Recent Articles in Tip/Quote of the Day!

"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

You have to be able to halt, before you can half halt.

"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.

"Instead of saying 'Oh shit, is my horse going to take off at the fence?', say 'Yes it is', and go with it." ~ Mark Todd

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.

To make your seat stronger when seated in the saddle, think of using your core muscles in a downward fashion.

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.

Think of stretching the front of your upper body upward to grow taller in the saddle. 

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.

"A riders feel will always be reflected by the horse. Harmony is the word that describes the result of riding with feel." ~ Klaus Balkenhol

"In training we must be encouraged to first establish the principles and only then to tackle the details." ~Reiner Klimke

"Some riders change their horse, they change their saddle, they change their teacher; they never change themselves." ~ Unknown

"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

"The key to performance in the sport horse is their back." ~ Chris Bartle

"You don't need much skill to maintain a good position... if your horse is not moving." ~ Jimmy Wofford

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.

"Good dressage, like good coffee, is rich, smooth and well worth the wait." ~ Lisa Roberts 

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

"You have to always ride up to an oxer-vertical combination." ~ McLain Ward

"The job of your torso is to keep [itself] out of the way. Your torso just puts weight on the horse." ~ McLain Ward

"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

Rolling out the ground lines a foot or so in front of the fences can help horses to learn how to "back themselves up" a bit when necessary. 

"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

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 ask for more trot than your horse can handle in your lengthenings and medium trot. Balance and rhythm are more important.

Good jumping involves landing at the same speed as your take off.

Quite often the "silly" spooker has a physical reason for that behavior - either pain or unresolved tension somewhere in their body.

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.

"Your riding needs to take into account your horse's personality." ~ Jimmy Wofford

Maintain your inside flexion and bending aids as needed through your transitions.

When your horse is resisting, you feel the problem in your hands, but you generally fix it with your legs.

Do you clench your teeth or have a tight jaw when you ride? Remember that horses tend to mirror their riders....

"To be a really good coach you must read and draw on experiences from other sports and from life as well as from horses." ~ Yogi Breisner

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. 

Courage is just like a muscle, it is only strengthened by regular use.

On cross country riding: "Leave the thinking to your horse. His head is bigger than yours!" ~ Lars Sederholm

"A happy cooperation should exist between rider and horse, without the horse having to sacrifice its alertness, personality or interest." ~ Bert de Nemethy