Have you ever thought of NOT kicking your horse to make it go, or go faster?

Trying to start a flamewar?

Horses can feel a fly landing on their skin: they don't need to be "kicked" in order to go. Most horses, in fact, will leave town if you kick them - and without you! A gentle squeeze, a touch, sometimes all you have to do is move your hands forward.

As for the "looser reigns" comment...

Different disciplines require different rein contact. Many western sports ride with no contact (a loose rein) - it doesn't get any looser than that! Many english sports ride with contact meaning you are touching your horse's mouth. Just touching, not pulling. Pulling would cause the horse to stop, fuss, and (in extreme cases) rear. When you ask the horse to perform an action, you ask first with a shift of your weight and second with light rein pressure (think like a weak handshake).

So, really... are you trolling? Because good riders don't kick, hit, or otherwise abuse their horses. And you sound quite ignorant when suggesting that good riding is somehow a bad thing.

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Sorry, didn't mean to jump your s***! Thought you weren't being serious....

Horses at a riding school tend to become insensitive because of the quality of the riders. They learn to ignore people becoming out of balance and flopping around, pulling, kicking, and otherwise giving incorrect cues. This is a good thing - can you imagine a raw beginner (or a child) sitting on a horse and getting left behind - they fall behind the motion and bounce on the horse's back, grab the reins and hit their mouth, panic and clench with their legs to stay on... well broke school horses will flick an ear at them and just keep on trucking.

Private horses tend to be a little more sensitive - they don't have to put up with different riders of different levels on them all the time. You have a chance to teach your horse how you want them to respond to what cues. For example, if I push my hands forward, my gelding will move faster (from walk to trot, and with a touch of my outside leg to tell him what lead to grab, from trot to canter). If I breath out and sink into my seatbones, he'll slow down to a walk. It all depends on the training level of the horse.

i work with alot of rescues. so kicking, hitting and jerking their head around is a BIG NO NO. but i also work with horses who have never been abused in anyway. i dont kick my horses, use crops, whips, or spurs. the only thing i use a longe whip or carrot stick for is an extension of my hand that lets them know to keep moving off it. thats what you teach them cues for. the lighter your hands are- the more responsive your horse will be. the lighter your legs are- the more responsive your horse will be. i do not use kicking as a cue, but as a disciplinary action- which i do not use often. people who think that kicking or beating your horse or using spurs is the only way you make it go- shouldnt be allowed to ride. you should take time to evaluate the fact that horses do not reason like people, and so if they're confused- hitting them will only make them more confused and probably scared. when its something new, you need to have patience and understanding that it is something unfamiliar to the horse and they need time to absorb the information you're trying to give them.

besdies, everyone needs to remember that you cant MAKE a horse do anything. you've got to ask clearly and directly what you want them to do- chances are if the horse isnt responding you arent asking correctly so try something else,also you can't manhandle it- you wont succeed because it weights about 1000 lbs more than you. also- remember that THEY CAN KICK BACK. and they kick a whole lot harder than any person could.

Yeahhhh... only bad riders actually kick. Good riders squeeze. A squeeze is just pressure. It doesn't hurt at all- like if someone gives you a hug. It's probably about the same amount of pressure. Doesn't hurt the horse at all, it's just a signal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2bnnwXNIAY

See any of those riders kick? Of course not- they're advanced riders who know how to communicate effectively by subtle leg movements. Sounds like you are misinformed about the correct way to ride a horse. Nobody should ever kick, and trainers who tell you to kick usually don't mean "kick", they mean "tight squeeze".

As for loosening the reins to get the horse faster... that doesn't make any sense! If you did that, you'd get a horse who would run away if you accidentally lost grip of the reins or you had to drop the reins to shorten your stirrups or something.

This is an interesting question.

And i guess the answer is that we all ride differently with different training techniques and different ideas. I have an appy gelding i have to ride in spurs simply because he is sooo lazy, but then i have a tb gelding who i only have to tighten my bum muscles and he moves forward because he is so full of energy, so it also comes down to the horse... i think every one is entitled to their opinion, obviosly you should never inflict pain on a horse, but the level of pain threshold for every horse is also different...

this really is a touchy subject as some people believe any exertion of energy on the horse is harsh, however a mare will kick her foal to teach it manners, and a stallion will strike out at a young colt to teacher him who is boss, so yes horses are used to physical repremand, but again who is to say what is too much or not enough...

Well not me (yet) but my friend did. There was this evil horse at out barn. I'm not kidding, she was mean for no reason even if you didn't do anything to her. She was well trained, not unhappy, not spoiled and would hurt people out of the blue. My friend was putting another horse away who went outside with her, and all of a sudden the horse comes over, purposely pushes my friend into the fence so she couldn't escape, and kicks her. My friend kind of turned, so the horse only hit her thigh. She didn't need stitches afterward, but she had a bruise in the shape of a horse shoe!

I use my leg and I do kick my horse. This is after a give her a verbal command, then a squeeze, and then I give her a light kick. I give her chances to go but she needs to listen. I never use whips or spurs on her however and my kicks are never ever cruel.

I ride off the leg because it is better than pulling on my horse's mouth. She is perfectly happy with the system.

u can use you seat (which is you hips and move them with the rythem of the horse while pushing forwad) and squeezing with you kneesthis will atomaticall make you legs touch the horses sides it is up 2 u how much pressure you use and legs which is not kicking the horse u can also relax through you hand and reins when you feel the power from the hind end come underneth you ( basicall this means when the horse instanly moves fowrad from you leg the momentyou ask them 2) this takes all the tesion out from the mouth

but when you want them to slow down or stop you have to bring back the tension which is pull very slightly and leaning back a little but not 2 much

Ok. To start you have over 25 answers. All varying from rude, stupid, to plain ignorant, with the occasional person who actually knows what in the world they are talking about.

Next. I have rode everything from lesson horses to race horses. Most lesson horses, yes learn to ignore certain movements, but they also "read" the rider. I have never had problems getting a lesson horse to go. They knew I knew HOW to ride, there fore listened. Race horses, you don;t kick, kicking says move over to them. "Let's go"=speed.

I personally fox hunt (old european style..red coats..dogs...jumps, ect, NO WE DON'T KILL FOR FUN! It's tradition.) I have two horses, a 6 y/o appaloosa that I did not break, she is lazy. Yes I kick. Yes I use spurs. Yes, when needed I bust her butt with a whip.

My 2 y/o paint filly, I did everything EXCEPT break to ride, a friend did. I don;t & WON'T use spurs on. She doesn't need them, & she never will. I want to show her in reining, so I ride with a loose rein. When I want speed, I bump her with my seat, & put my hand further up her neck a little. She understands this. When I want to slow down, I sit back, & pick my rein back up. If I want to stop, I sit deep, & pull my reins up & back a little. If she doesn't stop I bump her mouth. I ride with a simple curb bit, & she is fine.

Most beginning rider's understand what they observe in riding....kick=go, pull=stop. It is not their fault they do not know. That is why they take lessons...on lesson horses.

Reining horses are the most sensitive in my opinion, every rider who is serious should take atleast 1 reining lesson just to understand how sensitive a horse can be, how well they respond.

If you're riding properly, then using leg aids should not hurt the horse. I hate the word kick, because kids are taught that and think it means booting them. Horses can feel a fly land on them, so there's no need for pain in 'traditional' riding if the rider has enough tact to do it properly.

My mare can walk, trot, canter, and stop with just a voice command. I lean forward a little to speed her up and lean back a little to slow down. I can also cluck to make her go faster and say "whoop" to make her slow down. The only time I kick her is when she's absolutely refusing to go forward, which very rarely even happens. The only riders who kick all the time are beginners and bad riders.

I agree with you... I think a lot of people ride with too-tight reins. I don't know why you think squeezing is bad, though...