To keep your horse's hind legs more engaged in your upward transitions, (with the hind legs carrying weight AND pushing, rather than pushing alone), think of sitting on those hind legs and feeling the transition begin with a deeper step of a hind limb.
Everyone knows that we want to keep a straight line from our elbow to the horse's mouth. But did you know that it means when viewed from above as well as from the side? And that it also includes your wrists and fingers??
When your horse is spooking, don't stare at whatever it is that they are looking at. Look where you want to go, and don't let any of your horse's antics change your focus.
In the Dressage ring, you must look at the corners as your friend and a useful tool! Each corner is an opportunity to improve your horse's carriage and connection.
The very best riders are often not the best teachers... It all comes too naturally to them, so they often don't know how to help those who don't have their gift.
"When you relax your arms and feel the reins softly you need to feel that your horse wants to step into the contact. If you do not then he is behind your leg and seat." ~ Yvonne Barteau
* I will add: Or, he has been taught to drop behind the contact by a rider using busy hands or draw reins.
When a horse has trueimpulsion, they become easier to steer and keepstraight. And being able to perform perfect geometrical figures (the ability to be straight on curved lines) proves your ability to maintain a consistent level of impulsion.
Put your leg on justbeforeyou start to shorten your reins after the free walk or the stretching trot circle. This way you can ride forward into that shorter rein (as well as asking for bending) even as you are shortening them.
The increased activity of the hind legs will elevate the horse's head and neck naturally from your stretching position, and that allows you to shorten the reins with minimal fuss. If you start to shorten your reins with your leg off, and your horse will be more likely to hollow his back and resist.
"Suppleness in the back is the most important basic you can give your horse. When a horse is not supple in his back, it’s a big deal for him. Horses store a lot of emotion in their backs. If you have ever hurt your back, you know how painful it can be. It occupies your every thought." ~ Scott Hassler
With true impulsion, the horse has lots of forward energy, but the rider remains the driver. When the horse overpowers the rider and takes control, the horse is just running.
Riders will usually progress the the fastest by sticking with a system of training, instead of hopping around taking individual bits of information from lots of different systems.
"Give the horse the feeling of freedom when you sit on it, always the feeling that it can move forward. Most riders all over the world use their hands to try and control their horse, the neck starts to shorten and then it all starts to go wrong." ~ Christoph Hess
Sometimes you can improve your circles by not working on circles!
Work onsquares, 90 degree turns, and diagonal lines for a while, and maybe somenose 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.
"I think we judges have to look more carefully into the body language of the horse. The body language for me, is more important than the technical part of a movement. Three strides in the half pirouette that's okay, but if everything is good and we have four strides, that for me is no problem, for me it is important that the horse is happy and you see it in the face, you see it in the tail, you see it in the swinging, you can listen, how the horse is breathing, these are the things that are important for a quality test." ~ Christoph Hess
You have to look for the particular rhythm that works best for each horse in each gait, allowing them to swing through their bodies with activity. Slower than the horse's optimal rhythm, and the horse will probably be inactive behind. And faster will be rushing, inhibiting the swing.
Never underestimate how much any turn on course can take away from the power in your canter. With the lazier type of horse you need to be proactive in maintaining your impulsion through the turns. And even with the hotter type of horse, you need to be conscious of being soft with your hand, so you don't take too much away from them.
"Lots of riders find it hard to let the reins go. They have their horses pulled into a short neck. What is important today is that I can give you the feeling of how you can let your horses be freer in the neck. The horse needs his head and neck to balance, interfere with his head and you interfere with his balance, and then the horse’s confidence goes out the window." ~ Clayton Fredericks
"I always make sure I do a proper warm up. I make sure my horses are really properly stretching and giving their back, and coming from behind." ~ Ingrid Klimke
"Body awareness is essential. You must be trained to feel each body part as you’re riding, such as your big toe, your little finger." ~ Conrad Schumacher
Riders who do not stretch their horses are missing out on the full body suppling and gymnasticizing effects that a real stretch over the back will provide.
"What we need to be aiming for in our breeding program is a horse with a good hind end, a horse that is strong and capable of bending behind. It all comes from the power and activity behind, the front doesn’t matter, steady on the bit, doesn’t matter – when the horse is in balance, the front and the contact, will come." ~ Johan Hamminga
Being a good student - being teachable... This is a talent that will often get you a whole lot farther than physical talent alone. Both in riding and in life.
You have to be able to ride in "neutral", with no aids whatsoever, for your horse to be able to feel, recognize, and respond to the lightest of your aids.
"So many riders are horse-obsessed, but for some reason they don’t see themselves as part of the beauty of the picture that is, after all, a partnership. They spend their time disciplining and training the horse and manage to excuse themselves from the same rigours." ~ Richard Weis
"At its finest, rider and horse are joined not by tack, but by trust. Each is totally reliant upon the other. Each is the selfless guardian of the other's very well being." ~ Michael Plumb
Courses of ground poles are a smart way to practice just about every single skill you need to jump well, while minimizing the stress on your horse's legs.
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.
Riders should carry their hands just above the horse's withers, so as to create a straight line from the rider's elbow to the horse's mouth. When a rider’s hands are rising above that line, many times this is because of tense, drawn up shoulders.
"Classical riding starts with correct movement, we want to build up the strength of the horse and build up the movements – make them more brilliant more expressive, more light, more supple, and if you do not understand this, then you do not follow the rules." ~ Reiner Klimke
Carrying your hands with your thumbs on top when riding keeps your hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders in a "neutral" position, which allows your joints to move most freely to enable an elastic rein connection.
If you attempt to teach a horse something while tension is present, his learning will be compromised. And you will be more likely to run into problems associated with the flight response.
The horse that is the fastest on cross country is often not the one that is allowed to gallop at a greater rate of speed, but rather one that is highly adjustable, and is ridden on economical lines.
"Connection is often misunderstood. The horse must be taught to go from the seat and leg to the hand for it to be correct. But some riders will try to force it by working their hands and arms to 'work the horse’s neck back and forth to achieve that lightness,' which is incorrect." ~ Lilo Fore
Always keep in mind that you need to engage your horse's brain to get him to truly think forward. Your goal should not be to merely get his feet moving, but to ignite the area of his brain that makes him decide to want to move forward. Only when your horse really wants to go forward do you truly have a forward horse... no matter how fast you are actually traveling.
"It's the rider's job to make his horse sensitive enough to anticipate half halts, for it is the anticipation factor that makes horse and rider harmonious. The use of the horse's anticipation should work greatly to your advantage in daily training and in riding a dressage test. For example, most dressage movements follow the riding of a corner in the arena. When you ride a half halt before every corner throughout the course of a horse's life, he anticipates that he is going to be more balanced and uphill before, during and after every corner, and then the corner becomes the half halt. Because the horse's brain and body are already in harmony with the rider in the corner, all you have to do is concentrate on the movement that follows." ~ Oded Shimoni
Event riders need to be careful to not get "drunk on speed" when running cross country. There needs to be a point on the approach for every fence that the rider makes sure that the horse is truly galloping in balance, and makes any necessary adjustments to the speed and balance before they make their final approach.
Try to always keep your elbows close to your sides when riding, so that your upper arms remain a part of your seat. This will help you to you use your body to control your horse more than your hands.
"If the rider can halt his horse in any lateral movement, so that it stands quietly in the same position, or ride straight forward without hesitation, it is proof that the horse was going well between hands and legs." ~ Borries von Oeynhausen
Counter bend is a great tool when your horse tries to bulge against your outside aids. And following that up with a change of direction then further reinforces that aid, teaching your horse to have more respect for it.
"Leg yielding is a loosening exercise for the horse – they pull up the leg, fold the joints, push the leg to one side. It is far easier for the horse to leg yield from the centre line to the wall. He wants to go to the wall for help, but never let a young horse go all the way to the wall. The wall is like a magnet, stop him short of the wall." ~ Kyra Kyrklund
"Stretch and supple the horses for a long and healthy career. Keep them moving to keep them sound. Leaving them in a box and only out an hour a day is not a good way to keep a horse sound." ~ Carl Hester
"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
"A good instructor makes riders relax so the experience is enjoyable. If the rider feels safe and is able to repeat the exercises without the coach present then they have learnt. If they are afraid of the coach belittling them, destroying their confidence, humiliating them etc the coach is a bully." ~ Shirley Sheat
"If dressage horses hold themselves and won't stretch, stand in the stirrups and go for a forward canter, allow them to be a horse. Get rid of the freshness, then back to work." ~ Ingrid Klimke
"When I was in Pau, Bobby (Hale Bob) did his best dressage ever, because I was there with one horse for one week, and we put cavalletti on the circle with so many exercises, he was so supple and so smooth and had so much expression in his gaits. I am really convinced that cavalletti works." ~ Ingrid Klimke
"The rein back should be the same as asking the horse to move forward, otherwise they can't move their hind legs — so don't restrict the movement." ~ Frankie Sloothaak
If you are able to do a good transition from walk to halt - keeping your horse straight, connected, and up into the bridle, you will have a good basis for all downward transitions.
"I mean no disrespect to L judges, and I hope I can be one someday, but being an L judge doesn't tell me much about your riding, training, or teaching ability; it only tells me about your qualifications as a judge.
Similarly, I see a lot of people with their USDF Bronze medal advertising as instructors or trainers, and that absolutely terrifies me because I have a Bronze and earning it revealed to me how much more I need to learn and just confirms to me how unqualified I would be if I were to teach." ~ Valeska Davis
"The first thing I do is move them off my leg. After the lateral work, nine times out of 10, horses put their head down because their back is coming up. No draw reins, no gimmicks, just the inside leg to the outside rein." ~ Anne Kursinski
"The back is the bridge in the horse, and it can only be there if the hind leg is really working. The rider has to influence the hind legs to build that bridge, otherwise it is a horse in three pieces, back, front and you somewhere in the middle." ~ Francis Verbeek
Your leg aid alone does not produce a leg yield. You need to close the door a bit on the outside shoulder by connecting with your outside rein to get any real hind leg crossing behind.
"I've learned that a saddle that truly fits can give you a totally different horse to ride. I now have more stretch, larger movement, foamier mouth, and more go." ~ Jodi Waldrip
"I like to think of 'sitting on the outside hind' when I ask for the canter... That mental picture makes my body do the right thing." ~ Jessie MacWhistle
When a horse is ridden with a hollow back, his back muscles cannot properly support the rider's weight. This increases the risk for sore back muscles or even kissing spines. It is SO important that we teach them how to use their backs correctly!
Hans Mueller explained the difference between an aid and a cue this way: "Suppose every time your horse picked up a right lead you spit on his right ear. Pretty soon every time you wanted a flying change from left to right you spit on the right ear. Then you do the same for the left lead. Now you start tempe changes, and it works beautifully until you get to one time changes and you run out of spit!"
"Leave the horse totally alone [through a gymnastic line of jumps.] I make sure that I come with the right approach to the first fence, for the rest, I say to the horse, this is totally your job. What I want is fifty – fifty, the same in cross country, my dressage means my transition comes through, and then I say to the horse, now it is your turn, you read the fence, you land properly in the water, you look for the next fence, not me. I guide you, I follow you, I made sure that I close all the doors at the narrow ones and explain to you exactly which way to go, the rest is up to the horse. It must be his responsibility, I don’t want to take it all because it is fifty, fifty." ~ Ingrid Klimke
From Facebook fan Mei Bo-Pa: "My german jumping instructor always said 'the money is in the forward'. Meaning translated ride your horse with a powerful canter to the jump and leave its mouth alone."
Many amateur riders have a tendency to worry about the fact that their aids may not always be 100% correct when they ask their horse to do something. And therefore they are less likely to insist if their horse does not respond correctly. But just remember that horses can be taught to do just about anything from just about any aid.
You can teach your horse to canter on the left lead when you pull on his left ear…. if that's what you want to do.
So while it IS important to make sure your aids are as correct as possible, make sure you DO insist that your horse listen to your aids. Even if you don't ask for canter or leg yield the exact same way his last rider did, your horse CAN figure out what you are asking for, if you motivate him to do so.
Riders who skip the stretching stage of warm up, because they do not believe in stretching horses, are trying to train for collection with horses that most often have tight, tense muscles under the rider that do not swing easily with the horse’s movement. This is a recipe for failure. And any so called "collection" that they achieve will be fake.
"We need the neck to stretch down for the warming up, right in front of the saddle so the back can come up and the hind legs can come under and this way we are able to connect the hind legs." ~ Martina Hannöver
To lengthen your horse's frame, imagine that you are pushing the horse's head and neck away from you with your hands, while riding forward into that connection.
"One of the goals of dressage is to recreate the natural beauty of the horse’s gaits under the rider, so that the horse moves as beautifully under the weight of the rider as he does at liberty. In order to achieve this, the swinging of the horse’s back has to pass through the seat of the rider undiminished. The back has to be able to rise and fall with the same ease, regardless of the rider’s presence. If the rider merely sits passively, his weight alone can sometimes be enough to diminish the freedom of movement of the horse’s back. In these moments, the rider has to enhance the upswing of the horse’s back with an active contraction of his abdominal muscles, which helps the rider’s pelvis to swing more forward-upward, without tilting forward, however." ~ Thomas Ritter
"It's important that the rider doesn't disturb the horse – leaning this way or that – and that is the same with this pulling and pushing. You give a half halt, but half halt is not just pull back and then let go. First of all you have to push the horse into your contact, and while you do a half halt, the horse should not get tighter in the neck and not get slower in the hind legs. Actually we want to engage the hind legs. It's something you have to work on all the time, and get to feel it. When you tell the rider, now this, now that, you are already too late. You have to practice this, so that the riders get to feel it themselves." ~ Monica Theodorescu
Many horses think of walk time as "break" time. If you want to ensure that you get good scores on your walk work, you have to convince your horse otherwise in your daily work.
"You MUST stop looking at the size of the fence and answer the question. Two enormous tables on a bending line may be what you see, but the question could be going away from home and rather than be a bending line, it could be a slice with the terrain being on a slant to benefit the ride. When I stopped looking at how huge everything was and started looking at the essence of the question, it became easy and nothing was big." ~ Mellisa Davis Warden
When you realize that you are meeting a jump on a half stride, it can be challenging to keep a calm, clear head! Give yourself something constructive to think about. Tell yourself to just stay still and keep riding your horse's hind legs all the way until the point of takeoff.
If your horse finds lateral exercises more difficult in one direction vs the other (as many do), then they are not truly straight, or evenly laterally supple.
The horse's jaw unlocks when their back muscles relax and begin to swing with the movement. Attempting to "work" the horse's jaw when it feels tight is addressing the wrong end of the horse.
Circles, serpentines, and basic lateral work offer the best opportunities to work on increasing the horse's understanding and acceptance of the rider's leg aids.
"The legs bring the horse to the seat, and the seat brings the horse to the hands. When the teacher says 'shorten the reins' it needs to be translated into: 'engage the hind legs, sit on them, and then take the slack out of the reins', because if you shorten the reins from front to back, the horse will only resist." ~ Thomas Ritter
"I've always been a stickler on saddles. I see a lot of saddles that sit on the side of the horse's back, and if you think about it you are fighting against the movement in one direction or the other, if the saddle doesn’t fit in the middle. I think it's been proven by the Brits with a lot of research, that the saddle and the way it sits can make the difference between an 8, an 8.5 and a 9. I'm a stickler about that for sure. AND not riding with strength." ~ Debbie McDonald
The stirrup bar placement on your saddle can make or break your position when riding. Make sure you choose a saddle that will allow you to be in balance.
For a forward response, the rider should be using the lower leg as an aid - mainly the inner calf. For collecting, a half halt, or a downward transition, the rider should wrap the whole leg lightly around the horse, thigh through calf evenly - as if giving the horse a hug with their legs as they use their seat to perform the transition. This encourages the horse to correctly engage the hind legs and lift the back in the downward transition.
If you are too much "on guard" and ready for any possible shenanigans from your horse when riding, you might actually cause them. Your horse will feel your state of tension, and feed off of you.
"Ride all resistances forward and avoid halting instead ride a circle and encourage the neck to be looser and round until you have the horse's attention." ~ Hubertus Schmidt
"Until the horse comes free in the shoulder, in the shoulder in, he will not come free in the shoulder, in the half pass. Mostly, "more forward" develops the freedom in the shoulder, so often refresh the gait." ~ Hubertus Schmidt
"Stretching is important in every schooling session, but don’t let your horse think it is a break from the work. Stretching is not supposed to be associated with quitting." ~ Christine Traurig
The tone that you begin each ride with will tend to carry on throughout your ride. Make sure you start every ride in the right frame of mind, with a clear plan.
Most riders know that we want to keep a straight line from our elbow to the horse's mouth when riding. But did you know that this means when viewed from above as well as from the side? And that it also includes your wrists and fingers??
"I can tell you one thing, I have no running reins in my stable. I think it’s a completely unacceptable weakness as a rider, especially as a potential international rider." ~ Jonny Hilberath
"Release the pressure so that the horse understands that what he did was good. The language that you speak with your horse is the pressure and release." ~ Buck Davidson
"Riders who lean back are driving the horse down in front. If they sit too strong, behind the vertical, then they are pushing the horse down, through and into the hand." ~ Carl Hester
"First, [the rider] has to be ambitious. Mentally, he has to be well balanced and consistent. He has to be tougher on himself than on the horse. If he gets after the horse too much, he will not get far. One must really be able to push oneself harder than one ever pushes a horse. Then, success will follow…" ~ Ernst Hoyos
"Having a horse with crazy gaits and an eagerness to please at 5 years old is freaking me out because I’m really feeling the weight of the responsibility to not push too hard, too fast." ~ Lauren Sprieser
This is something every rider should be thinking about!
Try giving yourself something positive to do with your eyes when jumping. Watch the top of the jump until your horse's head blocks your view of it, and then look up at the next jump. If you are following that plan at every jump, you will never be looking down. And you will also be more likely to let your horse do the jumping.
Think of keeping your shoulders aligned with your horse's shoulders (or where you want them to be), and your hips aligned with your horse's hips (or where you want them to be.) This is especially important to think about during lateral work.
"If one induces the horse to assume that carriage which it would adopt of its own accord when displaying its beauty, then, one directs the horse to appear joyous and magnificent, proud and remarkable for having been ridden." ~ Xenophon
"It is only when the horse is tense that he puts his front leg out way in front of himself, and then brings it back. He never does it when he is relaxed, and the rules say that the horse has to be relaxed. Some people may think this trot looks nicer, but it is not correct." ~ Georg Theodorescu
"A good rider can hear his horse speak to him, a great rider can hear his horse whisper, but a bad rider won't hear his horse even if it screams at him." ~ Unknown
"Dressage is not just a sport. Yes, a part of it is about competing, and trying to come in first. But dressage is only beautiful when it is done well, when the rider and horse dance in harmony. If a rider has not reached that stage with his horse, he should stay home. He should not perform in public." ~ Georg Theodorescu
Your outside leg is a very important ingredient in your bending aids. And many riders seem to forget all about it! Don't forget to keep it down, back, and close to your horse's side.
Did you know that your spine doesn't end at your neck?? It goes all the way up into your head! So when a rider looks down, or juts their head and chin forward, they are compromising that stretched up, vertical spine.
"The rider must listen into the horse, in order to judge when the moment for an aid has come, which aid is needed and how intense it must be. He must know how to create or wait for the right circumstances, to prepare the horse." ~ Gustav von Dreyhausen
If you learn the whys behind each aid or exercise used in each specific circumstance, you will become a more educated rider with a greater ability to be productive. If your instructor doesn’t tell you why, ask!
On riding your horse in a round frame: "If you have the body, you have the head - if you have the head you don't (necessarily) have the body." ~ Jack LeGoff
Always think about the depth of the water when deciding how fast to approach and negotiate a water obstacle. Riding too fast in deep water can easily cause the horse to lose his balance or even fall.
Think about "collection" when asking for a trot or canter extension, so that you remember to keep the rein connection and think about being more up in front, instead of down and out. This will help you to create a more uphill frame with more true hind leg engagement.
Never rush a horse into a complex of jumps that might be hard for him to understand quickly. The more complicated the combination, or the greener the horse, the more time you need to give them to assess the situation clearly.
"Today, people learn to compete before they learn to ride, and that makes it difficult for them to be truly competitive and to progress to other levels." ~ Jack Le Goff
From Facebook fan Joan Childs ~ "Your hands must be free in order to use them effectively. You can not pull, push, follow, open or close your reins if they are busy being a source of your balance."
"Don't try to see a distance, your horse has a pair of eyes and you need to let him use them. The more you do in front of a fence the more you will distract them." ~ Chris Bartle
Even if the rider has all of their body parts generally in the right place, they will feel out of balance and out of "sync" with their horse's movement when the shock absorbing joints in their hips and legs are locked and rigid.
"You should recognize that your equine partner has an eye of its own when jumping and allow a good horse to have some role in the decision making process." ~ Frank Chapot
A little trick for those of you who need to be more stable with your outside rein connection, and your outside hand in general, is to try the temporary exercise of holding onto your saddle pad with the fingers of your outside hand. Stabilizing your outside hand in this way will also help you to learn to better use your body, rather than your hands, to turn your horse.
Too much use of the inside rein will almost always make a horse fight. If your horse is fighting with you in any situation, check that you are not hanging on the inside rein unconsciously.
"Dressage is not an easy sport, there are so many variations, but the reaction to your leg, and straightness, are so important. You just don’t see top Grand Prix riders kicking or straining for a result. Don’t tease him, tap there so quick he doesn’t know it is coming. Everything in a horse’s life should be black and white, not grey." ~ Debbie McDonald
The most energy efficient way for a horse to gallop cross country is to gallop in balance, so that very little adjustments are necessary in front of the fences. If you could gallop in such a way that a fence could drop from the sky and land in front of you when you are just 3 or 4 strides away, and you could jump it well - then you will be giving your horse the best chance to finish the course with plenty of gas in the tank.
Your training goal for the "hot" or high strung horse should be to help him to learn how to control his energy. Don't try to wear him out. That will never work with the truly hot horse.
Michael Jung says he puts particular emphasis on checking his horses’ heart and respiratory rate once before and twice after each ride, the first time immediately after work and the second time after the horse had time to recuperate.
Don't forget that the way the distance rides between two jumps changes as the fence height changes. The horse will land further into a line or combination when the jumps are larger, which makes the distance effectively shorter.
The old masters learned early on that riding accurate arena patterns is the key for improving a horse's balance and straightness. Always keep this in mind in your training.
When you are teaching your horse something new, begin to teach it to him in the direction that he finds the easiest, so that it is a more positive experience for him.
Be extra careful when conditioning both young horses and older horses. Young horses have tendon/ligaments/bones that have not yet been strengthened. And the older horse’s ligaments and tendons tend to become less elastic and resilient over time.
"Don't delude yourself into thinking that you have light, soft hands, if you ride with loose, almost dangling reins on a strung out horse. That can be done with insensitive hands as well. A soft hand requires the rider to feel whether the horse is softly on the bit, chewing, and whether it responds to a light pressure, in other words, whether it has an active mouth. If he rides with loose reins, the horse can have a dead mouth, which will only show up when you use the reins to stop or to shorten the strides, as it will either let you pull its nose onto its chest, or it will invert, and in both cases it will open its mouth." ~ Oskar M. Stensbeck
"When you're carrying a bag of feed over your shoulder and that bag slips, what do you do? You move underneath the bag. That’s exactly what happens to the horse. Every time you move, he's going to try to get underneath you. So, our job is to stay in the middle and not move around so much." ~ Buck Davidson
Positive reinforcement is a very powerful way to train horses. And because of this, you must be very careful that you are actually reinforcing the right things.
Mental limitations can often be much more career limiting for riders than physical limitations. If things are difficult for you physically, don't give up!
A good lunging program will allow your horse learn how to balance himself on a proper circle in self carriage, without the added challenge of a rider on board.
A horse needs to have above average back strength to carry a rider easily in collection. If you have lofty goals with your riding, it is a good idea to keep your horse on a strength training program.
You don't really improve your horse's canter by just cantering around and around. Instead, use lots of forward and back transitions to "spice up" your horse's hind legs.
From Facebook fan Nicole Cotten Ackerman ~ "Someone once suggested I recognize that I was nervous because 'I love this and am so lucky to be doing it', and now I say that out loud to myself and my horse every time the nerves creep in... works wonderfully!!!"
"When your horse loses his 'go', try sitting lighter, not deeper. I find on my mare, when I'm losing impulsion, I'm gripping or riding too deep. And when I just relax my legs and drape them and use my hips more, my horse goes forward. Sometimes that means standing for a split second and re-adjusting my seat to get lighter but it works!" ~ Jennifer Stankiewicz
It may seem like riders only need to think about a formal conditioning schedule at the upper levels, but every horse at every level will benefit from a balanced and well thought out conditioning schedule.
"Permeability can only exist when, on the one hand, the thrust and impulsion from the hind legs reach the forehand undiminished, and on the other hand, when the weighting and flexing half-halts fully reach the hind legs. This requires the forehand and hindquarters to be aligned in such a way that, on a single track, the horse always adjusts his spine to the straight or curved line of travel, so that the hind legs follow in the same line as the front legs." ~ Waldemar Seunig
When trying to eliminate a bad habit in your riding, try exaggerating your bad habit momentarily to the point that it seems ridiculous. This will increase your awareness of what you have been doing. After that, practice exaggerating the opposite for a while to change your behavior.
When working with fresh horses that want to look around and be unfocused, do yourself and your horse a favor, and let them have some free time to relax at the beginning of a workout. Either a short time lunging or free schooling, or simply a 10 to 20 minute walk on the buckle to let them gawk and take everything in. Then, when you pick up the reins and go to work, you will usually find that there is less resistance.
If your training is truly progressive, you will always have a strong base to fall back on when you run into any difficulties. This is a very important goal to have for your training program.
Be careful not to move to the sitting trot too early in a ride. Doing so before the horse is fully warmed up and truly moving through his topline can often be detrimental, as the horse will be more likely to stay stiff and tight through his back muscles.
It should be a big red flag to you if your instructor is the type to say that all jumps should be treated the same. It can be a sign of lack of knowledge or teaching experience in a trainer. Riders should be aware of every question posed by each individual jump, and should not treat all jumps the same. Things that need to be taken into consideration are the shape of the jump, the footing, the terrain involved before and after the jump, the lighting, the kind of approach you are given, and what is on the landing side of the jump.
Focus on the horse's hind legs in both upward and downward transitions. Look for the feeling that your horse begins to step into the new gait with their hind feet first.
Dressage is a natural activity for horses, but that does not mean it is always easy for them. Since we cannot explain to them why we are asking them to do things that require increased effort, and go against their natural instincts to do things in the easiest way possible - we must handle any inevitable resistances that might show up with patience in a quietly persistent and empathetic manner.
Ride smarter, not harder. If it starts to feel like you are working hard, look into learning how you can use a more intelligent technique to make yourself more effective.
"Suppleness of the back is a very central topic. The natural gaits of the horse have been the way they are for a million years. For example trot – two beat, a swinging phase and diagonal movement. In trot the right forearm should be parallel to the left hind cannon bone. If you don’t allow the long back muscles to swing and allow the movement to get through the poll to the horse’s mouth, then you destroy diagonal movement. If you block the loin area, then the front legs come out and the hind legs don’t follow. Then my question is – is this trot?" ~ Gerd Heuschmann
"My family’s approach for all of our horses, no matter which career we have chosen for them, is to do the same versatile basic training in the first years. The more systematically a horse gets strengthened in his musculature and the more carefully he gets suppled in his youth, the stronger he will be to start his specialization after this basic training and this sufficient capability means that the horse will remain healthy despite increasing requirements." ~ Ingrid Klimke
"In the plague of disinformation that has engulfed our culture, there seems to be a whole new generation of rider-trainers who have some serious misunderstandings about the significant role longeing with side reins plays in the training of the dressage horse." ~ Paul Belasik
If you come into a triple combination with a canter stride that is too short for the distance inside the combination, you will have to really drive to the B element to get out. And the action of your horse having to reach for that second element will make it MUCH more difficult to jump the third element cleanly.
Remember to take advantage of any hills you may have to build your horse into a stronger athlete. Progressive hillwork done several times a week, with days in between for muscle recovery, will build your horse up to a peak level of strength... which of course will make his job easier for him.
"In training you have to be very honest. You cannot lie to your horse or your trainer or the dressage judges. If you only can do something one out of 10 times at home, then you know you have to be lucky at the show—and we know we’re not always dead lucky." ~ Kyra Kyrklund
When you come down the center line in your Dressage test, briefly think about something that you know will make you smile. You and your horse will both relax, which will make for a happier performance. The judge will see the difference!
How do you prepare for transitions? Try thinking "active hind legs” into the connection of the outside rein, one to several times as needed, in rhythm with the horse's stride.
"Learn from each and every horse you ride. Every horse has something to teach you, and sometimes you don't realise what that lesson is until years later!" ~ Carl Hester
When a rider hangs on to the inside rein (with anything more than a light connection), it very often creates stiffness, resistance, head tilting, and the loss of control of the horse's outside shoulder.
Note to anyone who is in a hurry with their horse’s training: Using quick fixes and skipping basics will only slow you down in the long run. It will take you FAR longer to get to the same good end result, then someone who is truly committed to taking the time to do things right. And if you do not go back and fully fill in any holes in your horse's education, you may never have a good result.
It is a common mistake for novice riders to give the rein when the horse does the wrong thing, such as snatching at the rein or pulling on the rider. If you give when the horse does this, you are rewarding that behavior, and it will surely continue!
When mistakes happen in the show ring, try to put them behind you immediately in your mind. Ride the next Dressage movement with confidence in front of the judge. If jumping, think positively forward and ride the next fence on course with enthusiasm.
"Incorrect training is as if you buttoned a sweater wrong. In order to fix it you must unbutton it and start over again." ~ Reiner Klimke
This is SO important! You can not just add another layer over top and expect it to be right. And this is true for the training of both horses AND riders! This is why I feel so strongly that even beginner riders need high quality instruction. Don’t think that because you are only a beginner, that just any riding instructor will do. Do your homework! Figure out who is the very best instructor that you have available to you. And be prepared to pay extra for that expertise. It will be worth it, in the long run.
Think of letting your hips move towards the back of the saddle as your horse begins to jump. This will allow your horse's jumping motion to smoothly and naturally close your hip angle over the fence.
The evenness of the contact reveals the straightness of the horse. Instead of being tempted to try to fix unevenness in the contact with your hands, focus on helping your horse to use both of his hind legs evenly.
Think about having weighted elbows. When your elbows are hanging down by your hip bones because you have relaxed your shoulders and are allowing your elbows to drop, your hands will be in the right place.
Do not miss the possible opportunity to shorten your reins when your horse changes his balance in the direction of increased collection. But make sure you maintain forward feeling hands when doing so.
If you do miss it, and are riding with a length of rein that was more appropriate to the longer, lower frame that you had previously... you risk losing the amount of increased collection that you had just attained.
If you ask for too much angle in any lateral movement (more than your horse can handle at that moment), you risk impeding the balance and fluidity of the movement, which should be some of your top priorities.
The inside rein is like the directional or turn signal in your car. You use it to indicate the direction that you plan to go, but it doesn’t actually turn your car.
"I like to think about making my body longer in the front to make me sit up instead of thinking ‘shoulders back,’ which can make you stiff." ~ Mary King
If your horse leans in heavy on the inside shoulder, or falls out through the outside shoulder on the circle in both directions, chances are it is something that YOU are doing as a rider that is the cause of the problem.
When you halt and salute the judge at a competition, remember to smile! This will send the judge the message that you are confident about your performance, which can impress the judge and may even influence your scores in a subconscious way.
It can be tempting to want to repeat something over and over when you feel like you are making some progress on a movement you have been struggling with.
But it will be more productive to reward one especially good effort... give the horse a break, and move on to something else instead. When you come back to that exercise, your horse will remember what you did.
When giving the aid to canter, let your outside leg sink down and back as the last part of your canter aid. If you lift your leg up and back to use it (as so many incorrectly do), you will end up losing your seat to some degree, and may also end up sitting crooked.
"Contact has to be just that, contact. People think 'oh this horse is very light I have nothing in my hand' – this is wrong because then you have no contact to his hind legs." ~ Jean Bemelmans
Posting or rising at the trot can sometimes be a useful exercise as you ride a collected trot. It can encourage the horse to think more forward and swing more fully through the body.
You must keep riding forward into the bit while riding your horse in a stretching position. A low neck does nothing without the horse remaining active and swinging behind the saddle.
"There are two types of seat, active and passive. Don’t ride hard all the time: active, passive, active. The main thing is to think about the horse’s back a lot." ~ Carl Hester
Train your horse to understand that he should stay at whatever speed you put him in until told otherwise. Remember that every time you allow your horse to make a decision about his speed or energy level (or don't realize that he has done so), you are training him to make these decisions on his own.
"The horse has to have independence, responsibility, and tolerance for a variety of distances [when jumping] because you’re going to mess up and the horse has to be able to cope." ~ William Fox Pitt
"Make him proudly independent of you so that he understands his job so well you merely walk the course and then show him the way. Tell your horse what you want him to do, and then allow him to do it." ~ Jimmy Wofford
"If you put a muscle where it doesn’t want to be, it is broken down – not build up."
So don't go thinking that you are building the right muscles when you force a horse's head into a position. The horse has to be using those muscles correctly to actually develop properly.
Don't "sort of" have a contact. Try to either ride with a connection, or ride with a loose rein. That "in between" area where there is sometimes a feel and sometimes not, is where horses learn to fear and/or evade the contact.
"But for the horse, riding is indistinguishable from training; you're training your horse every time you ride it, like it or not." ~ William Steinkraus
Don't let your horse lean on your leg in the ribcage area. Teach him to yield to that pressure. Swinging the quarters out in response to your leg is an evasion, and is a very different response than truly yielding and bending in the body.
"The word Dressage is used precisely because of its double connotation for taming and training. One cannot train any animal without having its full attention and focus on the trainer. Taming—focusing the horse’s attention— is difficult because he is genetically determined by instinct and is programmed for multitasking. The rider’s job is to gradually replace the horse’s instinctive behavior with one of utter focus on his rider. This enormous change in the horse’s behavior— disconnecting from his instincts and focusing instead on his rider—can be earned only by a rider deserving of the horse’s total trust." ~ Charles de Kunffy
When a horse collects, his shoulders will come up naturally as he engages and lowers his croup. Do NOT attempt to artificially raise the front end. That would be front to back riding, which is incorrect.
Always keep your eyes up when you are walking your course. See exactly what your horse will be seeing for the first time while under pressure, and think about how he might react.
"You can't teach someone to ride cross-country in one field, or even with constant instruction. It has to become a natural thing, and the only way to achieve that is to get out and do it." ~ Bruce Davidson
When you first begin to work on movements like shoulder in and haunches in, always start out with minimal angle and focus more on the quality of the bend.
Eventers need a saddle for cross country that allows them to move their center of gravity back for drop fences or anything on a downhill slope. Make sure your saddle has enough room for this to happen.
To be truly safe when jumping cross country, both horse and rider should learn to love that deep takeoff spot.
Please note that a "chip" is not the same as a deep spot. A chip is when the horse adds a stride unexpectedly, usually because the rider is going for a long spot or otherwise interfering with the horse's striding, and the horse is out of balance. And that's where the rotational falls happen. A deep spot in balance is the safest place to be.
For the cross country phase of Eventing, we need to be able to keep our horses balanced at the gallop while riding over rolling, undulating terrain. Yet it is becoming quite common these days for horses and riders to do most or even all of their jump training in a flat, perfectly manicured arena.
Make sure you do enough galloping and jumping training out on rolling hills if at all possible, to become adept at keeping your horse balanced at the gallop with the added challenge of varying terrain.
"Shoulder blades dropped into back pockets, lower rib cage softly lifted--buoyant and soft--open sternum, and breathing into lower back AND belly (to expand them) on the exhale." ~ Lee DiGangi
You can't make a horse relax. You have to HELP him relax. The mindset of helping rather than trying to make it happen makes a world of difference to the horse. This might sound like an obvious thing to say. But I see a lot of riders somewhat angrily trying to force their nervous and anxious horses to calm down and behave.
Be conscious of keeping your core engaged and your body stretched up tall as you soften the reins. Many riders mistakenly "let go" in their core and/or lean forward when softening the rein.
When preparing for a jump from a galloping position, one should always sink down into the heel before any touching of seat in the saddle, and only THEN should you take the mouth if necessary. Taking back on the reins first will almost always cause resistance.
"The basic techniques, or what they call basics, are more difficult than what comes later, this is the Trap of Dressage. Correct basics are more difficult than the piaffe and passage." ~ Conrad Schumacher
Horses brace against the bit when their RIDERS are bracing against their mouth. If you want your horse to soften, you need to be softer and more supple yourself.
Quote from Jimmy Wofford on the difference between being qualified to move up a level vs actually being READY to move up a level:
"Why not instead put the emphasis on how well you ride and how sweetly your horse goes for you, and lose this insane focus on climbing the qualification ladder?"
The best kind of "roundness" in Dressage comes when the exercises that you ride cause your horse to carry themselves properly, so that you are then able to simply allow them to become round, rather than trying to force it to happen.
"Many riders think dressage is just sitting trot, but I think the light seat can also be part of a dressage session. The light seat is a position that makes horses happy; it is a welfare position." ~ Christoph Hess
Because one hind foot is always in the air while at the trot, it is harder for a horse to refuse a jump from a trot approach vs a canter approach. So it can be a good idea to trot into a spooky fence that you think your horse might want to stop at. Just make sure you keep riding that trot until your horse is safely up in the air.
A good hand is the one that can smoothly resist or yield as necessary, and can quietly receive with precision the energy from the horse's hindquarters.
"At the sitting trot everyone wants to stop themselves from bouncing. What you have to do is let yourself go with the flow of the horse." ~ Charlotte Dujardin
"An engaged hind leg is the foundation that allows you to stretch the horse at a moment’s notice without him falling on his forehand." ~ Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel
"Concentrate on the transitions, forward and back, build the activity from behind. When you bring the horse slightly back, you still have to push her forward to the hand, you can keep riding as long as you can feel the hind legs in your hand." ~ Susanne Miesner
"The true joy for the good dressage rider is found in watching a horse develop mentally and physically through successful training." ~ Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel
"Never leave a resistant horse without reconciliation, even if you had to treat it very strictly on that particular day. Do not put it away until it obeys, but then a friendly relationship must be restored between trainer and horse. Always adhere to the principle: "The punishment is directed only at the disobedience, never at the horse"; as soon as the disobedience is over, it is our good horse." ~ E.F.Seidler
"True straightness can only be approached when managed in conjunction with the other elemental structures of riding in which it is inextricably housed: forward and calm." ~ Erik Herbermann
"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
The use of the indirect inside rein to keep the horse from falling in is a crutch, and should only be used very briefly, if at all. Teach the horse to stand up straight by being obedient to the leg aids instead.
The short side of the arena is a great place to show your horse's movement off to the Dressage judge. If your horse is in lovely self carriage, push your hands forward a bit and show it off!
"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
When riding in a two point or galloping position, imagine that you are wearing a seat belt - loose enough that you can still bring your seat out of the saddle, but snug enough that you cannot bring your seat very far up or forward. Ideally your seat should remain centered and poised over the lowest part of the saddle.
If you struggle to get good quality flying changes, remember that as always the quality of your canter is the ultimate key. Ride exercises that will improve your canter, rather than drilling lead changes.
Collection is often best introduced in the canter, as most horses find it easiest to "sit behind" in the canter. I find that utilizing the spiral in at the canter is the most natural and clear way to begin the process.
From Facebook fan Jennifer McGinley ~ "If you establish the canter you need (balanced, adjustable) and keep the horse on his feet, your horse can jump from anywhere. We are learning that you can actually ride forward and powerful to the base. If the set up is right, they can jump from anywhere, safely, with balance and still remain adjustable on landing to set up for B & C elements!"
"If you don’t have the ability to buy yourself a great horse or if you don’t have a sponsor to buy one, you have to buy what you can afford, even if it might be a 2-year-old. Then get a good trainer, which is a more important investment than what you put into a horse." ~ Carl Hester
"Mares are in charge of survival, and in the wild they have a lot of responsibility. Mares will work WITH you, but they won’t work FOR you." ~ Tony DiGangi
"People don't like to go back and fix things…. I think they think of it as failing. I call it learning. I have a saying, 'The faster you go back, the quicker you'll move forward.'" ~ Elaine Hayes
"Suppleness in the back is the most important basic you can give your horse. When a horse is not supple in his back, it’s a big deal for him. Horses store a lot of emotion in their backs. If you have ever hurt your back, you know how painful it can be. It occupies your every thought." ~ Scott Hassler
With true impulsion, the horse has lots of forward energy, but the rider remains the driver. When the horse overpowers the rider and takes control, the horse is just running.
Well ridden half halts are the single most important way for you to increase your horse's carrying power behind. This is because half halts will be used constantly throughout your work, even in the show ring, to encourage the horse to carry more weight behind. So the effectiveness of your half halts will have a big effect on your ability to keep your horse carrying his weight on his hind legs.
"The worst mistake a rider can make is to fail to discover and accept a horse’s personality. By oversimplifying horses and lumping them all together the rider risks ‘breaking’ them and taking away their spark." ~ Klaus Balkenhol
"To ensure success, the Eventing coach must give the same sort of attention to cross-country training and conditioning that is currently given to dressage and show jumping." ~ Jimmy Wofford
"One of the many roles of the Event coach is to be able to recognize the interaction of the three parts of the sport and to keep them in balance." ~ Jimmy Wofford
Gymnastic jumping exercises are meant to teach the horse to solve problems when jumping. They teach horses to think about their timing, developing their eye for accurate judgement, and teach them to be clever with their footwork. To then go out and squelch the horse's initiative at fences by picking each spot for them is like throwing all that gymnastic work right out the window.
You will always have more options when approaching a fence off of a shorter, bouncier canter stride with lots of activity. That's when just about ANY takeoff spot feels smooth. Whenever you feel like your horse took off from a "bad spot", the actual problem was the quality of your canter!
With both jumping and Dressage, if your horse is struggling to maintain a consistent rhythm, think of using your breathing to help him stay regular. This is one reason why counting is so useful when riding, as when you count, you will breathe in that rhythm.
"It’s better to have three days of excellent schooling with breaks, stretching, or hacks in between than it is to have six days of sour, mediocre schooling. If your horse does something well, give them a reward and a little break. Be free and easy with the praise, and don’t keep 'drilling' for the sake of it." ~ Cathrine Dufour
"Get comfortable with centerlines. We ride centerlines all the time in dressage, so make them your friend. Remember, nothing changes on centerline." ~ Steffen Peters
Think of pushing your stomach towards your hands, rather than bringing your hands backwards towards your stomach to connect. And if you feel like you must bring your hands back to connect, your reins are too long.
"I like to think about making my body longer in the front to make me sit up instead of thinking ‘shoulders back,’ which can make you stiff." ~ Mary King
"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
"The horse's engine is in the rear. Thus, you must ride your horse from behind, and not focus on the forehand simply because you can see it." ~ Bill Steinkraus
"Eventing horses need exercise and plenty of it. Walkers and treadmills are great as you can work your horse without the added burden of a rider weight, but if you don’t have these at your disposal, long walks on a loose rein or paddock time are equally beneficial." ~ Michael Jung
"What is Feel? Feel is the invisible quality in every good rider who is communicating with her horse in harmony. She can perceive where the horse is during every step because he accepts the rider’s seat, leg and rein aids through the connection. The rider can then communicate with the horse in a stable, sensitive and relaxed manner." ~ Sarah Geikie
If you want your horse to take a better, deeper lateral step in any lateral exercise, engage your seat bone on the same side as you use your leg. For example, to better engage your horse's left hind leg in a left shoulder in or a spiral out on a left circle, you need to engage your left seat bone as you are closing your left leg.
Don’t try to rebalance your unbalanced horse with one big, crude half halt. It won’t work. Intelligent use of figures, frequent transitions, and the use of multiple smooth and subtle half halts as needed, ridden within the rhythm of the horse’s stride, will bring you the best results.
If your leg aids are too strong, your horse will either stiffen and brace against them, or quickly learn to tune them out. Every time you catch yourself applying a strong leg, stop and refresh your aids.
When riding any lateral movement on a straight line, be clear in how you straighten your horse at the end of the movement, and before turning through the next corner.
"A happy cooperation should exist between rider and horse, without the horse having to sacrifice its alertness, personality or interest." ~ Bert de Nemethy
There is almost no better way to teach a horse to be more quick thinking over fences than to practice bounce fences. Try to incorporate them into ALL of your jumping training situations, not just in gymnastic lines. Even though you will not see a bounce combination on a show jumping course at a competition, putting them up in your course work at home will sharpen up your horse!
"After each down transition that was well absorbed by the hindquarters the rider's hand has to yield by uncoiling the wrist so that the front legs can advance by a foot in order to relieve the haunches of their acute flexion, which they cannot maintain, and to reduce the weight that is placed on them. If the rider does not allow that, the horse is forced to take a step backwards with his hind legs in order to keep his balance, and that is a mistake." ~ E.F.Seidler
Think of that girth tight against your horse's side… after a while he tunes that out and barely notices it. The same will happen with your legs if they are always tightly clamped on his sides.
"When you have finished your training session, give the horse the rein and go out on the road for a walk. Half an hour, up and down. Give the horse this hard ground and you will get strong hooves, good joints, strong tendons and a healthy horse." ~ Gerd Heuschmann
"Dressage is not an easy sport, there are so many variations, but the reaction to your leg, and straightness, are so important. You just don’t see top Grand Prix riders kicking or straining for a result. Don’t tease him, tap there so quick he doesn’t know it is coming. Everything in a horse’s life should be black and white, not grey." ~ Debbie McDonald
In the process of training horses, it is almost always more difficult and time consuming to go back later to fill in holes in their foundation, than it is to just take the time to do things correctly in the first place.
"We must always remember that the horse, by its anatomy, is not meant to carry weight. Therefore the most important task after getting him used to the saddle is getting him used to the weight of the rider. The horse needs enough time for that. It is better to train five times a week for ten to twenty minutes than three times a week for half an hour. The horse may develop muscle soreness which can take a long time to disappear. It is especially important during this period of his training that the horse has the opportunity to enjoy some free movement out in the paddock." ~ Susanne Miesner
A few strides of lengthening or medium here and there in whatever gait you are working in will add energy to that gait. You can then turn that energy into engagement with a half halt or downward transition.
From Facebook Fan Gabby Ballin ~ "Some rides are going to be perfect. Some rides are going to have you wondering why you don't quit riding. When that happens, take a deep breath and go back to something you know you and your horse can do easily."
"To reach a major aim the rider needs many small aims. Following them, they can check whether they are on the right track. Every stepping stone builds on the previous one. If one is missing and the rider continues regardless they will take the problem with them until one day the whole thing falls apart. As in the primary school, if the student doesn’t pass his first exam or is not considered mature enough, he will not be promoted to second class hoping he can make it there. It is the simple but basic things that need the most work." ~ Susanne Miesner
"The back is the bridge in the horse, and it can only be there if the hind leg is really working. The rider has to influence the hind legs to build that bridge, otherwise it is a horse in three pieces, back, front and you somewhere in the middle." ~ Francis Verbeek
Horses are not actually "stiff in the jaw" when they resist your hand, even though that may be what it feels like. If the feeling in your hands makes you think that your horse is stiff in its jaw, then you need to look for the real cause of the problem, which is usually a braced, rigid back.
The strong willed type of horse WILL test you, many times for no reason other than they want to be top dog! But take solace in the fact that the most difficult horses are almost always the best ones in the end. Often because they are so damn SMART.
From Facebook fan Barbara Martin ~ "What happens on the ground is just as important as what goes on in the saddle. Make sure you are giving clear signals to your horse as to who is in charge. We forget this sometimes, I think!"
The movement of the half-pass helps to develop the brilliance of the extended trot, by increasing hip and stifle flexibility, and freeing up the horse's shoulders.
The main objectives of the warm up phase of riding is to loosen the horse's body (especially the back muscles) and ensure he is attentive to the rider's aids.
"It is wonderful to use the 'forward and down' stretching exercise as part of the daily work. We also must keep in mind a suitable balance between work and rest periods during any ride, and we need to schedule adequate days off work and days spent hacking outdoors. Physically tired or mentally soured horses don't learn much, other than ways of evading work." ~ Erik Herbermann
Riders should know where their horse is going to land from a jump before they take off. How? The type of canter in the final strides of the approach will dictate the shape of the horse's jumping effort, and the trajectory of the jump.
It can be helpful to make lots of little changes of frame in your warm-up… a little stretching, a little up, and repeat… This can help your horse to come more through his body.
"You are connected with your seat to the horse’s back, connected with your legs to the horse’s body, and connection can only work if it goes through the whole horse and into the rider’s body, and from the rider’s body back to the whole horse." ~ Susanne Miesner
Riders should be aware of the specific questions posed by each individual jump on course, and should not treat all jumps the same. Things that need to be taken into consideration are the shape of the jump, the footing, the terrain involved before and after the jump, the lighting, the kind of approach you are given, and what is on the landing side of the jump.
"Horses are not trying to be difficult. They’re probably just trying to understand and sometimes they don’t know how to do it, or they don’t get your signals. You have to learn a little bit every day, and when they do something correct, give them a lot of positive reinforcement to let them know that they’ve done it right." ~ Jessica Springsteen
"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
It is NOT correct to try to raise the horse's neck or shoulders in any way with the reins. True front end elevation in Dressage comes only from real collection induced lowering of the hind quarters.
If you love your horse, teach him to have good manners, both on the ground and under saddle. A horse with good manners is more likely to end up in a good home if the unexpected happens.
FAR too many riders bend the horse's neck when asked for more bend. That is not what we want! We want bend in the horse's ribcage. Which is achieved by asking for a hint of a lateral step with the rider's inside leg, into the connection of the outside rein.
A tip for all of the instructors out there... When a student has a lightbulb moment during a riding lesson, ask them to explain it you in their own words. This way it becomes even more cemented in their own mind, and you can more easily help them find it again if they lose it.
The rein back is an underutilized and very often incorrectly performed exercise. To be truly beneficial to the horse, it has to be performed steadily and in a relaxed way. And most importantly straight, while on a soft rein, so that the horse is not jammed together from front to back while stepping backwards. Otherwise he will not be able to use his body correctly.
If you are able to follow your horse's mouth with a consistently elastic feel, he will learn to trust your hand so fully, that he will lose the desire to escape it.
Your rein connection should have suppleness in it, allowing it to breathe along with the horse's movement. It must remain a living, breathing thing - never rigid.
"From half-halt to half-halt, you have to own the rhythm of their footfalls in each of the three gaits and the tempo or how fast they are going over every meter of ground in that gait." ~ Robert Dover
On wrestling with the strong horse in front of a cross country fence: "If you can’t get them back, at least drop the reins and let them see the fence." ~ Clayton Fredricks
Strive to always keep your spine fully stretched upward when riding. When you slump, your head and shoulders will become heavy, and your horse will be more likely to become heavy in your hands.
"I teach riders to adjust their reins within three strides on level ground [after a drop fence], and I want them seated between elements of a combination. This will give the rider more stability plus a wider and more sophisticated range of aids." ~ Jimmy Wofford
The shape of your canter stride on the approach to a fence (which is an indicator of your horse's balance in the canter) is what determines the shape that your horse makes over the jump. A round, bouncy canter produces a round, lofty jump. A flat, strung out canter produces a low, flat jump with the horse heavy on the forehand.
We all know that as riders we want to aim to keep a straight line from our elbow to the horse's mouth. But did you know that it means when viewed from above as well as from the side? And that it also includes your wrists and fingers??
Whenever you are facing any type of cross country fence with a ditch in front of it, think of it as a "free" front rail. Just ride forward with your eye on the top of the back rail.
"Infinite repetitions of one and the same problematic movement are usually a sign of insecurity in the rider and serve no purpose other than self-satisfaction. The horse doesn't gain anything from it. It leads to an overwrought horse and causes muscle fatigue and nervousness. Here, a trainer must intervene and go back to easier exercises rider and horse have already mastered." ~ Klaus Balkenhol
It is important to treat each horse, and each situation, individually. When problems arise, sometimes what is needed is time, patience, and encouragement. And other times strong corrections might be in order. This is why it is so important to be working with an instructor who has sufficient experience with a wide variety of types of horses - so they can help you make the best choices with your horse.
"Self carriage is really easy to see. The best thing you can do for self-carriage is the give and re-take of the reins. It is amazing how you forget to do that when you ride on your own." ~ Carl Hester
The purpose of riding a transition is not just to get from one gait to the next. But to do so in a way that further gymnasticizes the horse, and improves his carriage.
"Why not ride your dressage movements out in the open, in the field or the back paddock? Chances are your horse will be brighter, more forward and focused." ~ Michael Jung
Deepen your seat to begin a downward transition. But as you feel your horse beginning to change gears to make the transition, if you can slightly lighten your seat and soften your reins, your horse will be able to come more "through" his topline.
"Having a horse with crazy gaits and an eagerness to please at 5 years old is freaking me out because I’m really feeling the weight of the responsibility to not push too hard, too fast." ~ Lauren Sprieser Something every rider should be thinking about!
"The motto of any instructor or rider must always be forward. Forward in the movement of the horse instructed to his care. Forward in order to achieve his aim in the art of training. Forward whenever difficulties appear." ~ Alois Podhajsky
You have to have the ability to ride in "neutral", with no aids whatsoever, for your horse to be able to feel, recognize, and respond to your lightest of aids.
