Tip/Quote of the Day!

Eventers need a saddle for cross country that allows them to move their center of gravity back for drop fences or anything on a downhill slope. Make sure your saddle has enough room for this to happen.

If you don't have forward, you won't be able to achieve a true half halt. And without an effective half halt, it will be hard to improve the horse's balance. 

"Relaxation is first mental, then physical. A horse in pain or one who fears you will never relax his body." ~ Charles de Kunffy

"Suppleness means that the muscles contract and de-contract, and this has to go through the entire horse, it cannot be blocked in the middle of the back, and it also has to go through the rider." ~ Susanne Miesner

"I’m a big fan of ground lines. I think it teaches the horse to have better technique in front. Everything that we do is connected — the way we start on the cross rail to this, it all connects. We're building through our training." ~ McLain Ward

Always have a plan when jumping. Each exercise should have something to teach your horse. Don't waste jumps by jumping simple jumps with no purpose - other than for warm up, or if the horse needs them for building confidence. 

As you complete a halt, lighten your seat slightly to invite your horse to keep his back up underneath you. This will allow you to move off after the halt without the horse hollowing and dropping his back.

Quiet hands are only possible when the rider has an independent seat. So if you are looking to improve your hands, check your seat first.

"A steady hand with a soft, following elbow invites a steady, soft contact from the horse. Working the bit or being busy with your fingers invites a false frame." ~ Alexis Soutter

The most successful riders stay very much "in the moment", and are very attuned to feeling exactly what their horse is doing at any given moment.

Your horse should still be connected when stretching. No loose reins! Only when they are honestly seeking the connection and moving with power from behind into the contact will the stretch be across the full topline of the horse.

If your trainer is not truly supportive.... find a better one! I am always baffled at how many riders stick with trainers who belittle them, and very often don't even really have their best interests at heart. Some trainers don't teach because they love teaching, but because they love to stroke their own ego!

"There is one way to check that you are on the right way – in the high collection you must be able to stretch them so they follow the bit and they are not stuck up there. In every situation you must be able to stretch them – even a piaffe or a pirouette, even then, I must be able to do it." ~ Hubertus Schmidt

When training a young horse you should be fairly single minded. Your main goal should be to build your horse's confidence in you, so that they think of you as a fair but strong leader.

Make sure you understand the difference between energy and stored energy in your horse when riding. It is the difference between speed and impulsion.

If you want to have a really solid position over jumps, practice your two point position a lot. Really put in the effort, if you truly want the results! 

"The quality of a good canter: round, energetic, straight, cadenced, light. You have to feel in the strike off that the horse lifts his forehand without throwing himself forward." ~ Nuno Oliveira

"As dressage riders, we require our spine to remain in a neutral position where all the vertebrae are evenly stacked, one upon the other. We need to maintain this dynamic balance as the horse moves under us." ~ Rebecca Ashton

The inside rein is like the directional in your car. You use it to indicate the direction that you plan to go, but not to actually turn your car.

"You need to have a good seat to be able to use a spur correctly. You should not use them unless your horse is in front of your leg. They are not to be used to get your horse forward." ~ Hazel Roberts

When you do a lengthening, whether in trot or canter, you should move up to your lengthening within a few strides. Then maintain that exact level of lengthening until the end of your line, where you take just a few strides to (clearly!) show your transition down.

"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.