Tip/Quote of the Day # 831Make sure there is a slight time lapse between a light aid and a correction. This gives the horse a chance to respond to the light aid - and it gives him a chance to LEARN from the correction.Tip/Quote of the Day # 830“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 BalkenholTip/Quote of the Day # 829When turning in the air over jumps, don't start your turn until the horse is at the top of the arc. In other words, once the horse has lifted both shoulders fully, and the knees are up, it is safe to turn. Turning before that moment can cause a loss of balance, and make the horse jump less cleanly.Tip/Quote of the Day # 828"Only a horse that goes on a light contact can be attentive..." ~ Steffen PetersTip/Quote of the Day # 827"Never ceases to amaze how many riders think they can get the neck forward by tweaking and twiddling with the reins." ~ Peter DeCosemoTip/Quote of the Day # 826"You are going to meet a fence one of three ways - short, right or long. Therefore you want to meet it on a stride that the horse can work from - a bouncy energetic canter - then he can add if he needs to and pat the ground, or say thanks for getting me here right." ~ Jimmy WoffordTip/Quote of the Day # 825"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. StensbeckTip/Quote of the Day # 824"Good riders land over an obstacle, go the the next jump and make a good arrangement. Great riders land with their horses already arranged for the next obstacle." ~ Bill SteinkrausTip/Quote of the Day # 823Your horse should always be "ready" for a halt as you canter along between jumps. If he is low and heavy, and you know it would likely be hard to stop him smoothly at any point, then you really need to halt and fix it. Show him through the action of reinforcing them that he should not ignore your subtle half halts. Tip/Quote of the Day # 822On jumping around from trainer to trainer, "Any system beats no system." ~ Jimmy WoffordTip/Quote of the Day # 821“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 HoyosTip/Quote of the Day # 820
Cross country riders always need to have a "plan B" in their heads while on course. And sometimes a plan C and D as well.
Remember that whatever you are used to doing usually feels right to you. You will often have to step out of your comfort zone if you wish to improve.
Tip/Quote of the Day # 818Walk is the "explaining" pace, so whenever possible ride every exercise in the walk first. Tip/Quote of the Day # 817"When the rein back is started on demand and carried out without haste, it is a magnificent exercise which should be repeated frequently." ~ Nuno OliveiraTip/Quote of the Day # 816You should be able to change the amount of bend within your lateral work, or in a movement like counter canter. Ask for a little more, then ask for a little less. This will help to keep your horse lighter, straighter, and more responsive.Tip/Quote of the Day # 815Think about how a wind up clock or toy works. When you wind up a wind up toy, you coil the spring with a key, and then the toy moves forward with energy until the spring is completely relaxed. When the toy is moving on its own, because there is still some energy left in that spring, that is similar to a horse moving with impulsion.Tip/Quote of the Day # 814If the double bridle is used too early in training, the horse can easily learn to overbend or overflex at the base of the neck while remaining stiff at the poll. This causes a disconnect, preventing a true connection.... which once established can be quite difficult to correct. Tip/Quote of the Day # 813"Only allow the horse to stretch after the horse is off its forehand" ~ Reiner Klimke Tip/Quote of the Day # 812If your horse is spooky, be careful to make sure he never feels punished for spooking or getting tense. If you get mad, pull, kick, or do anything else that can be perceived as a punishment, the anxiety that will be created will usually make your problem worse.Tip/Quote of the Day # 811"Once the resistances of the muscles are overcome and the animals are balanced, all horses have soft mouths, as the school horses prove, often with very flat bars. If the muscles resist with full force, if the hindquarters thrust more than the forehand supports, etc., the horse will always seek his lost balance in the hand. And then all of them have hard mouths, like race horses who take an arm-numbing contact in spite of the sharpest bars and bits. Thus, the hard-mouthed horse becomes soft-mouthed, when he develops the strength to carry his neck, and the soft-mouthed horse becomes hard-mouthed under a weak rider." ~ Friedrich v.KraneTip/Quote of the Day # 810When riding with stirrups that are too long, the temptation to raise your hands, stand up, and put your weight directly against your horse is almost irresistible.Tip/Quote of the Day # 809To alter a person's (or a horse's) habits, you almost always have to shift something in their environment.Tip/Quote of the Day # 808Bending and lateral work stretches the outside of the horse's body. As with any type of stretching, increase your demands gradually as the horse becomes more supple.Tip/Quote of the Day # 807Horses with back or SI issues often do best with a canter very early on in their warm up routine.Tip/Quote of the Day # 806If you think you can (or cannot) do something, your horse will usually believe you. Tip/Quote of the Day # 805"Ride around the corner in an active, short canter, and let your horse do the jumping." ~ Andrew NicholsonTip/Quote of the Day # 804Excessive bend in the neck, whether lateral (usually to the inside), 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.Tip/Quote of the Day # 803Remind yourself regularly that half halts should not kill the energy in your horse's stride, but rather rebalance it. Tip/Quote of the Day # 802"The inside rein must always be ready with a good offer." ~ Reiner KlimkeTip/Quote of the Day # 801From member Karen Barbato ~ "If YOU think it's work so does your horse...when you head out to ride think of it as heading out to PLAY, giggle a lot and make it all a fun game. You and your horse will be smiling when you are done."Tip/Quote of the Day # 800From Facebook fan Liz Chilcott ~ "Preparation is 90% of execution."Tip/Quote of the Day # 799It’s just as easy to train a horse to be dull to the aids as it is to train them to be sensitive to the aids.Tip/Quote of the Day # 798From Facebook fan Sascha DeAngelo ~ "Instead of gunning it to a scary fence, hold the horses head between your hands, and his body between your legs, and keep a steady deliberate pace."Tip/Quote of the Day # 797From Facebook fan Lynn Sullivan ~ "It's easier to stay fit then to get fit.....old saying but applies to horses as well as riders."Tip/Quote of the Day # 796Those who think that riding is only about getting on and "doing," and don't make the time and effort to read and educate themselves about all the details and concepts involved, will not get very far. Tip/Quote of the Day # 795
The secret to sensitivity in horses is not in the rider's physical strength, or even their technique. It is in their commitment to thinking about what happened, being definitive about what they are asking the horse do to, and giving clear and immediate feedback to the horse after each application of an aid.
Tip/Quote of the Day # 794Definition of Cadence: Lift, an element of suspension, with an even, regular rhythm. You have to get the horse where he carries himself in balance, then you can have cadence. Tip/Quote of the Day # 793"If you get left behind jumping up a bank, your horse will HATE you!" ~ Jimmy WoffordTip/Quote of the Day # 792From Facebook fan Alexis Soutter ~ "A steady hand with a soft, following elbow invites a steady, soft contact from the horse. Working the bit or being busy with your fingers invites a false frame."Tip/Quote of the Day # 791You will find that you become most productive when you have a specific goal for each training session. Be flexible, of course. But know exactly what you plan to work on for every ride. Aimless riding is simply exercise. Tip/Quote of the Day # 790
Many horses think walk time is "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.
Tip/Quote of the Day # 789"The only way to improve/influence horses' paces is to ride forward in a balanced way." ~ Carl HesterTip/Quote of the Day # 788"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 PodhajskyTip/Quote of the Day # 787If you don't give after your horse responds to your aids, you will find that you have to ask harder the next time. And that cycle will continue, until you end up with an unresponsive horse.Tip/Quote of the Day # 786Every time you let a horse get away with something, you're training him to do it.Tip/Quote of the Day # 785"You've chosen a sport that requires you to be motivated by failure." ~ Kyle CarterTip/Quote of the Day # 784When giving the aid to canter, let your outside leg sink back and down 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.Tip/Quote of the Day # 783Acceptance of the outside rein is key to resistance free downward transitions.Tip/Quote of the Day # 782If your horse does not offer to stretch near the end of a workout, there is a good chance that you didn't have him working correctly through his topline during your ride.
