Rein contact
Learning to establish and maintain a correct rein contact is one of the big difficulties we encounter in learning how to ride. One of the reasons is that every novice initially thinks the rein contact is an issue between the rider's hand and the horse's mouth. As long as the student applies this approach, he will be unable to establish a good contact.
In reality, the issue is much wider than that. Contact goes beyond rein contact and encompasses the horse’s entire body and the rider’s entire body. The horse's entire spinal column has to stretch into the bit that the rider's hand presents. And the horse's mind has to seek the contact.
In addition, the rider’s hands can only be steady, light, and independent, if they are anchored by the core muscles, like the branches of a tree are anchored by the tree trunk and the roots. Without this support of the rider’s body the hands will always be stiff and heavy, and the effect of their aids will be limited to the horse’s mouth. They get stuck in the poll, the throat latch, or the neck.
The horse must be freed of all stiffness in his body, and false bends anywhere in his body must be prevented. One could even define connection as the result of the absence of stiffness (energy blockages) and false bends (energy leaks).
