Contact, to the average rider, seems to refer only to the contact through the rein, but really, contact is communication with your horse and the rein is just one form of that communication. There are a couple of other points of contact, being your hips and seat, your legs through your thigh and calf, and your heel and foot.

Your hands communicate messages such as slow, turn, and flex to your horse. When the horse responds to your request, you respond with a reward, or a pause in which your horse finds freedom. Unsteady hands are like background noise that drowns out your signal.

What is it and how can it help horses and riders? Riders train horses to act in ways they deem positive, whether it’s jumping a jump, walking down a trail, or performing movements in an arena. But to train horses effectively and safely, riders, trainers, and coaches must understand how they learn and react. Over the past 15 years, equine scientists have researched the learning theory of horses — how horses process, retain knowledge, and learn. Equitation science applies this evidence-based learning theory of horses to horse training, and explains horse behaviour based on horses being horses – without attributing human emotions, ways of thinking, or behaviour, to them. It’s a burgeoning field that is changing the way many riders and trainers think and act.

With Lee Tubman - The simplest, most effective exercise to improve the horse's rhythm and balance, and thus improve the gaits themselves, is the half halt. A correctly ridden half halt encourages the hind legs to step further underneath the horse’s body.