In this clinic with Olympic show jumper Anne Kursinski, she challenges participants to ride with knotted reins and without stirrups for a steadier hand position and more consistent connection on the flat. Additionally, riding with a knot in your reins will improve your position and change the balance of your horse, while riding sans irons will improve the effectiveness of your leg aids.

After reviewing Krusinski’s tips, get out of your comfort zone and try incorporating these exercises into your flatwork.

Knot Up Your Reins and Drop Your Irons

“To avoid getting too busy with your hands and to learn how to use them as a pair, we’re going to tie a knot in our reins. You want the knot fairly short but push it forward, so you can position your hands in front of it as we go to ride.

“We’re doing this to make you conscious of the feeling you want in your hands—they should be a continuation of the reins—and this will help you feel your horse’s mouth a little more consistently. It will also help prevent your hands from getting a little wide or having a funny outside, opening rein. Instead, it will help you keep your hands together while your seat and legs keep your horse straight.

“Your horse feels everything—if you’re afraid; if you’re confident; if your mind is on something else like an upcoming exam or work deadline. Riding with a knot in our reins and without stirrups will show you just how important your position is and improve your focus and your aids, partly because it gets you out of your comfort zone. When you’re out of your comfort zone, you learn how to do things differently.

“Riding with knotted reins will also teach you to carry your hands more out in front of you, ride with a deeper seat and better follow your horse’s motion and it helps you become more supple in your arms. Plus, it teaches you to better communicate with your horse and be more succinct in your aids.

“Next, we’re also going to drop our stirrups while tracking left and ask for a little neck bend to the left, so think left hand toward your right hip to bring your horse’s head around toward your left stirrup. But as you do this, your horse should stay out on the track.

“Straighten again, and then ask for a little right neck bending, so right hand toward your left hip and then straighten again. You want to maintain that feeling of having your hands open in front of the withers with your elbows in front of your hips. You don’t want them back in your lap. So, as we’ve been walking without stirrups, you can feel how you really need to use your legs to ask them to bend through their ribcage.

“Now, pick up your stirrups and go on in posting trot and let’s ask for the left bend again. Your horse might resist a little bit, but he will eventually give to it with steadier contact. Let’s circle left and try to keep that feeling of using both reins and not abandoning the outside rein. As you get stronger and your flatwork improves, you’ll develop a better feel for inside rein to outside hip.

“Next, sit the trot and drop your stirrups. Bring your body back to the vertical and bend left again and then circle while asking your horse to accept the contact.”

Working Canter

“As we practice the working canter, close your leg and deepen your seat. Then halt, and go back to working canter. Your horse must learn to go forward, come back right away and then go forward again. As you strive to improve your flatwork, you’re getting a sense of how your horse is responding and how you’re responding so you’ll be prepared to jump. If things aren’t going great on the flat, they’re probably not going to get better over fences.

“Next, we’re going to drop our stirrups again and focus on clear communication as you practice working canter to halt transitions. Really focus on improving your transitions to help your horse use his back, stifles and hocks better and not just fall onto the forehand.

“This is such good practice to get into the habit of. When your horse responds quickly to your aids, he’s using his body better and is more fun to ride. If you just kick and pull and the reaction is delayed, you’re basically training him to do that. When you consistently ask for and get better transitions, you’ll find better awareness and your aids will become lighter.

“Riding with knotted reins and no stirrups will help your position become much more powerful because you’ll learn how to feel your hands positioned in your seat and back and your legs up into your seat and back. Then, you can learn to recreate this position with your irons and normal reins.”

Read more with Anne Kursinski here.