If you don't know what it means when I say, "Don't squish the banana," don't worry, you're in the majority. Very few people know what it means, but it's becoming a fun catchphrase at my clinics.

Imagine riding your horse with a banana taped to the inside of each boot. You'd still have room to slide your feet into the stirrups, but when you ask your horse to go or yield to your legs, you subject the sensitive banana to pressure.

I use this analogy to train riders to be more consistent with their leg cues, and softer too. Could you pass the test? Could you ride your horse at the walk, trot, and canter without smashing the banana?

You can still ask your horse to go with your legs, but you can't ask so hard that the banana bruises.

Imagine what support mechanisms you might need to help your legs stay light. You can't squeeze harder or kick, so you have to use your voice or perhaps a crop. With practice, you can isolate and train the consistency that only elite riders understand and experience.

If you can adopt the kind of tactile pressure master riders employ, you can develop advanced maneuvers more easily and elegantly.

It starts by learning to "not squish the banana."

Have fun, be smart, stay safe.

Good luck, dear riders. ​Don