Hi,
I have just briefly looked at your comments and I will add
some clarifications. You must recognize the difference between cues and aids.
People took the term aid from old books and use it instead
of the word cue. People today ride with cues not with aids. I have yet to see a
rider that is living and uses aids. The same difference is in riding a horse or
riding on the horse. The riding the horse requires aids; the riding on the horse
requires cues. You both ride on the horse.
Please do not take it the wrong way,
but if you did not have a teacher that would give you foundation for it, you
have nothing to build on and since there is so much to learn your chances to
find it are very slim, or better said non-existent, especially if you spend only
one hour riding per day with fairly limited number of horses. In addition you
also need horses that would show to you how to ride them, not how to ride on
them and there not too many of those either. Hence I am saying one must have the
deep seat to be able to ride the horse and without at least four hours of riding
several horses per day this cannot be done. People today are not sitting in
horses they are sitting on them that is the fundamental difference.
When one truly rides a horse there are no limits to it. On
the other hand when one rides the horse via cues there are limitation set by the
horses ability to distinguish one from the other. In addition the combination of
the elements around and the horse’s constant anticipation, it can be quite a
mess sometimes. On the other hand the riding the horse eliminates the
anticipation factor of the horse to zero and the influence of the outside
elements is significantly dulled.
Talented horse will manage about 15 - 25 words
and cues combined, while the average horse about 10 - 15. A good dog on the
other hand can handle almost fifty. One could say that a dog can handle a
vocabulary of fifty words. However that is pushing it, hence a good dog trainer
will divide them into sound cues and sight cues (hearing seeing). The limits of
the true riding of a horse are not set by the horse but by the rider, while the
cue style riding is limited by the capacity of the horse to differentiate and
then associate various cues with responses. Both riding styles are of course a
subject to the physical ability of the horse to perform required work or task.
I’ve done
both types of riding since I’ve ridden for many trainer in different places
and countries and as a professional rider (employee) I did what I was told, to
ride in any style, any type of horse in any type of equipment and environment,
and some places and situations were down outright insane. (Professional riders
ask no questions, they do what they are told and they get it done). Mostly I
trained horses to go for cues, because they could not be sold or ridden by other
riders if trained to aids.
The horses that I’ve genuinely ridden were far too
few, because once when introduced to the horse the horse will tend to refuse
other riders that cannot truly ride, no matter the age of the horse. For the
interest of the horse and his well being it is impractical to accustom the horse
to be ridden as in giving aids, because he will be looking not just for guidance
but also for help. Aid is help! Cue is prompt! One can hardly help a horse if he
is hanging there for a dear life, or pulling on the horse’s mouth, trying to
influence his balance or interferes with the horse’s motion. Hence the
foundation of a genuine rider is the seat, thus the seat article is also the
foundation article of several articles that will help to clarify and show the
differences between riding the horse and riding on the horse.
Ps; Serving one self is an accomplishment if that makes him more productive. Only then he can be of use to other life. Horse is one of those instruments that could make a man more productive, but most just become consumers due to self-interests and pride. A reason will hardly guide a man to the truth, but the truth makes always sense and never changes, while opinions do.
Written by Ludvik K Stanek a.k.a Lee Stanek