Today, I'm talking about active and passive riding. Do you know if you are doing too much or not enough when riding? A rider who doesn't know how to ride may be in a defensive position and not doing enough. A rider using all available aids may be doing too much and making the horse unhappy. In this episode, I talk about these concepts and finding the neutral middle ground using active tension. I also talk about finding your seat and independent movement from the horse. Show Notes [00:40] Are you an active or a passive rider? Are you doing too much or not enough? [01:07] Imagine a teeter totter with too much on one side and not enough on the other. The middle is the neutral position or a non-disturbing connection. [01:34] Connection is hidden inside the active and passive rider conversation. [02:13] When it comes to connection, we can also be doing too much or not enough. [02:47] A rider who doesn't know how to ride will not be doing enough. [03:31] Another extreme would be a rider doing too much and using all of the aids all of the time, so the horse does not feel a release. [04:06] A sign of this could be the horse looking very unhappy. [04:51] The reason I want you to think about how active or passive you are when riding is because you have to have a version of positive tension to get to the neutral position. [06:40] When doing riding exercises, we need to be able to return to a neutral state. [09:39] A full release doesn't have to be that we take away all of the aids from the horse because then we would take away all of their support and communication. [09:56] If we end up too far on the other side of the teeter-totter, we interfere with the horse. [10:25] In a free walk, a horse is supposed to be marching forward. You really have to pay attention to your aid to ride this maneuver. [11:55] You have to go back and forth between active and neutral and adjust the pressure in your legs and put the intention in your body. [12:49] My mom and I used to ride bareback trail riding. When I started using my western saddle, it would make my knees hurt. I blamed it on the saddle, but then I realized this was because I was collapsing on the horse and moving to the passenger side. Riding bareback requires tension. [14:52] I retrained my body to be more active when I'm trail riding which will intuitively be better for my horses. [15:23] One of the first things you need to find when you are riding is an independent seat. Try carrying a glass of water or an egg in a spoon and see if you can ride with your hands staying independent of the movement of the horse. Links and Resources: How Clear Intention Leads to Clear Aids and Prompt Results

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