When working according to the Academic Art of Riding method developed by Bent Branderup, we strive to ensure that our primary aids in groundwork are the body language, and in the case of riding, the seat. All other aids are secondary and are intended to support our body language or seat, help the horse understand the primary aids if their meaning is not clear. The nomenclature of the aids used in AAoR is the same regardless of whether we do groundwork, lungeing, work on long reins, in hand or from the saddle. Below I present a summary of the secondary aids used in AAoR and I will try to explain their use because I know that many people get confused with it. I wish you a pleasant reading.

Secondary aids:

  • Hand aids understood as hand acting directly on the horse's head through a cavesson or a bit (in the generally used equestrian terminology known as a direct rein). Using hand aids, we can, among others ask the horse to stretch forward down, rebalance it’s body (half-halts and halts), achieve stellning and lateral bending (more about this in the post: https://theartofridingstore.com/gb/blog/news/what-is-it-for-and-how-does-cavesson-work ). Hand aids are also very important during lunging, and with the help of a rope or lunge line we can convey the entire repertoire of signals. When working from the ground, we have a good opportunity to teach the horse reaction to the gentle aids given through the cavesson. We usually start in standstill by asking the horse to stretch forward down, it is important not to pull the horse's head down, but to let him lower his head voluntarily. We can support ourselves in this exercise with treats, encouraging the horse to lower his head to the hand holding a treat. A gentle downward impulse should be enough for the horse to lower its head. From the saddle, the signal to stretch forward down is a giving hand. If we teach the horse to stretch forward down with gentle hand aid, then while leading the horse's head slightly inward, we can ask for stellning and lateral bend, I recommend to start in standstill. It is also a good exercise to test your horse's relaxation and suppleness before further training.

Fig. 1. Hand aid asking the horse for streaching forward down.

  • Rein aids (in the general nomenclature understood as an indirect rein) is acting like a cordeo on the base of the horse's neck and shoulder and allowing to control the position of the horse's front legs. As Bent Branderup writes in the book "Academic Art of Riding: A Riding Method for the Ambitious Leisure Rider": "I never use the bit to turn the horse, since there are no legs that far in the front! There are legs connected to the shoulders, therefore I lead the shoulders between the reins. " Such use of the reins can be compared to using a joystick (while riding according to AAoR, the reins are traditionally held in one hand, so the joystick would be above the withers of the horse, and moving the hand holding both reins would move the shoulders to one side or the other). We distinguish, an inside rein aid that transfers the weight from the inner shoulder to the outer one and serves e.g. to enlarge the circle, and an outside rein aid to e.g. make the circle smaller. In the case of working from the ground, when using a rope or a lunge line, we also refer to the inside or outside reins, but we replace it with the use of a whip at the base of the neck or shoulder where the rein would be.

Fig 2. Whip as an inside rein asking the shoulder to move to the outside.

  • Leg aids – in AAoR there are six types of aids given to the rider's leg.

o Inside leg (or lower leg) as an aid to bend around it and acting on the girth. You can practice this aid even in standing by asking the horse to bend around our lower leg.

o Outside leg (lower leg) as an aid to bend in the opposite direction, acting behind the girth and inviting the haunches inwards. It can also be used while standing.

o The direct leg (or lower leg) encouraging the horse's inner or outer hind leg to step deeper under the it’s body and it’s center of gravity, the impulse should be given when the horse's hind leg leaves the ground.

o The preventing leg prevents the hind leg from being placed sideways from the horse's center of gravity, i.e. if the inside hind leg is placed excessively inward next to the center of gravity, the rider's inner preventing leg may correct the error.

o The framing leg corrects for incorrect positioning of the horse's leg diagonally from the center of gravity. For example: the inside leg is placed outwards from the center of gravity, the outside framing leg may correct this error.

o Collecting leg acts as an aid that shortens the push of a hindleg, encouraging the leg to be lifted earlier which is ultimately leading to the collection.

The leg aids, which are used most often also in groundwork, are the inside and outside leg aids to encourage bending, and the direct inside or outside leg asking for a deeper stepping under. Working from the ground, we replace the aids given by the rider's leg with the whip. Teaching the horse the inside leg aid, we can touch lightly with the whip in the place where the girth would be at the moment when the inner hind leg leaves the ground. Contraction of the horse's abdominal muscles causes the horse's inner hind leg to move more forward and to bend the hip joint even more. This allows for a deeper stepping under to the horse's center of gravity, i.e. the place over which the rider would be sitting. When the horse understands this aid, to achieve lateral bend and better stepping under it’s enough to show him the whip at the inside leg position (we replace tactile aid with visual aid).  The outside leg aid in groundwork is a whip raised diagonally over horse’s back pointing to the outside hip. Initially, you can use a longer whip, e.g. a groundwork whip, or a driving whip, usually 140 cm long and with a hanging lash, which we can use to touch the outer hip of the horse. When the horse understands this aid we can use normal whip pointing to the outside hip to invite the haunches in. Of course we strive to achieve a level of communication in which our body language or seat is enough to convey our intention.

Fig. 3 Whip used as an inside leg, asking the horse for lateral bending and deeper stepping under with the inside hind leg.

Fig. 4 Whip used as an outside leg, inviting the haunches in and encouraging the outside hind leg to step deeper under the horse's center of gravity. 

  • Whip aids – in the Academic Art of Riding we use the whip as an extension of our hand, as a visual aid, and if we touch a horse the touch is gentle. Traditionally, wooden whips are used, made of twigs of various deciduous trees, usually approx. 120 cm long, but of course we can use a different type of whip, according to our needs and preferences. As I wrote earlier, when working from the ground, we can use the whip as an inside or outside rein and as an inside or outside leg. In addition, we can use the whip as a collecting aid by showing it or touching horses croup near the tail base, asking it to lower. The whip can also be used in more advanced exercises, when by touching the horse's hind leg, we can ask for it to leave the ground earlier or to step deeper under. We can also use a which as a preventing aid to slow the horse down or to stop, usually by presenting it in front of the horse's chest. If we do not use the whip at a given moment, we should keep it in a neutral position, preferably outside the horse's field of view, from the saddle it is a vertical position above the horse's withers, and from the ground to the side or backwards.

I hope this summary will be helpful for you and will help you understand the theory related to training according to Academic Art of Riding.

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