Recent Articles in Tip/Quote of the Day!

"The harder you work, the better you get... if you remember to work harder at getting better." ~ Jimmy Wofford

"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!

"I think it is important to recognize that horses do not just teach us about how to ride and train them... they teach us lessons about our lives, and how to live them." ~ Jimmy Wofford

Dressage is natural 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 manner.

"The seat and weight aids are supporting aids. They support either a leg or rein aid, or both. Don’t underestimate their significance though. They are important aids, especially in the fine tuning of advanced horses. The leg and rein aids will fail to achieve their full effectiveness without the support of weight and seat." ~ Christian Thiess

"As I grew older, I became more aware of the basic principles of dressage, and the first is soundness. In my country we have vets at the stables 24/7 – it's a red flag, it tells you something is wrong. Why is the horse limping? Because it is not worked correctly. You need dressage for soundness, to build muscle, to get the horse carrying the weight on its hind legs – then you have less vet problems." ~ George Morris

Correct Dressage training will improve the balance, carriage, responsiveness, strength, and confidence of the horse of ANY discipline.

If your breastplate is fairly tight when your horse is standing still, you will be preventing your horse from being able to use his shoulders at all as he moves and jumps. Make sure there is enough room to put a fist between the middle of the breastplate and the horse, or a little less so for breastplates with elastic.

You can't balance or collect energy that you don't have. Forward first!

"I’m a big fan of ground lines. I think it teaches the horse to have better technique in front. Everything that we do is connected — the way we start on the cross rail to this, it all connects. We're building through our training." ~ McLain Ward

"The rider's seat is a 'transformer' whose role is to modify the energy emitting from the horse's haunches." ~ Charles de Kunffy

When bending your horse, keep your focus on the middle of his body, not his neck. Bending in the ribcage is what is important. 

If you want to become a top rider or trainer, you can't dabble… you need to immerse yourself totally in the sport.

A calm yet mobile mouth means that the horse is light in the hand, and relaxed through the jaw and neck, which allows for easy swallowing.

"I can’t tell him off for wanting to try too much. He has to be rewarded because all he’s trying to do is try a bit harder." ~ Charlotte Dujardin

"So what do we see when we watch these masters at work? We learn what it means to become a good rider. It means to be picky, detail-oriented, motivated for your whole life, paying attention to every stride, having a system but with the flexibility to adjust it. Even before you can control the horse, you have to first control yourself (99 percent of problems with a horse are caused by the rider). Finally, a good rider needs the willingness to say, 'I made the mistake. The horse didn't make the mistake.'" ~ Christoph Hess

Clinics can be great for the overall experience of doing lots of testing exercises, while hopefully getting some new tools and ideas to add to your "toolbox". But private lessons with your trainer are where you establish your basic foundation and understanding of your training system.

Don't forget to ride the last stride before every jump… don't "jump ship" and freeze up on your horse just when he needs you the most.

Courage is like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.

"How can the rider expect the horse to have confidence in his hands when this piece of metal is constantly moving in his mouth?" ~ HLM Van Schaik (Dutch Olympic Medalist)

If you want to jump well, make sure you can consistently canter over poles on the ground in a smooth, balanced manner. I am always surprised how many riders are attempting to jump courses, yet they cannot nicely canter over a ground pole.

In a good connection, the rider's hands should breathe with the horse's mouth.

A Dressage rider’s leg should lie softly on their horse's side like an "al dente" noodle - draped around the horse to allow for soft, subtle, and precise leg aids. 

"The harder you work, the better you get... if you remember to work harder at getting better." ~ Jimmy Wofford

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

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 if 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.

"The horse is the fastest learner of all domestic animals—including children. If you stay alive by running away, you better learn fast." ~ Robert Miller, DVM

"In the warm-up, I mostly ride curved lines so that I can work on lateral suppleness along with getting the horse relaxed over the back. I spend as much time as it takes for the horse to feel relaxed and willing to lower and stretch from his withers. I do circles, serpentines and figure eights. There is no point in going on with movements if the horse is not supple over his back. I also use leg yields as part of the warm-up to help get the horse responsive to the inside leg and connected to the outside rein." ~ Charlotte Bredahl-Baker

"We try to have discipline and attention to detail in everything we do. Being aware of all these little details gives me an advantage. And if I get a little edge everywhere more often than not I am going to be ahead." ~ McLain Ward

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

"When training, riders should focus on the line, but sit quietly and allow the horse to use its own initiative to jump the fence." ~ Eric Smiley

"A Horse(wo)man is someone who constantly seeks to find out what they don't know about horses, horse care, riding and training." ~ Andrea Monsarrat Waldo

"To motivate our horses to travel in a stretching position, I let them chew the reins out of the hand now and then and take care that the horse stays collected behind. I slowly lengthen the reins, ride actively to the hand, introduce the increased stretch to the bit and drive toward it. Ideally, my horse will take the reins out of my hands through the stretch of the neck and the chewing action of the mouth. To take the reins out of the hands means that the horse actively responds when he gets the signal to chew. Many horses deviate from the ideal in that they invert, roll over or go against the hand." ~ Uta Graf

Riders don't always know that they are lacking something, let alone what that something is. That's why regular instruction is crucial.

"Keep your hands down in front of the jump. Stop trying to control him with your hands, and control him with your seat." ~ Chris Bartle

"A true horseman/woman understands the psychological and physical health requirements of their horse just as much as they understand riding and training them. The deeper you look the more fascinating it becomes..." ~ Nancy Zanetta

"It's a wonderful and unusual thing when professionals (and amateurs) who compete 'against' each other are so fantastically supportive and helpful to each other. It makes our sport pretty special. :) " ~ Joan Childs

A horse can only come properly over the back if you truly allow them to use their necks.

"After the horse has, for a certain period of time, been lunged in the appropriate way, it will not be very difficult to ride a twenty metre diameter circle." ~ Dr. Henri van Schaik

Since it is rather easy to forget to do so, challenge yourself to focus more on maintaining an even rhythm when doing figures of any kind.

Don’t let your horse change your posture.

"I'm very visual. I also am good at making myself into a pretzel. Last night I though of how a skier in slalom changes direction with subtle motion, otherwise they'll bite it. With that subtlety, my mare easily floated back and forth in the zig zag." ~ Annette Gaynes

Horses that have been trained with force often remain somewhat in "prey animal" mode, which means that they will be always looking for a way out of the situation they are in.  

"The conversation with your horse is a private one, others should not see it." ~ Eric Smiley

Your attitude determines the quality of your practice, and the quality of your practice determines your performance.

The more often you are able to give the reins, the more relaxed your horse will likely be.

"At the beginning, the horse should have a long neck, and be really going into the bit, and that I am able to always have steady contact with a willingness of the horse to go forward. They are a little down at the beginning when I do my warm up, it doesn’t matter if it is a four-year-old or a Grand Prix horse, the first ten minutes are the same. Then when you go to collect, you try to keep them in exactly this position – in front of your leg so the horse is always willing to go forwards, and out." ~ Hubertus Schmidt

As an Eventer, it is smart to do some of your canter flatwork at the gallop, to teach your horse that the extra speed of the gallop is not an excuse to be wild or  disobedient.

Overuse of the inside rein grounds the inside hind leg, limiting hind leg engagement.

"The upper body should not move back and forth in the canter. Instead, the lumbar back should become supple" ~ Nuno Oliveira