One-Handed Riding in Working Equitation

At the senior standard in Working Equitation, the reins are carried in one hand and the other hand is kept for the work.

One-handed riding uses the same weight, seat, leg, rhythm and light rein contact developed on two hands. What changes is the arrangement of the reins and the amount the rider can correct through the hand.

I · What One-Handed Riding Means¶

Seen quickly, a rider with the reins in one hand and the hand almost still can look as though the rein has been laid against the horse's neck and the horse is being steered that way.

The horse has been schooled to answer the seat and leg and to carry its own balance. The rein stays in light contact and confirms what the seat has already asked.

The aids remain the same even though the reins are now carried in one hand.

II · Where It Came From¶

One-handed riding developed from the practical work.

In Spain, the vaquero carried the garrocha, a pole of three to four metres, to guide and hold cattle at a distance across the dehesas. In Portugal, the campino worked the herds of the Ribatejo with the pampilho. In the Camargue the gardian carried the trident; in the Maremma the buttero carried the uncino. A rider with a pole in one hand had one hand left for the reins, so the horse had to be ridden from the seat and leg as a matter of course.

Read next The garrocha

III · When Riders Ride One-Handed¶

The requirement arrives by level, and the ladders differ between governing bodies.

WAWE (international). Juniors ride on two hands. Young Riders may choose one or two. Seniors ride one-handed, with the reins held in the left hand and the right hand used to manage the obstacles.

Portugal (APSL). The Established Series A and Masters categories ride one-handed. Established Series B may use both hands, and the junior and training categories ride on two.

United States (USAWE). Two hands through the lower levels, with one hand required at the two upper levels.

New Zealand. One hand is introduced by degrees as the levels rise.

The exact level differs between governing bodies, but each introduces one-handed riding only after earlier work on two hands.

IV · What Changes in the Bridle¶

On a double bridle, the snaffle reins are set aside for one-handed work and the curb reins are the ones the rider carries.

The Portuguese regulation describes a bridle carrying a curb alone as the instrument for one-handed riding. Where a double bridle is worn, the international rules require the snaffle rein to lie loose, so the horse is ridden on the curb.

Read next The bridle and the bit

V · How a Rider Gets There¶

At the earlier levels, the rider uses both hands while the horse and rider develop clearer responses to the seat, leg and rein.

As the rider's seat becomes more precise and the horse becomes more self-carrying, less correction is needed through the reins. The reins can then be carried in one hand while the seat and leg carry more of the communication.

VI · What It Asks of Each Core Riding Skill¶

One-handed riding depends on all seven Core Riding Skills already being established.

Position - the rider has to maintain their alignment without using a second rein for support or correction.

Independence - the working arm lifts a latch, rings a bell or carries a pole while the rein hand stays quiet. Any connection between the two arms shows immediately.

Balance - the rider has to maintain their own balance without using the rein for support.

Seat - more of the organisation of the movement has to come through the rider's pelvis rather than through rein adjustments.

Leg - the leg supports and places what the seat has asked, and has to do more of it.

Hand - the rein hand remains quiet and makes only the corrections still required.

Feel - the rider has to recognise changes in the horse early because fewer rein adjustments are available.

Read next The seven Core Riding Skills

VII · What It Proves About the Horse¶

One-handed riding also tests the horse's training.

The horse must already be able to maintain its own balance before the reins can be carried successfully in one hand.

With the reins carried in one hand, the rider has less opportunity to make continual adjustments. The horse has to already possess the strength, coordination and self-carriage to hold its own rhythm and line through the movement.

Read against the Structural Training Scale, one-handed riding is testing every stage at once. Forward and available. Aligned on its line. Balanced across all four legs. Carrying behind. Light in front as a consequence of that carrying. Gathering that power into collection without losing any of it.

A horse that needs repeated correction to hold its shape will show it as soon as the corrections become harder to give.

Read next The Structural Training Scale

VIII · The Hand Becomes the Confirmation¶

One-handed riding develops from something that begins much earlier than the moment the reins finally move into one hand.

The important change is what the rein is being asked to do.

When the rider's body has already organised the request, the rein can confirm it. That kind of aid is already moving towards something that can be carried in one hand.

For College Members, that gives one-handed riding a place inside the whole method rather than only at the top of the competition ladder.

As more of the work is prepared through the rider's body, the horse becomes increasingly responsible for carrying its own balance. The hand becomes quieter because more has already happened before the rein is needed.

That is the direction the Member study follows: from aids that require more from the hand towards riding in which the hand increasingly confirms work already organised elsewhere.

At the highest level, one hand is therefore the visible result of a much longer education in horse and rider.