Recent Articles

"You have to have a little contact so the circle from the pushing aids to the steady contact to the mouth is correct. Even in halt, you still have to have the feeling that the horse wants to go forward – without pulling." ~ Jo Hinnemann

Land from a jump thinking about what you are going to do next. Don't land thinking about what you just did.

I find that many riders ride with reins that are too long, in an attempt to be softer with their hands. This backfires however, because the rider will then have to draw their hand backwards to use the reins. A shorter rein with a forward feeling hand is what usually works best. 

"Use your chest muscles as if you are riding into a strong wind." ~ Mary Wanless

"In dressage everything depends on the rider. The best horse in the world means nothing if the rider can’t ride." ~ Conrad Schumacher

From Facebook fan Elise Vandover ~ "I often tell my students that the outside rein is like the vinyl wall of an above-ground pool; elastic, stretchy and flexible, but enough of a boundary to keep the 'water in the pool.'"

"So long as we allow riders with an incorrect seat, with incorrect aids, to approach horses, then we will only have an accumulation of mistakes. The longer they ride a horse, the more damage they do, and it should be the opposite. The longer a good rider rides a horse, the more glorious the horse gets." ~ Charles de Kunffy

From Facebook fan Kate M. Severson ~ "Sometimes taking a step back, looping the reins, and just letting the horse do its job is the hardest thing to do! I need to let go of my perfectionism and stop trying to always micromanage, especially in the show jumping. Sit up, leg on, and let the horse jump!"

Our horses have to put up with more than unclear aids, unbalanced riders, mosquitoes, and our whimsical travel plans for them. At times what they are able to endure shocks even us... (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)

With green horses that don’t yet fully understand the bending aids, or for those who struggle with bending one direction, it can be helpful to bring your outside rein a little away from their neck (to the outside) as you bend them. This makes the outside rein a little more inviting for them to move into. 

"Where it tips over, that positive tension, is if you let the horse get strong in the bridle. Once you let the horse become heavy on the hand and strong in the bridle, it’s not positive any more, because then there is a block. If you can create what we try to create, without heavy hands, without hanging onto the rein, if you can do it with self-carriage, then it looks beautiful. It’s this word, expression, which is a dangerous word because once you put expression into it, like heightened suspension and things like that, then if you have got the wrong rider, or a rider who doesn’t ride with an independent seat, then they use their hands and that’s when you get that horrible looking, jerky dressage. It is something we really work on, to be able to create it, without going over-board." ~ Carl Hester

Every horse you ride can tell pretty quickly if you genuinely like them or not. And it makes a difference.

Horses that tend to hurry need to be ridden at a slower than ideal pace until they are rhythmical and relaxed, and are no longer trying to hurry. 

"'I have time' should be the guiding word especially of dressage riders during the entire course of training and remind him of the fact that the goal of the classical art of riding is to be attained only by the gradual increase of demands." ~ Alois Podhajsky

"I do hundreds of transitions, loads of them, so transitions become like 'pouring cream.'" ~ Carl Hester

How many times have you entered the arena to compete and found yourself obsessing about what someone else was thinking about you?  Sure we worry about what the judges think, but we also worry about what almost everyone else thinks.  We worry about the judgments of our trainers, other people’s trainers, family, friends, peers, as well as other competitors.  Yet, at the end of the day, we have to wonder how many of those people, whose judgments we worry so much about, gave our performance more than a passing thought.  The reality is that we are most often the only ones that are judging ourselves so harshly and ruthlessly. (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)

If your horse tends to look around a lot when you are riding, keep his attention on your inside leg by asking for an exaggerated bend to the inside. You will know you have achieved putting your horse’s attention on your inside leg when his inside ear looks back at you. 

If you want your horse to truly enjoy his work, it helps to be having fun yourself when you ride. Sometimes when things are difficult, it can be hard to find the fun in that moment. You have to go out of your way to look for it! Your horse will feel the difference if you do. 

"Push him to contact, release and then push to contact again." ~ Carl Hester

"When thinking about collecting a horse--closing a horse from behind to shift his center of gravity further back--many riders only think of closing the horse longitudinally from hocks to bridle. However, one also closes the horse laterally, i.e., from outside leg to inside rein, and from inside leg to outside rein, like an X." ~ Charles de Kunffy

"If you practice being fluid, you eventually will be fluid. If you're casual about it, it will never happen." ~ Joe Fargis