Tip/Quote of the Day!

"There is no point in asking for connection until responsiveness from the leg has been achieved." ~ Laura Graves

"In the warm-up, I mostly ride curved lines so that I can work on lateral suppleness along with getting the horse relaxed over the back. I spend as much time as it takes for the horse to feel relaxed and willing to lower and stretch from his withers. I do circles, serpentines and figure eights. There is no point in going on with movements if the horse is not supple over his back. I also use leg yields as part of the warm-up to help get the horse responsive to the inside leg and connected to the outside rein." ~ Charlotte Bredahl-Baker

"We try to have discipline and attention to detail in everything we do. Being aware of all these little details gives me an advantage. And if I get a little edge everywhere more often than not I am going to be ahead." ~ McLain Ward

When riding a timid jumper, you might need to rev the engine between fences at times, to bring out your horse's inner lion!

"A coachable student is like a trainable horse. Willing to listen, try, put forth effort, and accept/implement instruction and criticism." ~ Katharine Henricksen Coleman

"No complicated riding before the horses are going truly forward. In dressage, the difficulties are often created by a lack of good basic work (which is the foundation of the house)." ~ Nuno Oliveira

"The rider's seat is a 'transformer' whose role is to modify the energy emitting from the horse's haunches." ~ Charles de Kunffy

Lightness is not the looseness of the contact, it's the way the horse moves over the ground.

Always keep the cheeky type of horse busy by giving them lots of little tasks to do, or they may look for a way to amuse themselves.

"It is not our horses job to understand our language. It is our job to understand theirs." ~ Reiner Klimke

"Giving is hard on a horse that has go. But once you do, miracles happen." ~ Diane Grant-Schott 

Having sufficient energy in your canter allows the horse to jump more smoothly and easily. Make sure you are truly riding forward!

"Concentrate on the transitions, forward and back, build the activity from behind. When you bring the horse slightly back, you still have to push her forward to the hand, you can keep riding as long as you can feel the hind legs in your hand." ~ Susanne Miesner

Systematic, progressive training is like stacking one building block squarely on top of another, to eventually build a strong, solid building. Done this way, you have a solid foundation, and can simply go back a step if you run into difficulties.

While riding, be careful that you don't let your horse change your posture in the saddle. 

In a movement like shoulder in, where the horse is likely to try to evade the difficulty of bending his body by swinging his quarters out, it can sometimes be helpful to bring your dressage whip forward, and touch the horse with it right in front of the saddle. This helps to reinforce your inside leg which should be up at the girth, and shows him to yield in that part of his body.

"Every time you ride you are either making that horse better or making it worse!" ~ Lisa VanBuhler

"All riders need very loose joints - loose hips, loose shoulders, loose elbows, loose knees, loose ankles. When I say loose I don’t mean uncontrollably loose, but they need to have a very good range of motion, and an absence of unwanted tension. A lot of riders when they are not comfortable in forward seat tend to grip with their knees, and tend to have a little stiffness in their ankles." ~ Tad Coffin

Always refresh the forward after any period of lateral work.

"Travers improves the horse's bend and makes him more obedient and attentive to the calf aid." ~ Ernst Friedrich Seidler

When you halt and salute the judge at a competition, remember to smile! This will send the judge the message that you are confident about your performance, which can impress the judge and may even influence your scores in a subconscious way. 

"Riding the upper levels becomes less and less about who is the most naturally talented ... It becomes more of who is the best mental competitor. Who can take the competition down mentally, and have the ability to stay focused on the task at hand regardless of what happens, that's what true upper level talent is." ~ Stephanie Shepherd Ezzo 

A running martingale that fits correctly does not come into play unless the horse tosses its head, or tries to stick it straight up in the air. It should NOT be used to keep the horse's head down.

Since the various available lateral movements all work to supple the horse's body in a slightly different way, it is a good idea to use bits of all of them in your training. Don't just do your favorites.

Everyone talks about engaging the horse's inside hind leg - but the key to a good quality canter is sufficient engagement of the outside hind leg… as that is how each canter stride begins.

So many riders seem to ride with tight elbows, and BUSY hands. Instead strive for relaxed and mobile elbows, and quiet and still (yet supple) hands!

Proper hand position will help you to remain loose and supple in your arms. Deviating in any way from the perfect hand position will immediately cause your arm muscles to tighten.

When trying to improve the activity and engagement of your horse’s hind legs in downward transitions, think of a trot in place and dancing your way to the walk or halt.

"One of the good things about our sport is that while getting older might slow your reflexes down, the knowledge you have enables you to continue to improve, and handle the challenges better." ~ Shane Rose