Recent Articles in Tip/Quote of the Day!

When riding on slippery footing, think about some of the same tactics that you would use to drive on an icy road. Go a little more slowly and don't make any sudden turns or changes of speed. Also think about stepping a little more into your outside stirrup in your turns, to help you be more effective with your outside aids. This will help your horse keep his outside hind leg more under his body, so his hind legs will be less likely to slip out from under him on the turns.

"Working over a single pole on the ground, notice if the young horse prefers to chip in a short stride or stretch for a long stride. Then remember this is the default that they will return to when things go wrong." ~ Eric Smiley

We must not forget that the horses we ride today are descended from the ones who did NOT get eaten by the mountain lion at the water hole. In other words, it is perfectly normal for horses to be spooky.

Dressage riders should aim to mix their horse’s schooling up with hacking and even some jumping if possible, as it will help to keep the horse more fresh and interested in his work.

Frequent quality transitions are the best way to confirm that your horse is listening equally to both the driving aids and the restraining aids.

It is a good idea to sit back every month or so and assess your training program and its current results. Be ready to add to or change your plan if you are not seeing results.

You have to have experiences to gain experience.

I find that many riders are using bits that are too big for their horse’s mouths. While certainly better than a bit that is too small, when a bit is too big there is too much movement of the bit sliding back and forth in the horse’s mouth. Horses want the bit to be still in their mouths, they don’t want it sliding left and right all the time.

"The most important thing is for the horse to be thinking on its own. Unless you’re Michael Jung, you make mistakes and things go wrong. You have to teach the horse the stride isn’t always right, the line isn’t always right, and that’s why we start from trot." ~ William Fox Pitt

From member Karen Barbato ~ "Asking my horse to move laterally off my leg is NOT a negotiation. DO IT NOW (and with a happy face!)"

Great tip from member Sharon Fitzgerald ~ "It is only when you get completely out of your horse's way that you can feel exactly what they are doing and then have a hope in hell of influencing it. Otherwise you might be spending a lot of time just fixing what you are causing."

"The horse’s posture, his strength, and his suppleness, all influence very much the sensations that the bit creates in him." ~ Dupaty de Clam

"Don't take the tempo down without revving the engine." ~ Chris Bartle

The more often you give the reins, the softer your horse will be… both in the mouth and in the body.

Riding with shorter stirrups will stretch out your leg and improve your shock absorbers.

It can be a good exercise in awareness to exaggerate both extremes of an aspect of your position, such as leaning all the way to the left and then all the way to the right. Whichever way feels easier or less awkward for you might indicate that you tend to regularly sit to that side. Experiment with that and try to find the middle.

From Facebook fan Mary Apfel-Vandeyacht ~ "Riding is a lot like driving a manual transmission... You may be able to make it go (when learning how to ride), but you're going to break it and look like a schmuck unless you learn right."

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 legs are locked and rigid.

No moment riding without stirrups is ever wasted!

From Facebook fan Andrea Monsarrat Waldo ~ "You can learn to take the best from different trainers, but first you have to have a "skeleton," a theoretical framework to hang it all on, and that takes time and some consistency of training, I think. Once you have a system you can add to it/alter it, but with no system it's just a jumble of random techniques."

"If your horse looks carefully at what they are jumping, is able to make small alterations when getting a little too close or far away from a fence, then produces an appropriate jumping effort and copes quickly with the unexpected slip or stumble, they can be said to have a ‘fifth leg.'" ~ William Micklem

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

Most riders don't do nearly enough transitions in their daily work sessions.

It is a good idea to sit back every month or so and assess your training program and its current results. Be ready to add to or change your plan if you are not seeing results.

"The rein connection should be like a solid handshake. Don’t have a wimpy handshake. You know what a bad feeling you get when someone gives you a creepy handshake, so don’t give that icky feeling to your horse." ~ William Fox Pitt

"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

Riders who get the best out of the sensitive type of horse are good at being tactful. 

Frequent quality transitions are the best way to confirm that your horse is listening equally to both the driving aids and the restraining aids.

"Contact doesn't only refer to the hands, reins, and bit, but to the whole rider. A rider must give the horse contact through his entire seat. This means that his legs must lay gently against the horse's body, his seat must be balanced and supple, and his arms and hands must follow the horse's movement quietly and evenly. This create a smooth cycle of movement as the horse takes the rider with him. Only this then creates contact." ~ Klaus Balkenhol

The answer is really rarely "more leg," but rather to teach the horse to be more responsive to light leg aids.

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

Your horse can feel whether or not you have a strong, detailed plan of how to ride your jumping course or Dressage test. And he will gain confidence in you if he feels you are confident in your plan.

When working with horses, always be mindful of the feedback you are giving your horse at any given time... whether intentional or accidental. When your horse misbehaves, make sure you don't give him an accidental reward by stopping to regroup (which to him is a rest and a reward.) Keep moving, get the horse to do something (anything) well, and THEN stop to regroup if you must.

The halt must come from the body of the rider, not the reins.

From Facebook fan Joan Dunlap ~ "Fix your position first... then the horse will adjust theirs."

It is possible to have contact without a real connection (in fact it is quite common, unfortunately), but a true connection always involves good contact. The connection involves the horse's entire body… with energy created in the horse's hind legs traveling through the horse's supple body, and into the rider's hands.

Excessive bend in the neck, whether lateral (to the side) or longitudinal (behind the vertical), disconnects the haunches from the rein aids and allows the horse to remain locked up in other parts of the body, such as the poll and hips.

Looseness and suppleness in the horse is demonstrated by full body movement and the maximization of the horse’s range of motion in the stride of each gait.

"The art of cross country is allowing your horse to gallop along in rhythm and jump out of his stride." ~ Andrew Hoy

If you tend to ride in a chair seat with your feet out in front of you, try to think about stretching up tall, so that your seat bones point straight down… and then think of bending your knees so that your seat bones point to your heels. Eventually you need to stretch your leg back more fully and starting from the hip, but this can be a good way for riders to start the process.