I like that my students all seem to ride because they genuinely like horses. I like that my students have compassion for their mounts, and want to make sure they are treated with consideration.

On the flip-side though, this sometimes leads to riders being overly passive, wishy-washy, or ineffective.

Being effective doesn't mean being cruel, but it does mean setting a reasonable expectation for the horse, and being consistent and clear about that expectation.

Effective = clarity

It is important when riding at any level, to consider how horses learn: they don't learn by reading books, listening to me yammer in the middle of the arena, or watching youtube, they learn through trial and error. So if the horse gets a push to get going, and the rider does nothing when the horse doesn't go, then the horse is learning that the push to get going is meaningless. If the rider uses the same intensity of aids repeatedly in hopes the horse will for some reason decide to respond differently to the same command, then the rider is just reinforcing the lack of response. Riders also have a tendency of allowing their positions and aids to get ugly before using a crop. Do you think the horse likes being kicked or having the rider fall back on their kidneys?

It makes far more sense for this process to take place:
1- Rider squeezes legs to ask horse to trot. Horse stares off into space and doesn't so much as flick an ear.
2- Rider realizes they don't have the horse's attention, so takes a bit more contact, and bumps the horse with their leg to ask them to trot. Horse now flicks an ear, and speeds up the walk.
3- Rider notices the horse is now listening, but still not responding correctly, so asks again quietly with the legs, but adds the additional cue of a cluck/tap with the crop or such. Horse sighs, then trots.
4- Rider reinforces the aids for the transition by trying the transition again after half a lap. Again the rider asks nicely with the legs, and this time the horse listens. Subsequent transitions go equally well.

As opposed to this:

1- Rider asks the horse to trot by squeezing with the legs. Horse stares into space and doesn't so much as flick an ear.
2- Rider asks again for the horse to trot . Horse yawns. Repeat 3 times.
3- Rider is tired of asking for the trot, so lets horse walk a bit hoping I don't notice. Horse's eyes droop and horse has labeled rider as a push over.
4- Rider sees me watching so gives horse a big cowboy kick, which does get the horse trotting, but the big cowboy kick has thrown them off balance, so they fall back in the saddle roughly, and the horse (sensibly) goes back to walk with ears pinned and glaring at me in the middle.
5- Finally the rider uses the crop to get the horse trotting by lightly tapping the horse or even the saddle (as horses respond to threats well) and horse trots off. Each subsequent transition takes the same 5 steps, and the horse gets grouchier and grouchier about step 4.

So in the first example the horse gets one tap of the crop, learns to respond to the correct aids and that it needs to pay attention to its attentive rider. With the second example the horse is actually punished for trotting (by the rider loosing their balance by kicking) and so needs to be threatened into trotting for each transition and so the whip is used multiple times.

Which do you think is the kinder method of riding?

Karen