Get your FREE daily tip here!
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1957
We have to teach the horse to love to learn.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes on this page are the work of Lesley Stevenson. Please ensure proper attribution when sharing. Thank you!
Get your FREE daily tip here!
We have to teach the horse to love to learn.
Get your FREE daily tip here!
Think of letting your knees fall down and back to lengthen your leg in Dressage. This can help to prevent the dreaded "chair seat."
Get your FREE daily tip here!
When doing a turn on the haunches or a pirouette, the rider must keep their weight centered over the horse, with an engaged inside seat bone. I see far too many riders (at all levels) letting their weight fall to the outside, which is a hindrance to their horse in
Get your FREE daily tip here!
For a horse to be really good at jumping out of a deep distance, they need to have an understanding of how to shorten their stride without losing any hind leg engagement. This is why it is SO important that you do NOT pull on the reins when you feel
Get your FREE daily tip here!
Think of your brain as a densely wooded area with paths running through it. Whenever you are trying to learn how to do something new, you have to blaze new pathways in your brain.
Get your FREE daily tip here!
Very often the "silly" spooker has a physical reason for acting that way - either pain or unresolved tension somewhere in their body.
Get your FREE daily tip here!
Any excessive closing of knees or thighs takes the rider's lower leg off of the horse. I feel it is more correct to wrap the entire leg around the horse for half halts and downward transitions - as if giving the horse a hug with your legs. This encourages
Get your FREE daily tip here!
Bend is NOT created with the inside rein. All that does is turn the horse's head and neck to the inside. The rider's inside leg should send the horse up into the outside rein - filling it up. That will create bend in the middle of the
Get your FREE daily tip here!
I am a big believer in a system of continuity when training horses and riders. I think that the correct foundation should be laid out even at the most basic level. So that the rider does not need to go back and re-learn things as they progress. So much
Get your FREE daily tip here!
"That they stay loose is the most important, the most mistakes are made when the riders start to collect them. Collection is not slower or shorter, collection is more cadence, more energy behind, and that only works with a really loose back, with suppleness – and that is what they
Get your FREE daily tip here!
Notice that the stiffest tree is the most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending in the wind. Think about how this concept might apply to both horse and rider...
Get your FREE daily tip here!
The lazier type of horse will often do best with a little gallop around before any Dressage work.