Jean Bemelmans on contact and lightness:

“You see many riders nowadays they start riding before they are ready – they have not prepared their own body to work with the body of the horse. You have to have your body loose so you can be with the rhythm of the horse, to be flexible and follow him. You see many riders, and if they cannot sit well, they hang on the rein and how can their horse develop balance?”

The conversation turns to lightness, and contact:
“Lightness sounds very good, if it is light, it is better. But not too light, because a horse that is too light in the hand is more difficult to ride than a horse that is a little bit heavy on the hand. Okay we always have to talk about finding the right balance, but in the end, contact is nothing more than the contact to the hind leg, the contact that the rider makes between the mouth and the hind leg.

This is the duty of the rider, to put these two together. The moment the horse starts to move, and he moves behind, you have to feel it in your hand, then you have to let it out.”

Click below for more, from this modern day Master:

https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2018/02/jean-bemelmans-modern-master-part-3/