Tip/Quote of the Day!

If you want to develop a nicely shaped crest and neck on your horse, you have to make sure your horse is truly seeking the connection - reaching into the bit, rather than backing away from it. 

When riding and training, make sure you are truly in neutral after every correct response from your horse. This means no aids!

"If you keep your hands still, you’ll start using your legs." ~ Ulla Salzgeber

"Shoulder in is a preparation for the half pass, plus shoulder in gives more connection on the outside rein. Shoulder in makes more suppleness." ~ Johan Hamminga

The intensity of a half halt is determined by the strength of the push into it.

Riding is like a marriage between the horse and rider. Don’t let the familiarity trick you into doing the same things over and over.

Stay quiet with your aids and let the exercise teach the horse.

Every time you begin a Dressage test at a show, make sure you think about making a good first impression with a forward, confident center line, and a smile for the judge! 

Some people misunderstand the term "on the forehand," which refers to the shoulders being down and the hind legs out behind the horse, regardless of where his head and neck are positioned. A low head and neck does not mean a horse is on the forehand, any more than a high head carriage means collection.

Lots of little changes of frame in your Dressage warmup… a little stretching, a little up, and repeat… can help your horse to come more through his body.

Let your plan be... to change and adapt your plan as much as necessary on course. Ultimately, you ride the horse, and not the plan.

Long slow distance work is an important part of the conditioning program for every horse. But it is especially important for older and young horses. Older horses need to keep limber, and young horses need to build a base level of tendon, ligament, and bone strength.

The rider's leg is for adding energy, and their seat governs the length of the horse's stride.

Riders often tend to forget their outside leg in the equation of the bending aids. If you want to achieve true bend in the horse's ribcage, your outside leg must keep the hindquarters on the track.

All horses are naturally crooked to at least some degree. Good, correct Dressage training should 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

Transitions act as a test of your connection, and your horse's balance. If the quality of your connection is lacking as you begin a transition, it will be particularly evident as you execute it.

"I think it is most useful if you ask yourself if you could release one or two reins at any time during your ride. If you can, then you are on your way to self-carriage." ~ Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel

"You can influence a horse, but you're never *really* in control.” ~ Chris Bartle

Push yourself away from your hands, instead of bringing your hands back to you. 

"Make him proudly independent of you so that he understands his job so well you merely walk the course and then show him the way. Tell your horse what you want him to do, and then allow him to do it." ~ Jimmy Wofford

"Don’t get drunk on speed." ~ Jimmy Wofford

"Let the neck fall down, don’t pull it down, create a situation in which the horse wants to let go his body and relax his neck." ~ Johan Hamminga

The horse's jaw unlocks when their back muscles relax and begin to swing with the movement.

"Not all of us are lucky enough in our lifetime to have great horses. When you do get one, it's just the best feeling in the world." ~ Carl Hester

If you follow your horse's mouth with a truly consistently elastic feel, they will learn to trust your hand so fully, that they will lose the desire to escape it.

Keep your leg aids light. Too much leg becomes something similar to white noise. It is unfair to expect your horse to hear your aid above the noise.

"We must be careful when making the horse straight not to bend it in front of the withers. We must not loosen the muscles in front of the withers for we need to build them up on either side of the neck so it is steady in front of the withers." ~ Reiner Klimke

A horse will respond best to an aid when the rider has the ability to give it smoothly and within the rhythm of the horse's stride.

It is quite common for riders to accidentally teach their horses undesirable behavior by releasing the pressure of an aid at the wrong time. Be mindful of only reinforcing behavior that you actually want.