Recent Articles in Tip/Quote of the Day!

Never “go for the long one” at any jump into water that involves height. If you do, one of 2 things are likely to happen: 1. The horse will (quite rightly) ignore you and add a stride. 2. The horse will listen to you and take off early, but will probably hit his stifles hard on the fence on the way down.

“The best stretch can be achieved on a circle when you feel the horse is balanced laterally and longitudinally. Slowly allow the reins to lengthen and see if your horse will lengthen his neck forward and downward. This will feel like a clear release and you will be able to see how the neck fills out and gets wide when you look down.” ~ Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel

You need a short bouncy energetic canter in water. Not just to the jump in, but to any jump out or otherwise related to the water. Getting long and flat in the stride can be especially disastrous at a water jump.

"A horse is not ready to start work until he neither hurries forward nor holds back." ~ Peter DeCosemo

"I once heard someone describe the ideal self-carriage (Dehnungshaltung) as the following: Think of a horse standing at the edge of a cliff with his neck stretched out forward and down to peek over the edge, but he is rocked back on his hind legs so as not to fall. This situation describes how important the balance of the whole body is for a horse to be able to stretch and keep reaching and to later carry himself in collection. Therefore, to look only at the neck without evaluating the whole body of the horse is not sufficient." ~ Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel

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.

"Riding half halts with the smallest give after each while the horse gets rounder and lighter but still reaches for the bit has been my tool to develop the basic gaits." ~ Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel

"You can influence a horse, but you're never really in control.” ~ Chris Bartle

With horses that like to curl their neck and become over bent, the rider needs to be careful not to get their reins too short. This will cause the horse to stay too short in the neck. Think of having longer arms that are always reaching towards the horse’s mouth.

"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

- You can not just add another layer over top and expect it to be right.

When asking for a canter lengthening or medium canter on a hot horse or one that is prone to tension - it can be helpful to initiate the upward transition with a bigger "scoop" of your seat rather than your leg, so that the horse understands that you want a bigger stride. Too much leg at the beginning of the lengthening can cause a horse to get tense, and can cause the horse to quicken rather than lengthen.

Always use both reins together to steer, especially when jumping. Using one rein only turns the horse's nose - but using both reins turn the horse at the shoulders, which means his body will more accurately follow your chosen line.

A horse must first be able to travel in a connected long and low frame before a proper higher head carriage can be achieved. If you struggle with lengthening your horse's neck while still maintaining a soft contact - be sure to master this connection before moving on to more advanced work. If you don't all of your more advanced work will likely be incorrect and will lack the back connection necessary for true hind leg engagement.

"Shorter reins generally allow for a better connection and less delay of the aids." ~ Reiner Klimke

If becoming a great rider wasn't hard, everyone would be able to do it. It's the hard that makes it great. 

"Nothing is as impressive or as valuable for the training as being able to control the impulsion and the desire to go forward to such an extent that the rider is able to bring his horse to a standstill from an extended trot or canter without the slightest effort or disturbance. Conversely, departing immediately from the halt into an extended gait is an equal proof of the absolute desire to go forward." ~ Alois Podhajsky

The rider hanging on the inside rein creates stiffness, resistance, head tilting, and loss of control of the horse's outside shoulder.

Just putting in the time does not guarantee success. You have to be practicing correctly to improve.

"If you get left behind jumping up a bank, your horse will HATE you!" ~ Jimmy Wofford

"Never move up until you can do the level you are at... in your sleep." ~ Jack Le Goff

From Facebook fan Annette Gaynes ~ "Release as you go past the scary spot instead of holding. SO HARD to do, but makes the horses trust that it's ok instead of thinking you're taking up panicked contact."

"Once you have ridden cross-country with short stirrups you will never ride cross-country with long stirrups again." ~ Chris Bartle 

"You don't win because you want to, deserve to, or have to. You win doing the things you do everyday while simply working to be better, perfecting your skills." ~ Unknown

Spend time on the basics, such as straightness and suppleness, and the harder movements will fall into place naturally.

There is nothing wrong with striving for perfection, as long as you don't obsess about it.

The sport of riding is at least 80% mental. Control of your mind is even more important than control of your body.

Speed magnifies mistakes. Therefore your basics had better be fairly solid before you start jumping at speed. 

If you shorten the reins when your horse is not thinking forward, he is likely to become even more stuck and behind your leg. Always get him thinking forward first!

In a movement like shoulder in, where the horse is likely to try to evade the difficulty of bending his body by swinging his quarters out, it can sometimes be helpful to bring your dressage whip forward, and touch the horse with it right in front of the saddle. This helps to reinforce your inside leg which should be up at the girth.

"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

"I think most riders do not focus on one of the foremost goals of dressage, which is the development of the gaits. To develop the horse’s gaits, the rider has to have a supple, balanced seat and ride the horse from back to front. Only then can you have the horse really through and even on both reins. From there you must ride the horse boldly forward within his tempo." ~ Hilda Gurney

"Most riders know the required movements, but not the directives, and that is what we judges pay attention to. We look to see how the horse is ridden in these required exercises. Is the horse ridden to the contact? Does he maintain rhythm and regularity in all gaits? Does he show a degree of suppleness appropriate for his level? Does the rider keep a tempo that facilitates balance? Even for a simple circle the directives are explicit: 'consistent bend around the rider’s inside leg, placement and control over the size of circle, reach to the bit and the quality of the gait.'" ~ Lilo Fore

A good horse will forgive you when you make a mistake - and expects you to do the same.