Tip/Quote of the Day!

On roundness: "If you have the body, you have the head - if you have the head you don't (necessarily) have the body." ~ Jack LeGoff

Every well ridden corner is a suppling exercise, and should be recognized as such.

Ride forward within the stride you have to the jumps, vs pushing horse out of its stride and disrupting balance. 

"The legs bring the horse to the seat, and the seat brings the horse to the hands. When the teacher says 'shorten the reins' it needs to be translated into: 'engage the hind legs, sit on them, and then take the slack out of the reins', because if you shorten the reins from front to back, the horse will only resist." ~ Thomas Ritter

"There is one principle that should never be abandoned when training a horse, namely, that the rider must learn to control himself before he can control his horse. This is the basic, most important principle to be preserved in equitation." ~ Alois Podhajsky

"A mounted horse must convey the impression that horse and rider are cast in one piece and inspired by the same will." ~ Waldemar Seunig

The sign of a good rider is that their aids are so smooth, light, and invisible that you can barely notice them.

Remind yourself to breathe before and after every difficult exercise. Of course you need to breathe while riding each exercise as well! But thinking about checking your breathing before and after is a good first step.

Remind yourself to breathe before and after every difficult exercise. Of course you need to breathe while riding each exercise as well! But thinking about checking your breathing before and after is a good first step.

"Only use the spur to correct. The spur is not intended to ride a movement. It cannot just support the gait or the movement. Make a clear correction with the spur. If you are constantly giving your horse an aid, he will get numb to it." ~ Steffen Peters

True lightness does not come from playing with the bit until the horse feels lighter in your hand. Only hind leg engagement and lowering of the horse's quarters will bring about true lightness.

If 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.

When working with a horse that does not have a great natural trot lengthening, make sure that you don't ask for too much too soon. Compare this to a singer who is training their vocal cords… they gradually expand their vocal range until they hit their limit. This helps to prevent them from overextending themselves, and builds up confidence in their abilities.

We first have to teach the horse to enjoy learning from humans. 

Only precise riding trains the horse correctly. Be exact in your geometry, figures, and lines.

"Relaxation is the bread and butter without which you cannot advance to stage two, balance." ~ Charles de Kunffy

"The volte is one of the most important movements you can ride. It is teaching the horse to bend in his ribcage, within his body, and then to maintain a rhythm – in the future this movement will become a half pass. We are working on control over the balance of the horse so that it is learning to maintain a rhythm." ~ Ernst Hoyos

Whenever you are facing any type of jump with a ditch in front of it, think of it as a "free" front rail, or a rolled out ground rail. Focus on the top of the jump (ignoring the ditch), and ride freely forward to it in a balanced, rhythmical gallop.

If you want to improve your medium and extended gaits, improve your collected work. The more your horse can "sit" behind, the more expressive your mediums and extensions will be. 

"Let your horse be your teacher, pay attention to his invaluable feedback." ~ Lilo Fore

Activity doesn't really start in the horse's hind legs... it starts in their brain. They have to decide to create activity before it will appear. Why is this significant? You need to train your horse's brain to understand and respect your light leg aids, rather than try to physically push him anywhere.

"If I want my horse to be steady and up to the bridle then I have to provide a steady target [quiet hands] and use leg to keep him up there."

"Push him to the contact, release and then push to the contact again." ~ Carl Hester

Horses usually add a stride when jumping uphill. Make sure you wait for it… with your leg on.

"I make my students ride in gallop position in trot and canter with no rein contact and no hands on the neck, as there is no point in trying to progress until a good balance is in place. It is a great concern to me that so many riders are out of balance between fences, and then too stiff and upright on the approach to the fence" ~ William Fox Pitt

The rider's leg creates the energy in the horse's stride, and their seat is what controls that energy. 

"Lightness, whose characteristic lies in the elastic and springy flexibility of all joints and muscles, can only be acquired after all resistances have completely disappeared, that is, with the disappearance of all inopportune contractions." ~ Alexis François L’Hotte

"Shorter reins generally allow for a better connection and less delay of the aids." ~ Reiner Klimke

"Keep it calm. Ignore the wrong answers, praise the little wins. Horses cannot learn when stressed." ~ Sandi-Leigh Norris