👐 Good hands that make sense to horses...
Hi all, I'm happy to be home, was out all day again today. Definitely gonna be in bed by 9pm tonight 😅
In the last ' Observations in the Field' post, we talked about feet and how our footwork quietly shapes clarity and/or confusion.
Today, I would like to talk about hands.
Good horseman’s hands are not busy. They’re not grabby, poking, pulling, or pushing.
👉 They’re:
- quiet
- listening
- consistent
- patient
- able to wait
- AND close slowly and open quickly
And that’s not easy, because as humans, we’re wired the opposite way.
From the moment we’re born, we grab. We pull ourselves up. We poke to explore. We push to get a response. That’s how we survive and learn.
But horses know this about us. They feel it in:
- rushed corrections
- constant adjustments
- gripping instead of guiding
- hands that act before the horse has time to answer
When our hands are always doing, the horse has no space to think. And when there’s no thinking, there can be no true softness.
Good hands don’t force slowness, they allow it.
They give the horse time to:
- process
- respond
- offer something back
This is why developing good hands is often less about learning what to do…and more about learning what not to do.
Just like with our feet, our hands are always communicating, even when we think they’re not.
Curious to hear your thoughts:
What awareness's and changes have you had to implement into your hands to get to you to your next best level?
Adding to that, what do you need to learn/unlearn, to get to the next level after that...?
Zoë 🐴✨🫶
8
8 comments
👐 Good hands that make sense to horses...
powered by
skool.com/get-good-with-horses-by-zoe-8404
Get good with horses through understanding, feel, and honest practice — a hands-on horsemanship space for becoming your horse’s hero.
🐴✨🫶
Suggested communities
Powered by