RegularEnglish

The English horse on contact. There is a slight tension on the rein created by the horse who “seeks the bit”. The horse is not pulling, nor is the rider. Notice the straight line from the rider’s elbow to the bit, which will keep the bit comfortably resting in the horse’s mouth. When this straight line from elbow to bit is broken by the rider putting her hands low (and usually tipping forward onto the horse’s shoulder), the pressure of the bit will be unpleasant to the horse and often causes him to shorten his back, thus pulsing the poll up and back instead of forward down. Notice that in this image the horse has rounded the neck slightly into an “on the aids” position, and the poll would still be pulsing forward and down.