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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Hans Mueller explained the difference between an aid and a cue this way: "Suppose every time your horse picked up a right lead you spit on his right ear. Pretty soon every time you wanted a flying change from left to right you spit on the right ear. Then
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If you don’t see extra back swing from your horse in your stretchy trot, there is a good chance that your stretch is not truly correct.
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Horses often train people faster than people train horses.
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"Just because you had a knock down doesn't mean you can Forrest Gump your way to the next fence!" ~ Jimmy Wofford
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"Leave the horse totally alone [through a gymnastic line of jumps.] I make sure that I come with the right approach to the first fence, for the rest, I say to the horse, this is totally your job. What I want is fifty – fifty, the same in cross country,
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From Facebook fan Mei Bo-Pa: "My german jumping instructor always said 'the money is in the forward'. Meaning translated ride your horse with a powerful canter to the jump and leave its mouth alone."
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Many amateur riders have a tendency to worry about the fact that their aids may not always be 100% correct when they ask their horse to do something. And therefore they are less likely to insist if their horse does not respond correctly. But just remember that horses can be
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Riders who skip the stretching stage of warm up, because they do not believe in stretching horses, are trying to train for collection with horses that most often have tight, tense muscles under the rider that do not swing easily with the horse’s movement. This is a recipe for
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"Shoulders back, shoulders back, shoulders back. When in doubt, shoulders back." ~ Catherine Norman
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"We need the neck to stretch down for the warming up, right in front of the saddle so the back can come up and the hind legs can come under and this way we are able to connect the hind legs." ~ Martina Hannöver
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To lengthen your horse's frame, imagine that you are pushing the horse's head and neck away from you with your hands, while riding forward into that connection.
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"One of the goals of dressage is to recreate the natural beauty of the horse’s gaits under the rider, so that the horse moves as beautifully under the weight of the rider as he does at liberty. In order to achieve this, the swinging of the horse’s
