The German word for contact is Anlehnung (to lean at something, but with a degree of self carriage) which to me is a whole lot closer to what I'm looking to create as a rider than mere contact. I saw my teacher Andrew Murphy quoted on Facebook as saying: "Contact is what happens when mommy balance and daddy straightness love each other very much". I have not yet verified this with him, but I'm sure that he'd agree regardless. Contact is created via the haunches and via proper alignment. Andrew is also the one who pointed out how spooky the correctness is when contact is not created in the front by the rider's hand. The old German masters talked about "die Beizaeumung nicht mit der Hand herzustellen".
Contact sits there somewhat smugly above rhythm and relaxation on the training scale, likely enjoying the utter confusion it's causing most, if not all, riding students at least until they achieve some level of competency. You're supposed to have contact, but not too much, and not too little, so just how much is correct? Some try to go at it via the weight in your hands: ranging from just the weight of the reins or X amount of pounds. Ultimately I'd say the "weight of the reins" fraction is more correct, but again, that's the end result, not any kind of instruction on how to go about it. Some say bend your horse, which yes, I'd agree with, but likely not in the sense that is meant if someone says bend your horse. Usually that kind of instruction wants you to bend the neck, which is nothing but pulling on the rein hoping the horse will "give" in the jaw but does nothing to align the horse and mobilize the haunches, which is where it all begins and ends. The bend I refer to is the bend that occurs in doing proper lateral work.
So let's note the following:
1) The horse creates the contact. Not the rider's hands. The horse will reach toward the bit, thereby creating a proper bascule, so that the riders connection to the horse's mouth is an even, soft, forward reach that is again directly connected to the haunches. The rider literally can feel the haunches come under more at the slightest touch of the rein. It's a vastly different feeling from horse with a mushy jaw that looks "on the bit", usually slightly behind the vertical and whose neck can usually not be adjusted to any position at any time. And no, it does not require sourcery, just patient, correct work and it will come. First in one gait or the other in a few moments, then more and more often, until ultimately it's there in all gaits, almost all the time. That's also called throughness.
2) The action of the reins should NEVER be backwards. There are 5 ways to use the reins: Taking, to establish connection/feel/flexion (that is in a neutral, not backwards pulling manner, slight flexion of wrist), to give (every taking must be followed by giving, i.e. relaxing of the hand or forward motion of the elbow), holding (slight resistance without pulling back, for example in half halts with lower back and abdominal involvement), as a containing aid (i.e. outside rein which should also be a --> lateral aid), and lateral (i.e. sideways opening).
3) Lateral work and leg yields (in their various forms) are key to addressing the natural crookedness of the horse by working to create straightness and balance (as well as working toward shifting balance to the haunches), and will naturally create a correct, reaching contact from the horse. For example, if a horse is leaning heavily on the left rein, the horse is probably hollow to the right, and the right hind is not traveling under the body either, so a travers left will be a good start to address the issue. Even if the degree of lateral bend is still fairly minimal, the horse will pop into the correct slot and often accompany that newfound improved balance with a soft blow through the nose or a big, sigh-like out-breath.
I almost find that it's easier to teach a horse who grabs the bit and wants to stick his nose up in the air and hollow the back to go correctly than one who curls and drops the bit. And of course it all goes back to how well the rider is able to sit in order to influence the horse more with the body than with the hands. Remember, you don't have to be perfect to ride well and help your horse. Just keep working on yourself, and enjoy that precious relationship with your horse.
