Recent Articles

You have to think about how you can get into your horse's head, to win him over to your side, rather than trying to muscle him around. Horses usually seek where they are most comfortable. Always keep that in mind.

It takes an experienced instructor to know whether a rider who has lost their confidence needs to move back to smaller jumps and more simple exercises, or if that rider instead needs to be shown the exact techniques that are going to fix their particular problem, and then pushed hard, so they can see how easily they really CAN do it.

"The art of cross country is allowing your horse to gallop along in rhythm and jump out of his stride." ~ Andrew Hoy

"When a correctly positioned rider is viewed from the side, her whole leg will lie flat against the horse in a relaxed way with the knees and toes pointing forward. In order to achieve this position, you must develop the ability to stretch the inner adductor muscles in your thigh." ~ Sarah Geikie

"The greatest hindrance to driving the horse properly comes from riders stiffening their legs…. The horse cannot monitor tight legs as aids and will sour to the pressure, which he will interpret as a meaningless second girth." ~ Charles De Kunffy

"When the horse is forward, when the horse is using his hind leg more under the body and the neck falls down from out of the wither, then it doesn’t matter if the nose is a little behind the vertical if there is no pulling by the rider." ~  Johan Hamminga

"Horses are easier to train than people, especially Thoroughbreds because they are always thinking." ~ Steuart Pittman

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A great instructor is always thinking and learning about new ideas and concepts, and is always looking for new ways to impart those ideas to their students. The minute one stops learning, one stops growing - and can become stagnant.

"The harder you work, the luckier you will get." ~ Bill Steinkraus

"Imagine hanging a wet towel over your horse's back. The pressure of your leg aids needs to be similar to the pressure of the towel on the sides of your horse. Your horse should go on his own with this passive leg aid, and if he does not, you need to give him a firmer reminding aid." ~ Steffen Peters

"The key to successful half halts is, first, to have a very clear idea of what you want to achieve: Do you want your half halt to create more balance? More collection? More flexion? Self-carriage? Roundness? Second, you need to recognize--with listening aids--when your horse responds correctly so you can soften or give at the right moment. During your softening moment within the circle of aids, your whole body rewards the horse and tells him, 'That's what I wanted.' The horse feels this instantly. The quicker you notice your horse's positive response, the better trainer you are." ~ Oded Shimoni

It is perfectly normal to feel nervous at times, but you DO have the ability to control and redirect your thoughts. Like anything else, it is a skill that you have to work at.

"Usually, the half halt should be invisible to the eye--not only because it looks good, but also because it doesn't disturb the rhythm and flow of the horse's movement." ~ Oded Shimoni

Riders with short arms have to be especially careful to keep their elbows bent at all times.

If you don't train for self carriage at the gallop, and instead attempt to hold your horse with a strong contact the whole time while on course, you will probably get really tired by the end of a long course, and your horse's mouth will become more and more "dead", and less and less responsive.

"For a horse to be in balance, it has to be relaxed which is why it must not be compressed. To cease the aids does not mean to leave the horse on its own but to keep the contact while doing as little as possible." - Nuno Oliveira

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Mental toughness is a very important quality in an upper level Event horse. The "street fighter" type is often a cross country machine!

Remember that what you do habitually will feel normal to you, whether it is right or wrong. This is why riders at all levels need good eyes on the ground.

"A rider breaks up resistance in the horse by encouraging his hind legs to come forward and under his body." ~ George Morris

Think of pushing your horse though turns with your outside aids, rather than pulling him around the turn with your inside rein.

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Trainers, and farriers… these are two very important people that will make or break your experience in the horse world. The right trainer is the key to your success with riding, and the right farrier is key to your horse's soundness.

"May every rider strive for a better connection with his or her horse by observation, closer understanding and patient groundwork. It matters not what discipline is pursued, only that there be a perfectly balanced union between the two – man and horse – so that the two become one." ~ Frederic Pinon

"The horse has to learn to look after himself, otherwise I might as well get off and just chuck him over. And I’m not that strong. I don’t go to the gym." ~ elite show jumper Ben Maher 

For the horse, the learning happens on the release of the aid. That means if you don't release the aid, the horse will not learn.

"Riders tend to lean back and pull on horses who are rushing, which makes a bad situation worse. When you pull back against your horse, he will usually invert, drop his back and lean against your hand. Once he is in this shape, no bit in the world will solve your problem." ~ Jimmy Wofford

"The much more important things to me are the walk and the canter. They’re the two things you can’t change. With the trot, by teaching the horse to have more suspension, you can change the trot. I never worry about how bad the horse trots. I know with my training, I can make it look spectacular. Even a really ugly horse, you can make it look really special. Don’t worry if you have an ugly horse." ~ Charlotte Dujardin

No matter how balanced a horse is moving, he will never be in self carriage if he has a rider that is hanging on his mouth.

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Only if the shock absorbers in your hips are working properly, will you be able to keep your hands and upper body quiet as you sit the trot or canter.

"The most important point is the character. If they are not willing to work with you, then they can have the best quality in the world, but it won’t work. If you go to the Olympic Games, you can see fifty horses that are qualified, all these fifty horses can do the Grand Prix, but the winner is the one who does it at the moment he is asked to do it. He wins with his talent, but he also wins with his brain – this is so very important, the way you live with your horses every day, that you have the horses on your side. Horses must be happy horses, they have to be willing to work for you, you cannot make them work. That’s why in your daily work you must think hard about your horse – how is he feeling? Is he happy? He has to be obedient, but he cannot be squashed, you have to leave him with his personality. Sometimes horses with not such good qualities, they can win if they want to do the job." ~ Jean Bemelmans

Transitions act as a test of your connection. If the quality of your connection is lacking as you begin a transition, it will be particularly evident as you execute it.

You should always strive to feel the horse's hind legs in your hands as they step up into the rein connection.

You will get the highest level of brilliance from your horse by letting them have as much freedom as possible. Show them what is required, and then leave them to perform as much as possible on their own.

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Submission to the outside aids is necessary for a smooth, resistance free downward transition.

With young or untrained horses who conformationally have a high set on neck (which is a good trait to have for a jumping or Dressage horse), you have to be particularly careful that you don’t work them in a frame that is too advanced for their strength level. It takes enormous strength in the horse’s lumbar back to carry a rider in a higher frame for any length of time. Ride for too long in a higher frame, and they will get sore in their lumbar back, and often resentful.

"Just as the sculptor at first chisels the future outlines of his work of art with powerful blows out of the crude block of stone, and then lets it develop in increasingly finer detail in all its beauty, the aids of the rider must also become more and more delicate in the course of the horse's education. Every rider should always keep this strictly in mind and especially avoid destroying with crude aids, out of impatience or other reasons, what he has built in his previous work." ~ Alois Podhajsky

A real collected trot should feel like a contained medium trot. Not just slower, with shorter strides - but with enough stored energy and contained power that you feel that all you have to do to get medium trot is release it. And the same for collected canter.

"Riders are very often but mistakenly glad to see their horse arch his neck, regardless of how it is arched (whether too high or too low or behind the bit or stiff). Have you ever seen a horse with an arched but stiff neck, looking as though he were nailed to the bit ? That kind or arch does not imply a horse on the bit." ~ Charles de Kunffy

Many horses are more brave and confident when truly on the aids, as they feel more truly connected with their riders.

For those of you with horses that want to "run" into the canter when working on walk to canter transitions (accelerating and taking a trot step or two before picking up the canter), think "halt" as you are applying your aid to canter from the walk.