THE ELUSIVE ‘FEEL'

It takes a great horseman to develop and understand feel. However, finding feel doesn’t come easy. Al Dunning breaks down the things you need to know, both in and out of the saddle, to develop feel with your horse, and how it’ll help you better connect with him.

- AL DUNNING

Everyone wants to have that special connection with their horse, but many riders struggle with the concept of feel or how to develop it in their riding. How to develop feel is a question I’m commonly asked when I work with students, but the truth is, there’s no shortcut to finding it. It requires you to spend hours in the saddle improving your skill set as a rider and spending more time with your horse on the ground so you can better understand his personality.

Here I’m going to talk about a few things you need to develop feel with your horse. The first involves improving the ability to physically feel what your horse is doing through your seat, hands, and body, while the second part involves thinking about your horse and thinking like your horse to better understand his mindset and what he’s experiencing.

Find Feel With Your Seat

Being able to feel what your horse is doing through your seat takes hours of practice and will be a difficult thing to master when you’re first starting out. But the more hours you put in, the more confident you’ll become with your seat while riding and the better connection you’ll have with your horse.