Recent Articles

"A horse which doesn’t relax the mandibular and the tongue muscles cannot be entirely relaxed. That is why it is so important that the horse accepts the bit, and the sign of that is the actively and relaxed chewing." ~ Christian Thiess

"The purpose of dressage is to enhance our ability to control our horses; hopefully, after a long period of consistent training, our horses will calmly and generously place their forces at our disposal." ~ Jimmy Wofford

"Let the neck fall down, don’t pull it down, create a situation in which the horse wants to let go his body and relax his neck." ~ Johan Hamminga

The horse that wants to fall out on circles should work more often on a square figure than a circle, until the rider has better control of the outside of the horse's body.

Good, correct, and active stretching work helps to lift and engage the horse's back muscles. 

"Since the criteria of a correct seat are the same as the criteria of good posture in general, being constantly attentive to one’s bearing when standing or walking is excellent training. A correct vertical posture of the head and the trunk on horseback is not a special posture applicable only to riding." ~ Kurt Albrecht

Use the corner after the jump to get your horse back to you if necessary. Use the corner on the turn into the next jump to elevate the horse's front end.

When your horse stretches down, try not to follow him with your posture by rounding your shoulders and leaning forward. Because if you do, you will be encouraging him to fall onto the forehand. 

While the distance in between the jumps is a big deciding factor in the speed and length of stride that you should approach with... generally approaching a combination or complex off of a shorter, bouncier stride will give you more options.

"Push yourself away from your hands." ~ Stephen Clarke

The quality of your turn into the jump will greatly affect the quality of that jump.

Don't wait until the horse is doing something perfectly to reward. You must reward the horse when he begins to go in the right direction of the correct response, however slightly that may be.

Many riders place their saddles too far forward! Make sure that the solid parts of the saddle are behind the horse's shoulder, to allow for freedom of the shoulder.

Riders often tend to forget their outside leg in the equation of the bending aids. If you want to achieve true bend in the horse's ribcage, your outside leg must keep the hindquarters on the track.

"The goal of all dressage riding should be to bring the horse and rider together in harmony... a oneness of balance, purpose, and athletic expression." ~ Walter Zettl

"I want any rider approaching any jump to concentrate on rhythm. They should concentrate on HOW they get there, not where they get to." ~ Jimmy Wofford

Eventers need to make sure that the saddle that they use for cross country is truly suitable. The flap needs to be forward enough to give you room to easily push your feet out in front of you for security whenever necessary (such as galloping downhill, drop into water, deep mud on a downhill landing, etc.) 

The intensity of your half halt is about the strength of your seat and core, and the push into the connection... not the amount of pull on the reins. 

Horses want you to say what you mean, and to mean what you say, with both your aids and your body language. 

Proper hand position will help you to remain loose and supple in your arms. Deviating in any way from the perfect hand position will immediately cause your arm muscles to tighten.

A successful jump is more about the approach than the jumping effort itself.

"The inside rein must always be ready with a GOOD OFFER." ~ Reiner Klimke

"I do a lot of cavaletti work also with my dressage horses because then I can really make them active behind, over the back, stretching into your hand, and really supple in the back." ~ Ingrid Klimke

"Allow your horse the opportunity to use his neck more." ~ Reiner Klimke

The half pass helps to develop the brilliance of the medium and extended trot, by increasing hip and stifle flexibility, and freeing up the horse's shoulders.

Ride in counter flexion to correct over bending, on circles AND on straight lines, as needed. 

Always keep your spine stretched upward when riding. When you slump, your head and shoulders will become "heavy", and your horse will likely become heavy in your hands.

Sometimes you can make your circles better by not working on circles! Work on squares, 90 degree turns, and diagonal lines for a while, and maybe some nose to the wall leg yield. Then come back to your circles, after you have worked on better use of and response to your outside turning aids.

The quality of the contact that the horse will give you is largely dictated by the amount of hind leg activity at that moment, and how much the energy from that activity is able to flow in an uninterrupted way through the horse's supple and permeable body into your hands.

"Don't look at your steering wheel, look at the road." ~ Chris Bartle

"Good contact is like having a conversation with a friend in a cozy coffee shop. Bad contact is like being hollered at by a stranger at the DMV."

The more incorrectly someone rides and trains a horse, the more veterinary maintenance intervention they will likely need for that horse. 

To balance a horse does not necessarily mean to slow it down. Horses can be balanced at just about any speed.

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.

Don't ride faster than you can think.

Always be ready to stop jumping and do a few minutes of flatwork when you run into a problem. Good flatwork will fix most jumping problems.

Horses that have the spirit and the natural drive to excel at the top levels of jumping or Eventing are usually much more opinionated and difficult to train by nature. They are very often totally worth the extra time, effort, and patience that it takes to develop them to their true potential. 🙂

"The jump is the product of your last three strides, always." ~ Michelle Strapp

The less you see a rider do, the better. That means they are communicating with the horse quietly, and the horse is attentive and responsive.

"Stay dedicated to the quality of the basic gaits—the suppleness and balance of the walk, trot and canter. Then as you cultivate the movements, those gaits improve." ~ Volker Brommann

Cantering ground poles are simply a smart way to practice just about every single skill you need to jump well, while minimizing the stress and strain on your horse's legs.

The most difficult horses are almost always the best ones in the end. Often because they are so darned SMART.

When teaching, I am always on the lookout for signs that the horse might need a short stretching break. Sometimes it is something as subtle as a more anxious look in the horse's eyes. And sometimes it is more obvious, like the horse starts to become a little more fussy about the contact, or starts to get a little lower in front and/or heavy in his rider's hands. It is wise to give your horse a short stretch at whatever gait you are working in, exactly when your horse needs it. This keeps his body more comfortable, keeps him enjoying his work, and most importantly - builds the amount of trust that he has for his rider, and the idea of training in general.

Think of your leg, seat, and rein aids as ways to communicate with your horse. You don't physically push or pull him anywhere, you give him subtle signals. And if he doesn't initially respond to your subtle signals, you need to teach him to - EVERY horse can learn to respond to light cues, if taught properly.

"They asked me at the Seminar, how should a horse look when it is coming towards you? I said to them, if you meet someone and they are looking you in the eyes, a little bit proud, nose up, not arrogant, but someone coming to you, giving you their hand, with a very positive attitude. That’s the way a horse should come to you – when he enters the arena, he should say, Hello, here I am." ~ Sven Rothenberger

When riding a Dressage test, riding accurately to the letters and making good use of the corners of the ring shows the judge that you are aware, thinking, and have good control of your horse.

While the distance in between the jumps is a big deciding factor in the speed and stride that you should approach with... generally approaching a complex off of a shorter, bouncier stride will give you more options.

"It's very rare to find a horse who has the bravery and heart to do what is required of him in Eventing's cross country phase and who has the careful aspect we look for in the show jumping ring." ~ Katie Monahan Prudent

Imagine that you have a heavy wet towel laying over each knee, that helps your leg to drop down naturally and melt around your horse's sides. 

When you look down, your shoulders follow your eyes and begin to drop downward and forward. This makes it much more difficult for you to communicate correctly with your horse through your seat - often causing you to need to use your reins more than you should.