Tip/Quote of the Day!

"A significant portion of the art of dressage lies in your ability to differentiate between the positive tension of focused athletic effort, and the negative tension of resistance, fear, and anxiety." ~ Katherine Bateson Chandler

"Riding cross country is against the clock, but this doesn’t mean that you have to go fast. It means that you have to take good lines. Every extra ten feet, or three and a half metres that you travel, costs you one second. So if you can save half a metre on the approach and half a metre on the landing, and there are thirty jumps on the course, you come in half a minute quicker than someone else." ~ Andrew Hoy

"Re-schooling a horse with vices and sending it back to its owner is not enough. The vices will return with unguided riding. Only by retraining both horse and rider can the problem be solved." ~ Firn Hyde

"Is the rider able to ride all the movements with a long rein, long with contact, then as long as possible? It is possible to ride piaffe on a long rein when the rider rides 100% with a balanced body, and the horse is on his aids." ~ Christoph Hess

"Jumpers in Europe use a lot of dressage these days in order to maintain balance and rhythm around technical courses. They need instant reaction to have a hope of doing well." ~ Stephen Clarke

"When the horse is straight, he is in the position of shoulder-fore. Shoulder-fore position is when the horse’s outside hind leg tracks directly behind the outside front leg and the inside hind leg tracks between the two front legs. The horse’s inside hind leg is narrowed stepping toward his center of gravity and can then be in a position to carry the horse’s and rider’s weight." ~ Kathy Connelly

"The inside leg to the outside rein is ancient history. One of my friends is very interested in ballet, and he said to me last year, George, it is opposition in the dance that creates balance." ~ George Morris

Just because you can't see your grass growing doesn't mean it's not, and the same can be said of your progress as a rider. Much of the time it is not noticeable until you stop and look back at where you came from.

"Keep your thumbs together so you know where your hands are. Your elbows loose and more elastic by your side. Stand in your stirrups, stretch down and think about your lower leg being there all the time. Toes out a little, stretch your heel down." ~ Chris Burton

"The weakest rider is stronger than the strongest horse if the rider is able to bend his horse honestly." ~ Conrad Schumacher

It is possible to have contact without a real connection (in fact, it is quite common unfortunately), but a true connection always involves good contact. The connection involves the horse's entire body… with energy created in the horse's hind legs traveling through the horse's supple body, and into the rider's softly receiving hands. 

Whenever you are facing any type of fence with a ditch in front of it, think of it as a "free" front rail.

"He's a little tense and tired, so it's important to stop and listen to him and not keep pushing so I make him a sour horse." ~ Charlotte Dujardin

"I teach riders to adjust their reins within three strides on level ground (after a drop), and I want them seated between elements of a combination. This will give the rider more stability plus a wider and more sophisticated range of aids." ~ Jimmy Wofford

I want your horse to be always thinking about your inside leg… ready to step up into the outside rein at a moment’s notice.

With many horses, it can be helpful to take a deep breath and exhale in a sigh as you begin the walk portion of your Dressage test. This can help to dissolve any tension that the horse may be holding, that might otherwise make for a "jig" step, or an accidental transition into trot.

The outside rein is the key rein in downward transitions and half halts that are used to rebalance the horse. Many riders are well aware of this for Dressage and Jumping. But not everyone realizes that this is even true when you are galloping in a straight line!

Which rein is the outside rein when you are galloping in a straight line? It is relative to the canter lead. If you are on the right lead, the left rein is your outside rein. And if you are on the left lead, it is your right rein.

I hate to hear instructors who just yell, "Push, push, push!" to the riders on lazy horses who need more energy in their gait. To me, this shows a huge lack of experience on the trainer’s part - as this is NOT a productive way to produce forward in a horse, and only makes them more and more dead to the rider’s aids.

If you don’t ride and train in such a way that your horse learns to listen to your seat, you will usually find that you have to use a lot more hand to get things done.

"I cannot over emphasize that the rider must keep a soft contact with the horse’s mouth throughout the exercise [stretching down] and never just throw the reins away!" ~ Christian Thiess

"Essential to collection as well is the complete lack of resistances, as well as the maintenance of superior impulsion, and absolute submission." ~ Nuno Olivera

The purpose of transitions is not just to get from one gait to the next. But to do so in a way that further gymnasticizes the horse, and improves his carriage.

"We get the horses as loose as possible before we ask them to do more work in their bodies. if they're not loose in the beginning, they’re not going to be loose and supple in their proper work." ~ Charlotte Dujardin

All horses are naturally crooked to at least some degree. Good training will eventually fix this however. 

"The better the rider’s balance in the saddle, the better the communication. There are two things the rider must be – balanced, and supple. The less good the rider’s seat, then the more often the rider is in the saddlery shop buying new saddles, new stirrups. The rider has to find his balance in the saddle, not being held in position by a saddle in which you cannot move." ~ Christoph Hess

Lateral work can be used to steady and improve the regularity of the rhythm of your horse’s gaits. Particularly with horses that want to rush and/or become irregular, asking for a little shoulder in, leg yield, or a few steps of spiral in or out, can help them wait and find more cadence in their stride.

"For me quality dressage, not the forced dressage, not where you pull the horse or force the horse to do something, dressage is a dance – you can dance through a test with little aids." ~ Ingrid Klimke

"Give the horse the feeling of freedom when you sit on it, always the feeling that it can move forward. Most riders all over the world use their hands to try and control their horse, the neck starts to shorten and then it all starts to go wrong." ~ Christoph Hess

While a thicker mouthpiece is generally considered to be more gentle than a thinner bit, the horse with a small mouth or a low palate often prefers a thinner bit.