The Educated Hand with Lindy Townley

As a teacher it is really the last thing you teach, because you can't educate a rider's hand until the base is correct. Until all aspects of the rider - the body, the seat, and the legs - are in the correct position, and until they are riding horses that are well-schooled enough to understand and react to the correct aids, you really can't begin to teach the subtleties of an educated hand. An educated hand is sophisticated and belongs to a rider who knows how to properly give rein aids and how to deal appropriately when the horse is resisting for any number of reasons. You start teaching educated hands at the beginner level by instilling good basics. Teach riders from the start to keep the elbow bent and the hands the same width apart as the horse's mouth. At the lower levels especially, it is essential to teach…