on top. The wrists are facing each other . When we turn our thumbs toward each other and with the palms and wrists facing the ground it is often referred to as riding with “piano hands”. If you’re riding with “piano hands” it locks the bones in your forearm and limits the hinging motion in your elbow to limit the elastic connection between you and your horse. To get an idea of how the hands should be oriented, balance a whip under your thumbs. This is a good exercise to give to students who need continual reminders to carry their hands with thumbs on top.
Wrists straight: Some riders have a habit of curling their wrists, or the opposite; cocking them outward. The wrists should be straight...thumbs on top. We’ll also note here that the hands should not be carried wide open at a far distance from each other. The inside of your wrists should have only about 6”-12” of space between them.
Fingers closed: Riding with the fingers open is a pervasive habit; we see it not only in beginners but often in more advanced riders as well. Good hands should be gentle and tactful to the horse and the open fingers create an artificial sense of lightness. More advanced riders may feel that they are being light on their horse by lightly holding the reins. While you don’t want to hold the reins with all of your might either; you can’t communicate with your horse in any consistent way if the fingers are open. Riders with this habit will struggle to hold onto the reins and the reins will end up constantly slipping through the fingers. In the worst case scenario, fingers open equals broken fingers as it leaves them out there vulnerable to get jammed.
Clamp your thumb down to keep reins in place. The thumb on the rein should be the firmest part of your grip and the rest of your fingers lightly closed. To break the open fingers habit, hold a little rock in each hand. If the rocks fall out, then you know you are riding with open fingers.
Holding the reins: The correct carriage of the reins is with the reins running across the palm of your hand with the reins running between your pinky and ring finger and your thumb on top of the rein. Thumbs form a lock as you press the thumb down onto the top of the rein.
See if you can recognize any of these errors in your riding position:
Open fingers, leaving the pinky and the ring finger off of the reins…
Gently holding the reins between the first and the second finger, trying to be very light on the horse's mouth...
Holding the reins lightly on the tips of the fingers
Holding reins in tight fists. Tension in arms, elbows stiff, tension all the way up to shoulders.
What is the correct spot to carry the hands?
This seems like a straightforward question, but the correct spot to carry your hands is general because we all have different body types. We have different lengths of our arms and our horses are different as well with the length and carriage of their neck.
The following can typically be applied universally to each unique rider body:
You should be carrying your own hands. They shouldn’t be resting down on your horse. Hands should be gently carried, not tense and frozen in place.
Your elbow should be bent (not straight) and just slightly in front of your body. Your upper arm should not be pinned at your sides (this would be too far back). The elbows orientated too far back will limit your pulling power. Likewise, your upper arm and elbow should not be stretched way out in front of your body.
Forearms in a straight line with the horse's mouth. This means that the height that you carry your hands depends on the confirmation of your horse. A very upright headed horse will require you to carry your hands a little higher. On a horse with a very low head carriage they’ll be slightly lower.
A visual example of a “straight line” from the riders elbow to wrist, hand to rein and rein to the horse’s mouth.
Once a rider has established the correct habits in their hands and arm position the journey toward good hands can begin.
The riders hands and arms together are one topic because what is happening with your arms will translate through your hands. For example, hands that are unsteady and bouncing in the trot and canter are often a result of tension through the elbows.
First and foremost regarding arms, you should be riding with bent elbows. The opposite is straight and stiff arms. Also, tightening up all your arm muscles is not the answer to keep your hands still. The rider may be trying to keep their hands quiet by trying to hold them stiffly in place, but this tension will only cause the hands to bounce. Tensing up your back, shoulders or biceps to try to stay still will ultimately cause bouncing because you are on a moving, dynamic horse. The horse is moving underneath you, you are moving, so if you lock up your arms...you will end up with bouncing hands.
Good hands are a combination of relaxed arms and steady hands. Good hands are still and quiet and do not bounce with the rider's motion. Good hands have an elastic, sympathetic connection to the horse's mouth.
As a rider develops, they learn that the elbow plays an important role in developing good hands.
Your elbow needs to move a little bit when you ride. Gaining the ideal “contact” as we often hear about in riding involves allowing your hands to rest a little weight and pressure on your horse's mouth and then “following with your elbow”; relaxing your elbow and upper arm and letting your arms follow and absorb the movement of the gate.
The walk is a great place to practice creating this connection. The horse has a nodding motion with their head in the walk. Practice creating a contact with your horse's mouth in the walk. If you are doing it correctly, there should be a soft tension on the reins and if they slack at any moment, you are losing the contact.
Trot is a more steady gate in that the horse’s head stays steady as they jog along. But as you rise and sit to the trot, if your elbow is locked and it is not hinging in the trot, your hands will “post” up and down with you. When you rise, your elbow should slightly open, when you sit your elbow should slightly close. There is a relaxed motion in the elbow that keeps the hands steady.
The canter is fluid again where the horse has somewhat of a nodding motion in the canter with their head. It is a rocking type of gate, and again your elbow will need to move to allow you to maintain steady hands.
On a final note, you have to improve your seat to make your hands better. There's a quote that says “no seat, no hands''. Your seat needs to act as a shock absorber. If you are losing your balance on the horse, you’ll find that the hands will grip to compensate. This is ultimately punishing your horse’s mouth. The goal is to be balanced and stable and move effectively.
Riding is a journey. Always strive to give your best to your horse!
