THE LEG - Introduction
Horses are not born with little accelerators in the ribs so that they run when you press them. It is quite the opposite; when you use your legs for the first time on a horse who has never been ridden before, he tends to slow down or stop and, sometimes, tries to bite your boot!
So the rider’s leg will draw all its power from conditioning. After the horse has been given this conditioning he should never forget it, if the riding has been correct. Should he forget, a stronger action of the leg would not help, as it would not address the problem, which is that he forgot the meaning of the leg action. One then needs to refresh the conditioning.
If I speak to you in Greek and you do not understand me because you do not speak Greek, will you understand me better if I SHOUT? Either the horse understands the leg, or he doesn’t. If he does understand the leg, there is no need to shout, and if he doesn’t understand the leg, it is stupid to shout.
