Unless otherwise noted, all quotes on this page are the work of Lesley Stevenson. Please ensure proper attribution when sharing. Thank you!
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With young or untrained horses who conformationally have a high set on neck (which is a good trait to have for a jumping or Dressage horse), you have to be particularly careful that you don’t work them in a frame that is too advanced for their strength level. It
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"Just as the sculptor at first chisels the future outlines of his work of art with powerful blows out of the crude block of stone, and then lets it develop in increasingly finer detail in all its beauty, the aids of the rider must also become more and more
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A real collected trot should feel like a contained medium trot. Not just slower, with shorter strides - but with enough stored energy and contained power that you feel that all you have to do to get medium trot is release it. And the same for collected canter.
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"Riders are very often but mistakenly glad to see their horse arch his neck, regardless of how it is arched (whether too high or too low or behind the bit or stiff). Have you ever seen a horse with an arched but stiff neck, looking as though he were
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Many horses are more brave and confident when truly on the aids, as they feel more truly connected with their riders.
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For those of you with horses that want to "run" into the canter when working on walk to canter transitions (accelerating and taking a trot step or two before picking up the canter), think "halt" as you are applying your aid to canter from the walk.
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When the rider attempts to give the horse "support", it doesn't help a horse learn to balance. Instead it gives them something to lean on, and actually USE for balance. Correct and soften, and your horse will learn to balance itself without relying on you to
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Always keep in mind that you do not necessarily need to slow down to rebalance your horse between fences when jumping. A horse can be balanced at just about any speed.You can also change the shape of the canter stride without changing the speed. And most importantly, the rhythm.
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To succeed in Eventing, you need to be as motivated by your failures as much as you are by your successes.
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A big key to success lies in the rider's ability to differentiate between resisting and pulling on the reins.
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"One can never, I believe, strive for a lack of criticism in riding – because I don’t think that there is such a thing as perfect riding. I don’t think anybody’s performance is beyond some sort of criticism." ~ Tad Coffin
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"Riding is a dance, but horse and rider have to listen to the same music." ~ Pedro Torres
