The Walk to Trot Transition Without Losing Softness Oct 12, 2026 Zachary Leyden The walk to trot transition is a small thing that tells on you. Ask a horse up into the trot and, in that one stride, everything about where your ask lives becomes public: seat or heels, conversation ... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
Stopping a Horse With Your Seat: The Whoa That Starts in Your Body Sep 26, 2026 Zachary Leyden Watch a mare cross a pasture with her foal at her flank. When she stops, the foal stops, and nothing touched its mouth. Horses synchronize with the bodies around them because in a herd, moving togethe... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
Direct Rein vs Neck Rein: Two Languages Every Horse Should Know Sep 11, 2026 Zachary Leyden A green colt turns because a rein draws its nose to the side and the feet follow the nose. A finished ranch horse turns because a rein brushed its neck for half a second while its rider’s other hand h... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
The Soft Feel Under Saddle: Asking for Give at a Standstill Aug 27, 2026 Zachary Leyden Sit on a horse that has never learned to give, and you feel it in your hands the moment you close your fingers on the reins. The neck sets. The poll braces. The whole front end becomes a wall you are ... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
Soft Hands in Riding: Reins That Never Balance on the Mouth Aug 13, 2026 Zachary Leyden Watch a rider lose their balance at the trot, and watch the horse’s head fly up in the same instant. From the rail it looks like two events. From the horse’s side it is one: a hand just landed on its ... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
Seat Before Hands: Building an Independent Seat Jul 28, 2026 Zachary Leyden Watch a nervous rider at the trot and you will see the whole problem in one image: the hands creep back, the reins shorten, the knuckles whiten, and the horse’s mouth becomes a handle for a body that ... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
Mounting a Horse From Both Sides: Why and How We Teach It Jul 13, 2026 Zachary Leyden Ask why everyone mounts from the left and you will eventually hear about swords. A cavalryman wore his saber on the left hip, so swinging the right leg over kept the blade clear of the horse. The swor... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
