 I wanted to talk a little bit about aiding horses and the timing of our aides. So many times I see people holding their leg, holding the rain, or even holding their lower back and seat. When we do that, we are locking our horses up. If we shorten or tense our muscles, they most certainly are tensing theirs. The feet work very much in a swinging motion. In fact, the whole body of the horse works in a swinging motion. The head and neck bobs up and down and side to side. The horse's barrel swings left to right. Of course the hind legs swing forward to back, but everything is swinging. So why would we hold our aides? As I turn, I'll get a feel for his outside foreleg. And as it starts to break over, come off the ground just before it leaves, maybe I turn a little bit with my outside thigh, maybe a little outside rain. I definitely want to look at where I'm going. If I turn to the left, I want to feel his right foreleg stepping across, making the turn. And at first, I'm not extremely particular. I just want to feel swing. And I want to feel the horse start to turn loose and free his feet up. See his ears pick up. And if I look to the left, I want to see his left ear come to the left. And then if I look straight ahead, I want to see his ears go straight ahead. The motion of the head is much less. It's more just steady motion because now he's working with a diagonal pair of legs, always having two legs on the ground at one point. So we lose much of that swinging motion that we had at the walk. But as I trot, I start to look and I'd like to see him look where I'm focused. So in essence, he's just going where I'm looking. Now if I post fast, I'd like him to pick up his tempo or speed and trot fast. If I post slower, I would like him to take his tempo and match mine and slow down. His left ear should hook around here and his right ear will start to ride forward. As I'm posting and looking, I'm keeping track of the tempo or the speed of the trot. Every time I rise up, I might think to myself, trot, trot, trot. I'm going to exhale, breathe into my seat, and now my motion of my lower back or Croyt's aids lower back and seat is now swinging front to back. In contrast trotting, I'm very much up and down, lengthening my head up, sitting up towards the clouds. We're going to take this two-beat trot rhythm and we're going to take it to four beats. Here we go, breathe into the saddle, and now we're walking along. I'm feeling the outside front leg. Very interesting is the horse's head and neck tells us when they're ready to make the turn with their outside foreleg, they literally will point with their head and neck when they're ready to make the turn. His head will bob down right, right when his left front leg is ready to break over. He'll tell me when it's time to turn. In a straight line, his head will bob up and down and side to side evenly. Making a left turn, his nose will bob down left, down to the left. Right turn, his head will bob down to the right, swinging, swinging, swinging. Now let's trot. We go up, we lift our head up. In my mind I think trot, trot. If I were to leg yield, I would swing it. I wouldn't hold my rain aides, I wouldn't hold my leg aides because I'm only going to create tension in myself and in the horse. Everything is a swing. When I walk, I'll give the rain and my hips will swing and I will breathe. When I trot, I'll come up, sit up. Changing the trot, same thing. I still stress the upward motion of my body and I think to myself, one, two, one, two, one, two. Walking, I breathe into the saddle, changing the motion of my seat. So can you ride your horse in such a way where you're swinging everything instead of holding everything and taking away, taking the horse's bend or taking the rain and thus taking the horse's balance? Can you ride your horse in such a way where you're giving more than you're taking? We are riding a three beat rhythm and the song in my mind is now canter, canter, canter. As the head lifts up, it would be possible for me to start posting and think trot in my mind. Up to canter, my inside seat bone is offset up forward. I slightly take the lead myself without being exaggerated. It's a song, make it even as you ride. Push the rain forward, lifting the lower rib or where the sternum and the ribs meet in the middle trying to keep that up and not collapsing like this. As I walk, I breathe into my seat, changing the motion of my seat, my pelvis, my lower back to a back forward position. Trotting is up down, cantering is an offset seat. After a canter round or even some trotting, the horse is looking forward to taking a break. So here I work on the ears, the eyes directing his focus. I'm not just riding the horse in his feet, I'm riding his attention, I'm riding his ears. Then we ride his left ear back and his right ear forward and maybe take it to sort of a pivot to a halt. The ear tells you where the horse is looking. The horse is looking usually where they're thinking about going. Being able to direct the ears, I'm directing the eyes, the focus, and ultimately I'm taking that down to the feet, hopefully at a rhythm in a temple that I like, finding a place where I can give aids more than I take my aids because I know that that's a lot easier for the horse.