Tip/Quote of the Day!

If your horse is the type to sometimes get behind your leg when jumping, you must start your courses with more energy in your canter than you think you need. I see so many riders starting off with a nice quiet canter, and then run into trouble because their horse doesn't respond instantly to their leg when they need them to. 

If your horse is heavy on one rein, and even somewhat empty in the other - fight your instincts to take back on the heavier rein. It won't help. Instead focus on engaging the hind leg on the heavier side to put the horse more up into the opposite rein.

"You can do this. I promise you, it’s not the end of the world. We’re not curing cancer, or ending world hunger. We’re just riding around on horses here." ~ Robert Dover

The concept of collection is often best introduced to the horse in the canter, as that is very often the gait that the horse finds it easiest to learn how to "sit" more behind.

Quality feedback needs to be very specific. It is not that helpful for an instructor to tell you that something was "good." They should be able to tell you what exactly was good about it, and why that quality is so important. This is the difference between merely stroking someone's ego vs turning them into a truly great and well educated rider.

Jimmy Wofford quote on horses: "The worst of them sense our fears and take advantage of us. The best of them sense our dreams and take us there."

Keeping your thumbs on top with your palms facing each other keeps your upper body stabilized when you ride. 

Trainers who insult and belittle their riders should find another line of work. Nobody tries to ride poorly.

"The basic techniques, or what they call basics, are more difficult than what comes later, this is the 'Trap of Dressage.' Correct basics are more difficult than the piaffe and passage." ~ Conrad Schumacher

"When you don't have a confident position, it’s saying to people you don’t believe in yourself. So sit up, shoulders back, chin high, and ride your best test." ~ Robert Dover

"Everything comes back to this first thought of creating energy, trapping energy, recirculating energy, and directing energy into the beautiful things that we have in our mind that we create which becomes dressage." ~ Robert Dover

"When my elbows are supple and hinged, I'm less likely to tighten my forearms, and I'm more likely to recycle the energy from the hind end." ~ Becky Rickly

"It hardly needs to be mentioned that, in order to ride good corners in the arena, you have nothing more to do than to apply the same aids as for enlarging the circle. Just as we don’t need to mention that spiraling out on the circle is a preparatory exercise for shoulder in and spiraling in on the circle is a preparatory exercise for the haunches in." ~ Kimmerle

"Collection is indispensable, to bring the horse into the balance that makes him feel really, really educated. An educated horse in the balance, it means that he will live longer, it is healthy for the horse." ~ Rafael Soto

"Horses don’t come with a manual. The rider needs to know the aims of the training." ~ Susanne Miesner

"The difference between an incorrectly compressed horse and a collected horse is that he collected horse can put his nose toward the ground (stretch) while staying round." ~ Nuno Oliveira

"In defining 'collection,' I like to use the word 'compression' because when you compress something such as a spring, it wants to push back. If you take a spring that’s 12 inches long and you compress it 1 inch, it wants to push back that 1 inch. If you think of collection as 'fluid compression that wants to push back,' you’re ahead of the game, so don't lose that concept!" ~ Scott Hassler

If becoming a great rider wasn't hard, everyone would be able to do it. It's the hard that makes it great.

If you shorten the reins when your horse is not thinking forward, he is likely to become even more stuck and behind your leg. Always get him thinking forward first!

To achieve correct alignment on circles and turns, think of keeping your shoulders aligned with your horse's shoulders (or where you want them to be), and your hips aligned with your horse's hips (or where you want them to be.)

If you regularly ride using a lot of leg pressure, you will usually find that you need to keep using more and more leg to get things done. This is because many horses are looking for the opportunity to let their riders do as much of the work as possible! If this sounds like you and your horse, you need to make the decision that from TODAY forward, you will not ever try to physically "push" your horse along with your leg. Teach him to respond to light aids! 

"Many riders have expectations that are too high and they ask too much of their young horses too quickly. The remount in the cavalry had two years of primary school to become a riding horse. For today’s young horses this has become a luxury rarely enjoyed. The drive for success and money is not only restricted to our sport, but excessive ambitions can do lasting damage to young horses." ~ Susanne Miesner

"The harder you work, the luckier you will get." ~ Bill Steinkraus

We want our horses to be confident to step into our hand, yet not try to push through it.

Think of riding your horse’s outside hind leg actively through the turns to your jumps, to keep that canter well engaged behind.

The halt must come from the body of the rider, not the reins.

"Collection should make the horse more beautiful than he was beforehand, not less beautiful. If the horse loses the expression, the elevation, the beautiful contact, the energy, the fluidity of the gait or the way his legs are animating, we can’t be satisfied that we’ve achieved collection." ~ Scott Hassler

"Never teach a horse something you don't want him to learn." ~ Anne Rawle

You have to find a length of rein where you can connect without taking back in even the slightest way. 

Every time you get on your horse, try to let go of any old baggage that you might have between you... and ride the horse you are actually on at the moment.